Why are you running an EOL version of PHP?

[AjayJunkies]

You may have noticed that with the release of XenForo 2.2.5 today, we have started to recommend PHP 8 as the ideal version for XenForo. PHP 8 is a huge step forward from PHP 7 and we'd love to be able to take advantage of it some day.

But our statistics show that there are still large numbers of XenForo licensees running the latest versions of XenForo on ancient versions of PHP like 7.0 - there is even a fairly large contingent still on PHP 5.6.

It's a bit galling to have to make the required version of PHP for XenForo something that was declared End of Life several years ago, so we'd like to know why you're still running an old version, if you are.

Just curious. It's 3 years later, does XF see a tighter cluster of clients on PHP 8, or is there still a large contingent on PHP 7?

Also, and an even better question, why would XF (as a company) care? If XF releases a version with a minimum required PHP version, it's the responsibility of the customer to meet it before upgrading. You either upgrade your PHP or you don't get the latest version.

 

[bzcomputers]

why would XF (as a company) care?

Making more stringent requirements will cause many to not be able to upgrade and in turn will impact future sales/profit. Not everyone has the ability or knowhow to upgrade their PHP. It's just not worth it for XenForo to lose all those sales.

 

[Jake B.]

Making more stringent requirements will cause many to not be able to upgrade and in turn will impact future sales/profit. Not everyone has the ability or knowhow to upgrade their PHP. It's just not worth it for XenForo to lose all those sales.

If your host doesn't allow you to use a version of PHP that is supported (which currently is 8.1 for security updates only, and 8.2 and 8.3 for active support) you should not be using them, period

 

[MySiteGuy]

If your host doesn't allow you to use a version of PHP that is supported (which currently is 8.1 for security updates only, and 8.2 and 8.3 for active support) you should not be using them, period

Servers that use enterprise grade Linux packages for PHP, like those provided by Red Hat (and as a result, Alma and Rocky), have security patches backported to earlier versions of PHP.

Red Hat 8 supports PHP 7.4+ through 2029. Red Hat 9 supports PHP 8.0+ through 2032.

There are also 3rd party support services that have backports going back further, with 5.x still supported.

Yes, you should upgrade if possible, but there are sometimes circumstances that require putting it off.

 

[bzcomputers]

If your host doesn't allow you to use a version of PHP that is supported (which currently is 8.1 for security updates only, and 8.2 and 8.3 for active support) you should not be using them, period

It doesn't necessarily have to do with what PHP options a host offers. If they're on a dedicated server they'll likely never be forced by a host to upgrade. At some point XenForo will decide to cut off support for older PHP versions and force them to upgrade if the want to run the latest XenForo. In the mean time the longer XenForo can hold out on increasing their minimum PHP requirements the more renewals they will get. Supporting old code can be a pain, but sometimes losing sales hurts more. XenForo, like every software company, contemplates that dilemma all the time.

 

[Chris D]

In case anyone's wondering, here's the PHP versions across all reporting XF versions:



Sometimes we drill down a little because, while there's not many, customers who are sticking with 2.1 are not really representative and they may affect the percentages. People who are on 2.2 and obviously 2.3 are more likely in future to upgrade to 2.4 or 3.0.

So here's the stats for users reporting 2.2:



And 2.3:



Given this, while not entirely decided yet, minimum for XF 2.4 will likely be 7.4 and, as already announced, the minimum for 3.0 will be 8.0.

Also, and an even better question, why would XF (as a company) care? If XF releases a version with a minimum required PHP version, it's the responsibility of the customer to meet it before upgrading. You either upgrade your PHP or you don't get the latest version.

We care because we don't want to unnecessarily inconvenience users - upgrading to a major software version has its own challenges, so having to also deal with upgrading PHP and other server software at the same time just adds to that.

It's a balance because we want to keep pushing the envelope, particularly opening up new language features for us to use, but we don't want to leave too many people behind.

There are obviously financial incentives for us to get as many people on latest versions as possible, but it's negligible. What's probably more valuable is more users on a new version, the more feedback we get from bugs and suggestions, therefore shaping future versions.

 

[eva2000]

Servers that use enterprise grade Linux packages for PHP, like those provided by Red Hat (and as a result, Alma and Rocky), have security patches backported to earlier versions of PHP.

Red Hat 8 supports PHP 7.4+ through 2029. Red Hat 9 supports PHP 8.0+ through 2032.

There are also 3rd party support services that have backports going back further, with 5.x still supported.

Indeed some distros backport security patches as well as REMI's PHP YUM repositories. With that said, new PHP security releases are now available for PHP versions 8.1.30, 8.2.24, and 8.3.12, addressing security vulnerabilities CVE-2024-4577, CVE-2024-8925, CVE-2024-8926, CVE-2024-8927, and CVE-2024-9026. For details, visit the official PHP website: https://www.php.net/. Please check with your web host, system administrator, or control panel provider to ensure you’re running the latest secure versions.

For my Centmin Mod users: I have updated both 131.00stable and 140.00beta01 with backported security patches, covering the now end-of-life PHP versions 5.6, 7.0-7.4, and 8.0. You can find more details here.

Given this, while not entirely decided yet, minimum for XF 2.4 will likely be 7.4 and, as already announced, the minimum for 3.0 will be 8.0.

Thanks Chris for the info

 

[Suzanne O]

Thanks for the heads up @Chris D

 

[Suzanne O]

Because us cloud customers do not have access to php levels. 8.2.3 here.

 

[Paul B]

Cloud sites are running 8.3.9.

 

[Suzanne O]

Cloud sites are running 8.3.9.

Right well i'll have to get mine fixed up then. I'll send a ticket.

 

[rdn]

XenForo 2.3.4 works fine with PHP 8.4

 

[DragonByte Tech]

@Chris D can we get another pie chart for PHP version breakdown for 2.3 as it stands today, please? With the 8.0 requirement for 2.4, I'm interested to see if I can possibly push it further in my own addons to encourage 8.1 or newer adoption Maybe 3.0 could be 8.1 or even 8.2...

 

[Chris D]

I’d say almost certainly XF 3.0 will be 8.1 or higher as a minimum. Maybe 8.2.

From XF 2.3 installs:

 

[duderuud]

Reminds me to upgrade to 8.4 soon...

 

[DragonByte Tech]

I’d say almost certainly XF 3.0 will be 8.1 or higher as a minimum. Maybe 8.2.

From XF 2.3 installs:

View attachment 318890

8.2 for the XenForo 2.4 versions it is then.

ImDoingMyPart.gif

 

[Abraham54]

Nowadays my forum runs on PHP 8.3

 

[PaulB]

8.2 for the XenForo 2.4 versions it is then.

ImDoingMyPart.gif

C’mon, gimme property hooks!

 

[webbouk]

Is there any advantage of using 8.4 compared to 8.3?

 

[briansol]

From an XF perspective, no... they aren't requring that version so no native functions new to it are in use.

From a pure php perspective, it's a little faster on a few functions, again, i don't think XF is leveraging any of them though.