Why are you running an EOL version of PHP?

Why are you still running an EOL version of PHP?

  • I don't have access to upgrade PHP myself, and the server owner won't do it for me

    Votes: 7 5.1%
  • I can't upgrade because other software I use requires an old version of PHP

    Votes: 20 14.6%
  • I lack the technical know-how to upgrade PHP

    Votes: 6 4.4%
  • I don't consider updating PHP to be particularly important

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • I’m running PHP 7.latest and that’s fine for me

    Votes: 14 10.2%
  • I’m running PHP 8 🥳

    Votes: 89 65.0%

  • Total voters
    137
Plesk (Obsidian) supports PHP 8.0.3.

I'm using Plesk Onyx. I asked my Host to update Plesk and He accepted. At the end of the day we will switch to PHP 8.
 
FYI, PHP 8.0.6 is latest

Bash:
php -v
PHP 8.0.6 (cli) (built: May  6 2021 16:50:48) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.0.6, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.0.6, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
Updated to 8.0.6 easily without issue thanks to your centminmod software :)
 
Thank you to @AndyB

See https://www.xf2addons.com/threads/imagick-installation-instructions-for-php-8.960/

Works with

CENTOS 7.9
WHM/cPanel
PHP 8.0

Also, I am running quite a few addons on 3 Xenforo forums each on dedicated servers and the only errors were in setting the same PHP options for PHP80 as I had set for PHP7.4.

Code:
Server environment report
You have the recommended PHP version.

PHP version     8.0.5
MySQL version     10.3.29 (10.3.29-MariaDB)
PHP memory_limit     -1
PHP post_max_size     128M
PHP upload_max_filesize     64M
PHP max_input_vars     1000
PHP max_execution_time     -1
cURL version     7.76.1
cURL SSL version     OpenSSL/1.1.1k
OpenSSL version     OpenSSL 1.1.1k 25 Mar 2021 
Suhosin enabled     No
Imagick support     Yes
EXIF support     Yes
GZip support     Yes
mbstring support     Yes
gmp support     Yes
ZipArchive support     Yes
 
All three servers and forums are running without errors almost 6 hours later, not running hot, no server errors or warnings, all addons working fine, no timeouts or crashes.
 
Primarily, I'm running so many add-ons I'd be afraid of incompatibilities..

So I'm running the next best thing, 7.latest (fine for me).
 
I didn't know you could select PHP versions in cPanel, I figured it was down to the hosting company to update. Looking now I do see PHP8 is available so I might try it out over the weekend. I do have a lot of addons which might give issues, but its still worth having a look I suppose.
 
What add-ons do you have installed?
Depending on the forum, several by @AndyB, several by @OzzModz, several by @BassMan, some user upgrade addons from @Xen-Soluce and @XTR, more... There were only two custom addons on one forum that I needed to disable. In one case, it was a custom addon with intermittent errors on PHP7.4 and the dev no longer creates or supports his addons, so moving to PHP8 amplified those. It was a feature, non-critical, so for now until I can take a look at it myself, I just disabled it. In the second case, the dev is currently ill and it too had one error on PHP7.4 which possibly was exacerbated by PHP8; that one I'll pursue when the dev is feeling better.

I have a similar list and mix on the other two forums but no custom addons. All of them managed the upgrade to PHP8 seamlessly with no errors.

Also no issues whatsoever with custom styles from @Pixel Exit. Really, once @AndyB was able to resolve the Imagick issue, this was a very easy and smooth upgrade.
 
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I didn't know you could select PHP versions in cPanel, I figured it was down to the hosting company to update. Looking now I do see PHP8 is available so I might try it out over the weekend. I do have a lot of addons which might give issues, but its still worth having a look I suppose.
The host determines which versions are available in cPanel. Mine caps out at 7.4 right now. Since that is supported, I am not going to make a fuss yet.

I am finding that this is a problem with shared hosting, though. I discovered last year that MariaDB was on an out-of-support version and had to bug to find out their plans to get us on to a supported one. Guess that's one of the trade-offs for paying to have someone else do the sysadmin grunt work for me.
 
The host determines which versions are available in cPanel. Mine caps out at 7.4 right now. Since that is supported, I am not going to make a fuss yet.

It's been available for 5 months now through WHM and cPanel, so I'd probably nudge your host and ask why it's not an option.

There are some extensions and software not compatible with it yet though


Overview​

This document discusses the key changes and limitations of PHP 8 in EasyApache 4. PHP 8.0 is the most recent major version released by php.net. It provides a number of updates and improvements over previous versions of PHP.

PHP 8.0 is only available for systems that run CentOS 7 or newer or AlmaLinux 8.

For a complete list of changes, including the new features and any breaking changes, read PHP’s Upgrade Notes.

Benefits of PHP 8​

PHP 8 includes the addition of the following features:

  • Support for Union types — Union types allow you to assign multiple types to a parameter, property, or return.
  • The Just in Time (JIT) compiler — The JIT compiler will compile parts of your code an runtime, in order to improve the response time of your web pages.
  • Named arguments — Named arguments allow you to assign a name to input data and call that in your code, rather than the the order of the argument.
  • Attributes — Attributes act as an annotation in your PHP code, which allows you to add meta data.

Currently unavailable in PHP 8​

The following extensions and modules are not currently available for PHP 8:

Incompatible with PHP 8​

The following software currently does not work with PHP 8. This list is not comprehensive.

  • DSO — cPanel & WHM does not support the DSO handler with PHP 8.
  • The XMLRPC extensions — This extension moved to PECL.
  • The JSON extension — This functionality is included in PHP 8 by default.
 
Currently Running on 7.4.18 FPM. There's absolutely no reason for me to upgrade to 8. Actually I rarely upgrade a stable/secure/supported version for anything newer. In some environments stability and security are more important than "shiny" new features.
 
Currently Running on 7.4.18 FPM. There's absolutely no reason for me to upgrade to 8. Actually I rarely upgrade a stable/secure/supported version for anything newer. In some environments stability and security are more important than "shiny" new features.

How about increased speed and increased security? Do you consider them to be just "shiny new features"?

I would describe those as important basic advantages.
 
How about increased speed and increased security? Do you consider them to be just "shiny new features"?

Well speed can be relative as not all PHP build/installs are created equal even for same PHP versions. On my Centmin Mod LEMP if you enable optional Profile Guided Optimizations (PGO) on PHP-FPM builds, they can boost PHP performance for some PHP work loads to the point that Centmin Mod PHP 7.4 PGO build be as fast as non-PGO non-Centmin Mod PHP 8.x and Centmin Mod PHP 7.3 PGO as fast as standard PHP 7.4 and sometimes even match PHP 8 https://community.centminmod.com/threads/php-8-0-0-ga-stable-release.20739/#post-87299

Below is Centmin Mod PHP-FPM with PGO vs without PGO vs non-Centmin Mod PHP-FPM via REMI YUM installed PHP


1620917741817.webp

1620917753130.webp
 
I'll probably run 8 any fully up to date XF site on it's own. If there's also a wordpress install in tandem though I'll probably be stuck on 7.3 or 7.4 as many plugins aren't fully compatible with 8 yet.
I'm seeing this. On about half of my Wordpress installs, php 8 breaks the site or throws error codes. Fortunately on my main xf site which has a WP front end, 8 is working great.
 
Currently Running on 7.4.18 FPM. There's absolutely no reason for me to upgrade to 8. Actually I rarely upgrade a stable/secure/supported version for anything newer. In some environments stability and security are more important than "shiny" new features.
With all due respect, you have a misguided perspective on the issue. Following your logic, php 5.x is a more stable/secure/supported version.

For my installation of xf 2.2.5, php 8 is the more stable/secure/supported version.
 
I'll probably run 8 any fully up to date XF site on it's own. If there's also a wordpress install in tandem though I'll probably be stuck on 7.3 or 7.4 as many plugins aren't fully compatible with 8 yet.

Same here. We currently run all XF2 with PHP 7.4 as quite a few use XPress/XLink with WordPress - WP doesn't seem fully ready for PHP 8 and we are still on XF 2.1 anyway.
Could run new installs on PHP 8.

I'm seeing this. On about half of my Wordpress installs, php 8 breaks the site or throws error codes. Fortunately on my main xf site which has a WP front end, 8 is working great.

It's not just WordPress plugins that aren't compatible. WordPress core files are not yet fully compatible with PHP8. WordPress has acknowledged this as have other major plugin devs like Wordfence:

PHP 8 includes significant changes from PHP 7, which may cause unexpected bugs in plugins, themes, and WordPress itself. Wordfence is not yet officially supported on PHP 8, but will be supported in the near future. Read More
 
WordPress core files are not yet fully compatible with PHP8.

Effectively it is compatible if you're not running any themes or plugins that may not be compatible.


It's up to you to ensure any themes are plugins are also compatible.

They acknowledge there may be undiscovered issues but 5.7 seems grand if you don't have too many plugins or an old theme. I'm running some sites just fine on PHP8 with no errors or warnings.
 
Effectively it is compatible if you're not running any themes or plugins that may not be compatible.


It's up to you to ensure any themes are plugins are also compatible.

They acknowledge there may be undiscovered issues but 5.7 seems grand if you don't have too many plugins or an old theme. I'm running some sites just fine on PHP8 with no errors or warnings.
I just get blank pages for WordPress 5.7.x under PHP8.
 
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