Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) -
Number of replies: 10
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Hi developers,

this is a heads up about the PHP version to be used as minimum requirement for Moodle 2.7 and upwards (to be released along May 2014). It’s being decided and discussed in the Tracker @ MDL-42931.

Basically, there are 2 options:

A) Moodle 2.7 to continue working with PHP 5.3.x
B) Moodle 2.7 to require PHP 5.4.x to work

Here there are some (4 for each, to be neutral and have them paired) positive facts about each option. You can find more details in the issue above:

A) PHP 5.3.x

  • Right now, it seems to be the most used PHP version. (source)
  • Some current (linux) distributions still come with it and some (not many, apparently) shared hosting companies still offer it.
  • This does not affect to people already using PHP 5.4 and upwards.
  • Upgrade to 2.7 and upwards will be easier if it does not involve upgrading PHP.

B) PHP 5.4.x

  • It performs better and is securer than PHP 5.3 (new features aside).
  • It’s maintained.
  • Next (linux) distributions will include it (or newer PHP 5.5).
  • Will allow to build a LTS (long term supported) version easier (no way to build it on top of an already EOLed PHP version).

And that’s all. For the records, we did a quick voting between HQ developers and results were 6 to 3 to upgrade to 5.4.x

Any thought will be welcome. Please, let’s discuss here about the PHP version only, keeping any other detail (databases, zlib…) into a separate thread.

TIA and ciao smile

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Joseph Rézeau -
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On my online moodle test site provider (OVH) PHP 5.4 is available, so +1 for moodle 2.7 being based on PHP 5.4 as far as I'm concerned.approve

Joseph

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Dave Balch -

By the time 2.7 is out, my systems will be running Debian 7, which has php 5.4.4, so +1 for 5.4 here.

 

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Michael Aherne -
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+1 for 5.4, even if only to be able to use the new array syntax!

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Ryan Smith -

Another +1 for 5.4 here. 5.3 is EOL.

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Randy Thornton -
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+1 on 5.4

Most ISPs I have experience with (Dreamhost, Mediatemple, etc.) for hosting smaller Moodle sites all have 5.4 available now.

 

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Rex Lorenzo -

The mentioning of a possible LTS version of Moodle is a major reason to go with PHP 5.4 for me.

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Danny Wahl -

I vote 5.4 and I'd like to bring attention to the fact that Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is still on 5.3

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS will (probably) have 5.5 which would be a good co-release with an LTS version of Moodle.

This scenario would require someone to upgrade their server version before upgrading their Moodle version, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but environment testing for a server upgrade is much more time consuming than a Moodle version.  Whereas we might upgrade from 2.6 to 2.7 a month after 2.7 is released (internal testing + a few weeks of 2.7+ bug fixing) it might be 5 or 6 months before we get a server upgraded from 12.04 to 14.04.

tl;dr: good for new setups (moodle LTS synced with server LTS), maybe hard for upgrades

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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle 2.7 requirements: PHP version

by Andrea Bicciolo -

Hello Eloy,

thanks for starting this discussion. As PHP 5.3 is EOLed, I think the move the  requirement to PHP 5.4.x is OK. Actually we are migrating our production environments to PHP 5.5, however I understand not all distros offer PHP 5.5, so I think 5.4 is the better choice as minimum requirement.

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