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Should I change my PHP version to 7.4?
greatgreat55
Member
in General
Looking into PHP versions and not deciding if I’m going to switch right now or should I wait a bit to see the issues it might create. It’s quite new, so would be good to know the benefits and drawbacks it could give me. Hostinger just released a blogpost about PHP 7.4 giving all the information why this version is better https://www.hostinger.com/blog/introducing-php-7-4#what-does-php-7-4-mean-for-you
However, would love to hear your opinions too. Is it worth to change the PHP version with WordPress instantly?
Comments
nice spam
It sounds like you're the type of person who would update because of a random blog post, so yes, you should urgently update to v7.4
+1
Now, that's out of the way, if your websites are vanilla PHP, you could try using PHP 7.4 and see if they generate any error. If not, all the best.
However, if your websites are WordPress or any other CMS based, you might want to be cautious. It is likely that all plugins/themes are not yet compatible with 7.4 and if you change the version, you are likely to see errors.
We always keep the default PHP version one version below the latest version on our servers to accommodate compatibility out of the box. For example, we are setting the default PHP version to 7.2 now as it is the version that has the most compatibility with scripts. Those who prefers a recent or older version can always change them using CloudLinux's PHP Selector.
Nope, I tend to be more careful, so that's why I'm asking for the opinion, don't want to give it extra work.
no
This looks like hostinger blog SPAM.
I have few sites hosted there and they are WordPress ones, I think the main question for me is how long should I wait for everything to be compatible with 7.4. Currently I'm using 7.3 and nothing is crashing. However, some time ago I had one plugin which wasn't compatible with any of 7.x versions and had to get rid of it...
Upgrade to node.js : https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/162036/whats-php-excel-at
Honestly, there is no reasons to wait when a "stable" version is released. Before the official release, there are months of Release Candiate which are made to detect problems, and fix them. Read the change log and migration pages from the php.net site, to review if there is really something breaking backward compatibility.
Switching from one major version to another , for example 5.x to 7.x, is something totally different, because there can be significant changes, which can break "old" code. However, everything which is being changed in such way, are announced ahead, and intermediate versions of PHP are starting to show depreciated warning messages. So if you monitor your logs, you'll detect months or years ahead procedures which will be changed next. Leaving you the time to adapt your code.
If you really tended to be more careful, then you wouldn't even have started this thread, given that v7.4 is fresh out of the oven. Wait at least until after a few minor point updates before asking. (What's the rush anyway?)
Always update to the latest version of PHP, especially if you own an unknown and unwanted blog. Then you have something to brag about.
Thanks for the insights. Right now my version is 7.3 and everything is working fine, so I believe in this case the change shouldn't be a problem. A bit afraid about the plugins, researching right now if any of them could crash.
Oh, there is no rush, just would be interesting to try and see if it improves the performance. I can read articles like the one I added or php.net announcements but imo is better to ask other people opinions and experiences.
By the way, this is why you (everybody) should have a dev box, to experiment before going live on production server(s). The dev box, can be your own computer.
Thanks, I wonder if I could get some money for posting this backlink
Well, I see that @SteveMC has confirmed what you wanted to hear, so why not go for it!
But above you said that there's no reason to wait in the case of a new stable version.
Will see, will see
May be I said it wrongly. I meant that there is no reason to wait to upgrade to the next stable version, but I didn't mean to do it straight on a live production server.
I believe that the right way , is to go with the last stable, on the dev box, check around, to be sure, and then update the production server.
Sorry, if I am confuse, I am still awakening
In my experience, 7.2 is stable with most (all?) WordPress themes and plugins worth & safe using.
In other words: if a theme/plugin won't work with PHP 7.2, there's usually something wrong with it: it's not well written, optimized, or not updated recently (security patches come to mind first) - one not excluding the other(s).
Similar could be said for 7.3 as of relatively recently. Didn't bother to write things down, but the number of good quality plugins/themes that don't work with 7.3 is very close to zero (though I'd still consider 7.2 to be the "safest bet").
So 7.3 is definitely worth at least a try. I even go as far as to not use themes/plugins that don't support it. Not an expert, so my thinking is: if it uses something deprecated from previous versions, I can't tell if it's good, or safe, but would rather not risk that. That's in addition to checking the reviews and support forums.
With 7.4 - as others have said, it's not yet tested. Wouldn't use it with anything "important". Give it some 6 months time, read the feedback info, test it yourself if you have the will and the time, then decide.
Having said all this, still have stuff running on CloudLinux's "hardened PHP 5.6", rather nicely and stably, but won't work with newer PHP versions - and no one willing to put in the time to patch it.
Yes, slowly it would be time for 7.2 installations to begin thinking about upgrading to 7.3.
For 7.3 installations, there's no urgency at all.
It'll be a while still before stable distributions even get 7.4.
And what do you think, when the time will come for 7.4?
Php 7.4, in my experience, is not stable yet for Wordpress, even with basic installation. I saw some increasement in RAM usage, and blog seem bit slower. Switched back to 7.3.
Minimally, I would wait and see whether Ubuntu 20.04 LTS will have 7.4. My guess is that it will, but I haven't seen any official statement about this.
So my advice would be to wait at least until Ubuntu 20.04 LTS appears. (Even if you don't use Ubuntu!)
And this would still be the fast track.
i choose 7.3 now