On Sat, Nov 28, 2015 at 1:35 PM, Marcin Cieslak <saper(a)saper.info> wrote:
On 2015-11-24, Rob Lanphier
<robla(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
[regarding discussion about
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T118932>]
The main task this week is to plan out what we will define the minimum
PHP version to be for MediaWiki 1.27 (the next LTS version). The
viable choices seem to be:
* PHP 5.3 (the status quo) - this version is no longer supported
upstream, and doesn't have widespread support even in conservatively
updated Linux distros.
* PHP 5.4 - this version is no longer supported by The PHP Group, but
is still part of older supported Linux distros (e.g. Debian Wheezy)
* PHP 5.5 - this is the lowest version with reliable LTS support in
In one enterprise environment I am familiar with one is stuck
with SLES 11.3/11.4 with they own enterprise repository, and the
newest I've seen was 5.3.something.
As of Wednesday's meeting, PHP 5.5 is the new minimum for MediaWiki
1.27. The resulting conversation on T118932 shows there is
frustration for how the decision was arrived at.
We need to figure out not only which Linux distros are supported, but
what "support" means and how we accomplish it. If it turns out that
SLES 11.3 is very widely used, that points for the need for someone to
support that version.
That leaves a few questions:
* What does "support" mean? Where does this belong on the continuum
stretching from "continuing to offer security patches" to "require all
master commits to MediaWIki to interoperate with PHP 5.3"?
* Who should provide support? Is this something WMF needs to finance and lead?
* How much analysis is a prerequisite to a PHP version jump?
I believe the conclusion on T118932 is a good one; it's time for us to
move to PHP 5.5 for MediaWiki 1.27+. That said, we (the larger
community; not just WMF) clarify our LTS strategy, since it's not
entirely clear to me who is committed to supporting MediaWiki 1.23 all
of the way until May 2017. Furthermore, there seems to be some
skepticism as to whether 1.27 should even be offered as the next "LTS"
version of MediaWiki. Could someone clarify this for me?
Rob