Support policy for PHP

This page describes the support policy for PHP as applicable to MediaWiki core and other components bundled with its official distribution.

Criteria
New major releases of MediaWiki must support at least one PHP version for each of the following criteria:


 * A PHP version that will be supported by the upstream PHP Group for the full duration of that MediaWiki major release cycle (from our planned release date until our planned end-of-life date).
 * A PHP version that is provided by a Debian Linux LTS release channel that will be supported for the duration of that MediaWiki release
 * A PHP version that is provided by an Ubuntu Linux LTS release channel that will be supported for the duration of that MediaWiki release.

Additionally, the following restrictions apply:


 * For every Debian Linux LTS and Linux Linux LTS release there must be at least one compatible MediaWiki version that is supported at the time the Linux distribution's LTS period starts.
 * There must always be at least one combination, at all times, of Debian Linux LTS and MediaWiki that are supported by both parties for an overlapping period of two years. Thus allowing a site operator to remain on a given combination for 2 years (with support), before upgrading to the next supported combination. The same applies to Ubuntu Linux LTS as well.

Process
With the above criteria upheld, maintainers of MediaWiki core (as defined by the Privilege policy) are free to add or drop support for any additional versions of PHP without needing to involve TechCom or its RFC process.

Adding support for a PHP version may happen in any release (including minor and patch releases) and without prior announcement.

Dropping support for a PHP version may only happen in major releases, and must be announced on Wikitech-l in a dedicated thread at least 2 weeks prior to to the change merging in MediaWiki's master branch.

If maintainers are unable to reach consensus about a proposed change in support, or if exemption from the criteria is desired, the decision may be escalated to TechCom by creating a task for TechCom on Phabricator, or by contacting a TechCom member directly.

Meta
This policy was established by RFC T146965, approved in September 2019 through the TechCom RFC process, to apply to MediaWiki 1.34 and later.