⚠️ Important note on PHP 7.4 support

:warning: Important note on PHP 7.4 support

Users have reported problems with using PHP 7.4 with Kirby 3.
PHP 7.4 is not yet supported by Kirby, support will be added in an upcoming release. It is therefore strongly recommended to use PHP 7.2 or 7.3 in the meantime.

If you have already upgraded to PHP 7.4, please contact @lukasbestle via direct message for further information on your next steps.

PHP 7.4 is now fully supported with Kirby 3.3.2.

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Up to which main PHP version is the Kirby version 2.5.12 approved by the Kirby team?

We tested Kirby 2.5.12 with PHP versions 7.1-7.3. As 7.1 is end-of-life, we recommend to use PHP 7.3 for Kirby 2 sites.

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What do you think to change this information about the correct PHP version at https://k2.getkirby.com/docs/installation/download ?

I know, this is the old Kirby version, but I think this Kirby version is running on a lot of websites at the moment.

May be it would be good to change the PHP requirement for Kirby 3 at
https://getkirby.com/docs/cookbook/setup/migrate-site by adding a hint or …

The Kirby 2 docs are archived, but maybe @bastianallgeier can change them to state that Kirby 2 supports PHP 7.2 to 7.3.

However I believe that quite few sites actively run on Kirby 2. Kirby 2 is currently mostly used on sites that weren’t touched by the developer since the site was created or last updated. So it won’t be that useful to update the v2 docs either – people who still read those are rarely people who have sites running on v2.

Thanks, I have added an info box there. The requirements section in the docs will be changed once Kirby 3.3.2 is out.

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Thank you very much for your informations and the change.

PHP 7.4 is now fully supported with Kirby 3.3.2.

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I have a supplementary question:
Is it correct that the file ‘https://github.com/getkirby/kirby/blob/master/composer.json’ has the following content:

...
"require": {
    "php": ">=7.1.0",
...

For my understanding this means version 7.1+.

Yes, that’s correct. Support for PHP 7.1 will officially be dropped with Kirby 3.4.0 as we only include breaking-changes in minor or major releases, not patch releases like 3.3.2.

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However I believe that quite few sites actively run on Kirby 2. Kirby 2 is currently mostly used on sites that weren’t touched by the developer since the site was created or last updated. So it won’t be that useful to update the v2 docs either – people who still read those are rarely people who have sites running on v2.

I run a couple of sites on Kirby v2 that still are maintained. Server software is updated and is a totally different matter than the CMS. As far as I know, Kirby 2 has not reached end of life, correct? That’s at least my latest status. Therefore it’d be great to know whether server can be updated to PHP 7.4 or not for those sites. I’d love to read that in the “archived” docs.

Thanks for considering these alternative approaches to updating servers and sites.
—Anselm

Hi Anselm,

Thank you for your honest feedback. We have discussed this topic in the team and have come to the following conclusion:

  • Our original guarantee for v2 security support was the 31st of December, 2019. However we want to extend that support period to make sure that users who currently still depend on Kirby 2 for their sites can safely use it. That support period can however not be infinitely long – at some point we will need to drop support to be able to focus on the development of Kirby 3 and future versions. We will announce the final EOL date soon.
  • PHP 7.4 is currently not supported by Kirby 2 as we haven’t tested Kirby 2.5.12 with that PHP version. Because of your request, we will now do those tests and (if necessary) publish a new Kirby 2 release with support for PHP 7.4. Expect that sometime this month.
  • Until that Kirby 2 release is out, we recommend to stay on PHP 7.2 or 7.3. Both PHP releases have full security support by the PHP team and work very well with Kirby 2.
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Thanks Lukas, this is a great and very helpful reply to resolve the confusion.

Of course I totally understand that support for v2 won’t be infinite, the issue I had with it is that I didn’t know any EOL (didn’t read that forum thread you linked). I think it makes sense to publicly state the EOL and the compatibility of v2 on the website. That way, people who search for the same information can get it from the official docs and don’t need to dig deep into forum threads.

A 7.4 compatible v2 release would of course be much appreciated, if needed. Let’s see what the tests say. Your recommendation to stay on 7.3 of course makes sense in the meantime.
Thanks again!
—Anselm

Hey Anselm,

we finally decided to extend security for v2 until December 31st, 2020 and also released a new v2 version with support for PHP 7.4. You can find the announcement here: Kirby 2.5.13 is here!

We also added the EOL to the docs: https://getkirby.com/docs/archive and the v2 readmes.

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Thanks so much, this is lovely to hear!