PHP 7.4 came out today, but most small business sites should not switch to it yet. The urgent job is moving anything on PHP 7.1 or older to 7.3, since 7.1 loses security fixes on Sunday.

Two PHP dates in one week

PHP 7.4 was released today. It is the newest version of the programming language behind WordPress and a great many small business websites, and developers have been looking forward to it.

On Sunday, PHP 7.1 stops receiving security fixes. That date is getting less attention, and for most businesses it matters more.

The two are easy to run together into one instruction: upgrade PHP. They are really two separate jobs with different deadlines, and rushing onto the newest version is not the way to get off an old one.

Where each version stands this weekend

The fourth is where most small business sites should be by the new year. It has nearly a year of releases behind it, plugins have caught up with it, and it receives security fixes until December 2021.

What 7.4 brings

For developers, quite a lot: new ways to declare what kind of data a piece of code expects, a shorter way to write small functions, and a feature called preloading that can help some applications start faster.

For a site owner, the practical changes are smaller. Some sites will run a little faster, as they have with each 7.x version, and most of the new features only matter once plugins are written to use them.

It also marks a number of older ways of writing code as deprecated: still working, but due for removal, and now producing a warning each time they run.

Why release day is the wrong day

A new version reaches live business sites in stages, and today is the first stage, not the last.

Plugin and theme authors finish their testing once the final version is out, and those maintaining many products take weeks or months to get through them all.

Some commercial plugins are distributed in an encoded form, and run only once the decoder they rely on supports the new version.

Hosts add a new version to their control panels after their own testing, usually some weeks after release.

And the first few maintenance releases of any new version fix problems found once it is in wide use. Waiting for them costs nothing.

The job that cannot wait

A site still on 7.1 has until Sunday before flaws found in it stop being fixed. A site on 7.0 or 5.6 passed that point last winter.

The move from 7.1 to 7.3 is usually far gentler than the move from 5.6 to 7, which removed a long list of old functions. Most maintained plugins run on 7.3 unchanged.

It still belongs on a copy of the site first. Usually is not always, and the plugin nobody has updated since 2016 is the one that proves it.

For an online store, though, Sunday is not a reason to switch versions in the middle of Black Friday weekend.

Losing support is a risk that grows rather than one that arrives on the day. The first quiet weekday after Cyber Monday is soon enough.

A worked example

A property management company has a WordPress site with rental listings, a page for each building and a maintenance request form for tenants. It was running PHP 7.1.

In October the host emailed about the end of support for 7.1 and mentioned that 7.4 was due in late November. The office manager asked the developer whether to wait and go straight to 7.4.

The developer checked the listings plugin first, since the site depended on it. Its changelog recorded testing on 7.3 and said nothing yet about 7.4.

Waiting would have kept the site on an unsupported version for as long as the listings plugin took, with no date attached.

So a copy went to 7.3, the listings, building pages and request form were tested, and the live site switched on a weekday morning in early November.

Version 7.4 is on the list for the spring, once the listings plugin's changelog mentions it.

Signs a site is ready for 7.4

The host offers it in the control panel. WordPress itself is current: version 5.3, released earlier this month, included work to support 7.4.

The theme and every plugin have had updates whose changelogs mention 7.4, or their authors have confirmed support.

A copy of the site has run on 7.4 for a few days with a clean error log, checkout, forms and editing screens included.

For most small business sites, that combination arrives some time in the first half of next year. There is no prize for arriving sooner.

Warnings that end up on the page

Deprecation warnings are harmless in a log file. They are not harmless on the screen.

A live site should write errors and warnings to a log and never display them to visitors.

When display is switched on, the warning text appears at the top of pages, and on a checkout it can stop the page from working.

Ask whoever maintains the site to confirm that error display is off on the live site, whichever version it runs. It is a one-line setting, and it matters at every version change.

The counter-case

Some sites can move to 7.4 early. A small site with a handful of well-maintained plugins, and a developer who tests on a copy, may be ready within weeks.

A new site built from scratch this winter can reasonably target 7.4 from the start, since everything on it will be current.

And a custom application whose developer wants a particular 7.4 feature has its own good reason.

For everyone else the order is fixed: off 7.1 and older now, onto 7.3, and onto 7.4 once the plugins and the host are ready.

Before Sunday

  1. Check which PHP version your site runs.
  2. Book the upgrade if it is 7.1 or older.
  3. Target 7.3, not 7.4.
  4. Test on a copy before switching.
  5. Leave a store alone until after Cyber Monday.
  6. Turn off error display on the live site.
  7. Revisit 7.4 in the spring.

Step three is the one release day makes tempting to skip. Going straight to the newest version sounds like saving a step, and usually means waiting on plugins while the site sits on an unsupported one.

How to find your version, and what an upgrade involves, are covered in the PHP version your site runs on.

Frequently asked questions

Should I upgrade to PHP 7.4 now?

Not yet, for most business sites. Plugins, themes and hosts are still catching up, and the early maintenance releases fix problems found once a version is widely used.

What happens to PHP 7.1 on Sunday?

It stops receiving security fixes, so flaws found afterwards stay open. The site keeps working, but the risk grows from that date.

Which PHP version should my site run?

For most small business sites, 7.3 by the new year. It is fully supported, widely tested, and receives security fixes until December 2021.

Is moving from 7.1 to 7.3 risky?

Usually much less than the move from 5.6 to 7, and most maintained plugins run on 7.3 unchanged. It still belongs on a copy first.

When will my site be ready for 7.4?

When your host offers it, the theme and every plugin mention support, and a copy has run on it for days with a clean error log.

What are deprecation warnings?

Notices that code uses features due for removal. Harmless in a log, but if error display is switched on they appear on pages and can break a checkout.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Site still running PHP 7.1?

Send us the address. We will test it on 7.3 on a copy and plan the switch for a quiet weekday.

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