PHP 7.4: The End of an Era

No more security updates for PHP 7.4

PHP 7 was released in January 2019, and after nearly four years of 7.x service the 7.4 branch reaches end of security support on November 28, 2022.

PHP 8.0 is already two years old and about to reach end of active support on November 26, but it has security support for another year. PHP 8.1 is actively supported for one more year, and has security support until November 2024. And PHP 8.2 is in RC 6 and expected to be released in December. Here's PHP's supported versions overview.

If you are using PHP 7 as supplied by your distribution vendor, like Debian or Ubuntu for instance, you could still receive security support from that vendor for several more years. But don't take my word for it, please verify that! If you are running PHP 7 straight from the source, so to speak, it's high time to get that migration going. Either to PHP 8, or to a distro with continued support for 7.x.

PHP 8.0 and 8.1 offers considerable performance improvements and new features. The current Ibexa DXP v4.3 supports PHP 7.4 as well as 8.0 and 8.1. However, when Ibexa DXP v5 is released, it will be based on Symfony 6.1 or newer, which requires PHP 8.1. So v4.x is the definite final curtain call for PHP 7 on the Ibexa scene, and v5 will give PHP 8 its place in the limelight.