PHP Versions Stats - 2016.2 Edition

[Beluga]

https://seld.be/notes/php-versions-stats-2016-2-edition

Data comes from packagist. New versions are being adopted faster and faster. Something to consider, when thinking of PW minimum requirements. PW is still saying 5.3.8 is the minimum.

May 2016

All versions			Grouped
PHP 5.5.9	11.87%		PHP 5.6	39.67%
PHP 7.0.6	10.39%		PHP 5.5	29.56%
PHP 5.6.20	8.41%		PHP 7.0	20.24%
PHP 5.6.21	7.69%		PHP 5.4	7.64%
PHP 5.6.19	4.71%		PHP 5.3	2.43%

 

November 2016

All versions			Grouped
PHP 7.0.12	8.58%		PHP 5.6	37.46%
PHP 5.5.9	8.25%		PHP 7.0	35.01%
PHP 7.0.11	7.62%		PHP 5.5	18.93%
PHP 7.0.8	6.92%		PHP 5.4	5.40%
PHP 5.6.26	6.12%		PHP 5.3	1.60%
PHP 5.6.27	4.49%		PHP 7.1	1.36%

[LostKobrakai]

As we're now using composer this might become a bit more relevant, but this is really missing out all those systems, where composer isn't being run. There are certainly a lot of servers / hosters out there which are fine with running old version of php for those wordpress and other clicky install cms's. I'd certainly like to see ProcessWire up the requirements in php version, especially as everything below 5.6 is EOL, but Ryan seems to like keeping ProcessWire as compatible, even to shitty hosters, as possible.

[Beluga]

15 minutes ago, LostKobrakai said:

As we're now using composer this might become a bit more relevant, but this is really missing out all those systems, where composer isn't being run. There are certainly a lot of servers / hosters out there which are fine with running old version of php for those wordpress and other clicky install cms's. I'd certainly like to see ProcessWire up the requirements in php version, especially as everything below 5.6 is EOL, but Ryan seems to like keeping ProcessWire as compatible, even to shitty hosters, as possible.

Sure. It's a lot more work to paint a more realistic picture, which requires data from shared hosts. I did it in 2014 by looking at 67 Finnish shared webhosts and emailing them, if data was not publicly available. The result was that 58 of them had a version >= 5.4 by summer 2014.

Other sources of information:

http://phpversions.info/shared-hosting/

https://ma.ttias.be/why-were-still-seeing-php-5-3-in-the-wild-or-php-versions-a-history/

Webhosts that don't offer the ability to switch PHP versions can be considered incompetent at this point. This is why the stats from Mattias might not be indicative of the ability to use more recent versions. The users are just lazy and don't flip the switch.

[LostKobrakai]

1 minute ago, Beluga said:

The users are just lazy and don't flip the switch.

It's not only the users, it's also lazy hosters. In shared hosting environments some hosters only support a single php version per server. So the hoster cannot update because of potential incompatibilities for the users and the users cannot (easily) change the php version, because they're supposed to move their site to a whole different server. In the worst case both don't really care.

[Beluga]

23 minutes ago, LostKobrakai said:

It's not only the users, it's also lazy hosters. In shared hosting environments some hosters only support a single php version per server. So the hoster cannot update because of potential incompatibilities for the users and the users cannot (easily) change the php version, because they're supposed to move their site to a whole different server. In the worst case both don't really care.

Well my point was that these lazy hosters are getting their asses kicked by the competition and are in the minority now.

If you look at the table in http://phpversions.info the single-version hosters stick out like a sore thumb. They're basically offenders in such context.

[LostKobrakai]

Well, the hoster I had that issue with wouldn't even be listed in such a overview. It's a small hosting company of probably <5 people. My client liked the personal support there, but there where only running of the shelf debian with the stock 5.3 just a year ago.

[szabesz]

6 minutes ago, Beluga said:

table in http://phpversions.info

I doubt the validity of this list and any other attempts to get usable statistics in this regard. For example, they do not list PHP 7.0 for 1&1, but this is the screenshot I've just made (note that they simplify 7.0.x to 7.0 on this screen):

Spoiler

 

[Beluga]

11 minutes ago, szabesz said:

I doubt the validity of this list and any other attempts to get usable statistics in this regard. For example, they do not list PHP 7.0 for 1&1, but this is the screenshot I've just made (note that they simplify 7.0.x to 7.0 on this screen):

 

Patches welcome: https://github.com/philsturgeon/phpversions.info/blob/master/_data/hosts.yml