We are excited to announce the availability of PHP 8.3 on WordPress VIP. This version introduces a host of new features, improvements, and deprecations. Here are some of the key highlights:
- Typed class constants, dynamic class constant fetch.
- #[\Override] attribute for clearer method overriding. By adding the #[\Override] attribute to a method, PHP will ensure that a method with the same name exists in a parent class or in an implemented interface.
- Deep-cloning of readonly properties.
- json_validate() function allows to check if a string is syntactically valid JSON, while being more efficient than json_decode().
- The Random Extension that was added in PHP 8.2 was extended by a new method to generate random strings consisting of specific bytes only. This method allows the developer to easily generate random identifiers, such as domain names, and numeric strings of arbitrary length. Randomizer::getFloat() and Randomizer::nextFloat() methods were also added to generate random floats in an unbiased fashion.
There are new classes, interfaces, and functions, along with deprecations and backward compatibility breaks. This release emphasizes improved type safety and syntax clarity. For more details, visit the PHP 8.3 Release Announcement.
Testing your application with PHP 8.3
It’s always a good idea to test your application code with every new release of PHP.
WordPress VIP recommends that you use several methods to prepare for a PHP upgrade.
Scan your codebase for incompatibilities
Review the WordPress VIP documentation “Prepare application code for a PHP version upgrade” guide and perform the scan.
Test with the VIP Local Development Environment
We recommend using the VIP Local Development Environment to test your application code locally.
Create a new environment with PHP 8.3:
vip dev-env create --slug=mytestsite --php=8.3Or update an existing local environment with PHP 8.3:
vip dev-env update --slug=mytestsite --php=8.3Test with a non-production VIP Platform environment
To update your non-production environments to PHP 8.3, either use the Software Management feature in the VIP Dashboard, or run the vip config software update command with VIP-CLI. For example:
vip @mytestsite.testing config software update php 8.3
Please Note: Currently, our minimum supported version is 8.1. Security support for 8.1 ends on November 25, 2024. WordPress VIP will be looking to begin updating environments that are not on 8.2 or higher, up to 30 days prior to this date. A formal timeline will be shared in January 2024.
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