[development] Go PHP 5, Go!

[Derek Wright]

On Jun 26, 2007, at 5:20 AM, Karen Stevenson wrote:

> why not add 'minimum php version' to the .info file, and show  
> modules that require php5 as disabled on the modules list if php5  
> isn't available. This would be a fairly simple thing that could  
> still be slipped into 6.x that would allow us to start creating  
> contrib modules that require php5 and get users thinking about the  
> advantages of php5 so they start putting pressure on hosts to upgrade.

People interested in this should see my patch for D6 (which  
thankfully already landed) to do the same with a "core" attribute in  
the .info file to prevent D6 core from enabling D5 modules:

http://drupal.org/node/146910

You could probably re-use much of the same code/UI/logic from that  
patch.


On to the bigger question:

- Once D7 is about to be released and we have actual facts about php5  
availability for our user base (not speculation like "70% of our  
users will be left behind"), we can very publicly announce that we're  
going to extend the support life-cycle of D6 core, and encourage  
module maintainers to do the same.  Killes suggested this originally,  
and it's clearly a great idea.

- We have a ton of tools now to make this extended support good  
(release system, extra branches for older versions of core,  
update_status, etc). If anything, giving D6 a little more time to  
live will be a good thing, and will leave less of our users behind  
than our current frenzied release cycles (which are great for us  
developers, don't get me wrong -- +1 on the drop always moving).

- The Drupal project continuing to support D6 until it's "safe" to  
completely drop php4 is much less destructive for us than Drupal core  
continuing to support php4 indefinitely.

Cheers,
-Derek (dww)