PHP 8 has been released – get Silicon Dales to update your stack

PHP 8 was released on 26th November 2020. This is the latest version of PHP.

A note before update

Updating to PHP 8 is not without issues , particularly if you have older code. You will most likely get warnings and perhaps even errors coming from some of your scripts. If you’d like help upgrading your WordPress site to PHP 8, then please contact Silicon Dales.

Backup

Take a backup. You might have options for this in your hosting. Otherwise you can use a service such as UpDraft Plus.

Staging

Test updates in a staging environment using sandbox mode. This is especially important when you have custom scripts or older plugin versions.

Get it with Kinsta

PHP 8 is now available to all Kinsta clients in staging.

Test PHP 8 on Kinsta

Keep an eye out with other hosts

Other hosts will be rolling out PHP 8 in due course – keep an eye out in your panel for the options.

Devs – get it from the horse’s mouth

Here’s the page on the new version from the original source:

Read about and download PHP 8 from php.net

This site will also give you information about the PHP project and events.

Extra Info

There’s a good guide to the changes – including breaking changes – here:

Deprecation

PHP 7.2 will no longer have security support from 30th November 2020. Now is the time to plan your update to PHP 7.3 or above. Read more about the timeline for PHP versions here.

Help with error and warnings

Updating to PHP 8 is not without issues , particularly if you have older code. You may get warnings and perhaps even errors coming from some of your scripts. If you’d like help upgrading your WordPress site to PHP 8, then please contact Silicon Dales. Existing maintenance clients already with Silicon Dales will receive individual notifications about their PHP update.

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