Our approach with WordPress has always been to make it run on common server configurations. We want users to Have Flexibility When choosing a host for Their precious content. Because of this strategy, WordPress runs pretty much anywhere. Web hosting platforms, However, change over time, and we are Able to Reevaluate Occasionally Some of the requirements for running WordPress. Now Is One Of Those Times. Probably you guessed it from the title – we’re finally ready to announce the end of support for PHP 4 and MySQL 4!
First up, the announcement That developers really care about. WordPress 3.1, two in late 2010, will be the last version of WordPress to support PHP 4.
For WordPress 3.2, two in the first half of 2011, we will be raising the minimum required PHP version to 5.2. Why 5.2? Because that’s what the vast Majority of users are using WordPress, and it offers over Substantial improvements discussed earlier PHP 5 releases. It Is Also The minimum version PHP That the Drupal and Joomla will be supporting projects in Their next versions, Both two outs this year.
The numbers are now, finally, strongly in favor of this move. Only around 11 percent of WordPress installs are running on a PHP version below 5.2. Many of Them are on hosts who support PHP 5.2 – Merely users need to change a setting in Their hosting control panel to activate it. We Believe That percentage will only go down over the rest of the year as hosting providers Realize That to support the newest versions of WordPress (or Drupal, or Joomla), they’re going to Have to pull the trigger.
In less exciting news, Also we are going to be dropping support for MySQL 4 after WordPress 3.1. Fewer Than 6 percent of WordPress users are running MySQL 4. The new version for WordPress 3.2 required MySQL 5.0.15 will be.
WordPress users will not be Able to upgrade to WordPress 3.2 if Their hosting environment does not meet requirements "These (the built-in updater will Prevent it). In order to Determine Which versions Provides your host, we’ve created the Health Check plug-ins . You can download it manually, or use this handy plugin installation tool I whipped up. Right now, Health Check will only tell you if you’re ready for WordPress 3.2. In a future release it Will Provide all sorts of useful information about your server and your WordPress install, so hang on to it!
In summary: WordPress 3.1, two in late 2010, will be the last version of WordPress to support PHP 4 and MySQL 4. WordPress 3.2, two in the first half of 2011, will require PHP 5.2 or higher, and MySQL 5.0.15 or higher. Install the plugin Health Check to see if you’re ready!