New Xampp (PHP 7.0.1, MariaDB 10.1.9) compatibility

  • Hello everybody!

    I used to make brand new WordPress installations on Xampp on Windows 7 as default development environment.

    Yesterday I decided to try Windows 10, so I made a fresh installation of the OS. Looking for my favourite development environment on https://www.apachefriends.org, I noticed that the newest version of Xampp is now shipped with PHP 7.0.1 and MariaDB 10.1.9.

    I would like to know if latest versions of WordPress are fully compatible with these new features, if there are known issues, or if its installation is even discouraged.

    Thank in advance for your help!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Dion

    (@diondesigns)

    WordPress itself will work with PHP 7.0, but many plugins/themes (primarily older ones) will not. Basically, any plugin/theme that uses the mysql extension will cause WordPress to crash, and any plugin/theme that uses indirect ($$) references or the /e modifier with preg_replace() will not work correctly.

    You may also have some issues with MariaDB 10 if you enable features that are not part of MySQL.

    I use PHP 7.0.2 in a test environment, and it’s an incredible product. Scripts run 50-60% faster then PHP 5.6, and they require 30% less memory. My preference is to skip the localhost panels such as XAMPP/WAMP/MAMP and install the binaries directly. For Windows, Apache can be obtained from https://www.apachelounge.com/download/ and PHP can be obtained from https://windows.php.net/download/ and MySQL can be obtained from https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.6.html (login is required to obtain MariaDB). I load MySQL as a service and load Apache/PHP only when I need it.

    Thread Starter MKay

    (@mongia)

    Thanks for the informations, I think I’ll try to skip localhost panels too.

    So, plugins and themes claimed “100% working” with the last version of WP should work also in the environment that you described, right?

    Dion

    (@diondesigns)

    A plugin that “100% works” with the latest version of WordPress can be 100% incompatible with PHP 7.0. The PHP requirement for WordPress is 5.2.4, and you would be surprised at the number of old plugins/themes that use ancient, insecure PHP garbage like register_globals and magic_quotes. (Plugins/themes which haven’t been updated in years should be removed from the repository, but that’s a completely different topic.)

    I’d bet that very few plugin/theme authors are doing testing with PHP 7.0. In fact, based on my personal experience, I’d bet that a surprisingly large percentage don’t even know PHP 7.0 exists. Perhaps www.remarpro.com should add a “compatible with PHP 7.0” box in every plugin/theme display to force authors to start thinking about this incredible product.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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