Upgrade minimum PHP version to 7.4

[acicovic]

Description

With this PR, we're upgrading the required minimum PHP version to v7.4.

Motivation and context

• More context can be found in Upgrade minimum PHP version to 7.4 #3418.
• Closes Upgrade minimum PHP version to 7.4 #3418.

How has this been tested?

Automated testing passes. Tests against PHP 7.2/7.3 are expected to stall/fail.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Chores
  • Updated the minimum required PHP version to 7.4 in documentation, plugin metadata, and configuration files.
  • Adjusted automated test workflows to remove support for PHP 7.2 and 7.3.
  • Updated code analysis tools to check compatibility with PHP 7.4 and above.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The minimum supported PHP version for the project has been increased from 7.2 to 7.4. This change is reflected across documentation, configuration files, Composer requirements, static analysis rules, and GitHub Actions workflows for both integration and unit tests, with older PHP versions removed from test matrices.

Changes

Files/Paths	Change Summary
.github/workflows/integration-tests.yml, .github/workflows/unit-tests.yml	Removed PHP 7.2 and 7.3 from test matrices; removed conditional MySQL step for <=7.3.
.phpcs.xml.dist	Updated PHPCompatibilityWP sniff to require PHP 7.4+.
README.md	Updated minimum required PHP version from 7.2 to 7.4.
composer.json	Changed PHP version requirement from ">=7.2" to ">=7.4".
wp-parsely.php	Updated plugin header to require PHP 7.4 minimum.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
    participant Developer
    participant CI Workflow
    participant Composer
    participant StaticAnalyzer

    Developer->>README.md: Update PHP min version to 7.4
    Developer->>composer.json: Set PHP requirement to >=7.4
    Developer->>wp-parsely.php: Update plugin header to 7.4
    Developer->>CI Workflow: Remove PHP 7.2/7.3 from test matrix
    Developer->>StaticAnalyzer: Set PHPCompatibilityWP to 7.4
    CI Workflow->>Composer: Install dependencies (PHP >=7.4)
    CI Workflow->>StaticAnalyzer: Run compatibility checks (PHP 7.4+)

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Assessment against linked issues

Objective (Issue #)	Addressed	Explanation
Upgrade minimum PHP version to 7.4 (#3418)	✅

Possibly related PRs

• .phpcs.xml.dist: Update PHP and WordPress version numbers #2739: Updates minimum PHP version compatibility in .phpcs.xml.dist, similar to this PR's update from 7.2 to 7.4.

Suggested reviewers

• alecgeatches

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📜 Recent review details

Configuration used: .coderabbit.yaml
Review profile: CHILL
Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 14dd609 and 2f9824e.

📒 Files selected for processing (6)

• .github/workflows/integration-tests.yml (1 hunks)
• .github/workflows/unit-tests.yml (1 hunks)
• .phpcs.xml.dist (1 hunks)
• README.md (1 hunks)
• composer.json (1 hunks)
• wp-parsely.php (1 hunks)

🧰 Additional context used

📓 Path-based instructions (1)

`**/*.{html,php}`: "Perform a detailed review of the provided code with following key aspects in mind: - Review the HTML and PHP code to ensure it is well-structured and adheres ...

**/*.{html,php}: "Perform a detailed review of the provided code with following key aspects in mind:

• Review the HTML and PHP code to ensure it is well-structured and adheres to best practices.
• Ensure the code follows WordPress coding standards and is well-documented.
• Confirm the code is secure and free from vulnerabilities.
• Optimize the code for performance, removing any unnecessary elements.
• Validate comments for accuracy, currency, and adherence to WordPress coding standards.
• Ensure each line comment concludes with a period.
• Verify code compatibility with the latest version of WordPress, avoiding deprecated functions or features."

• wp-parsely.php

🔇 Additional comments (7)

README.md (1)

6-6: README updated to require PHP 7.4.
The “Requires PHP: 7.4” directive aligns with the new project baseline and follows WordPress readme standards.

wp-parsely.php (1)

21-21: Plugin header Requires PHP bumped to 7.4.
This matches the updated composer requirement and CI matrices.

composer.json (1)

15-15: composer.json php version constraint updated to >=7.4.
Aligned with the new minimum PHP baseline across the project.

.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml (1)

33-33: Unit tests matrix now starts at PHP 7.4.
PHP 7.2 and 7.3 have been removed and tests correctly run on 7.4+.

.phpcs.xml.dist (1)

35-35: PHPCompatibilityWP testVersion set to 7.4-.
Static analysis will now enforce compatibility for PHP 7.4 and above.

.github/workflows/integration-tests.yml (2)

32-32: Update PHP matrix to match new minimum requirement
Removed PHP 7.2 and 7.3 entries, leaving only 7.4+ in the test matrix to align with the upgraded minimum PHP version.

---

1-102:

Details

✅ Verification successful

Verify removal of legacy PHP versions across CI configs
Double-check that no other workflow or CI configuration still references PHP 7.2 or 7.3 to prevent blind spots.

---

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
# Search for remaining PHP 7.2 or 7.3 references in workflows
rg -Hn "php:.*'(7\.2|7\.3)'" .github/workflows

Length of output: 54

---

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
# Search for any references to PHP 7.2 or 7.3 across all workflow files
rg -Hn "7\.2|7\.3" .github/workflows

Length of output: 38

---

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
# Search for any references to PHP 7.2 or 7.3 across all YAML files in the repo
rg -Hn "7\.2|7\.3" -g "*.yml" -g "*.yaml"

Length of output: 43

---

No legacy PHP versions detected in CI workflows
I’ve searched all workflow and YAML files and found no remaining references to PHP 7.2 or 7.3.

✨ Finishing Touches

• 📝 Generate Docstrings

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[alecgeatches]

🎉