Title: New version breaks PHP 5.2 compatibility
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# New version breaks PHP 5.2 compatibility

 *  Resolved [Stanislav Khromov](https://wordpress.org/support/users/khromov/)
 * (@khromov)
 * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/)
 * Since 0.9.9.9, the plugin no longer works with PHP 5.2 because of the new Piwik
   API that uses namespaces.
 * This needs to be put forward very clearly in the documentation for the plugin.
   Right now the readme just says “PHP 5 or higher is strictly required.”.
 * Also, there needs to be some sort of detection for PHP 5.2, because right now
   users just get a nice white blank screen when updating from 0.9.9.8 to 0.9.9.9.
 * (Yes I know PHP 5.2 is ancient, but some users still run it.)
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-piwik/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-piwik/)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  Plugin Author [braekling](https://wordpress.org/support/users/braekling/)
 * (@braekling)
 * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/#post-4872185)
 * Please see [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/0999-gets-me-an-error-for-whole-wordpress](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/0999-gets-me-an-error-for-whole-wordpress)
   regarding this issue.
 * The readme will be updated with the 0.9.9.10 release later this day.
 * **Important note:** PHP 5.2 is not only ancient… it reached its “end of life”
   status 3 years ago. Everybody who is still using PHP 5.2 should update as soon
   as possible, because the PHP team does not support PHP 5.2 anymore – this means
   no bug and especially _no security fixes_ anymore.
 *  [brucedwilliams](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brucedwilliams/)
 * (@brucedwilliams)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/#post-4872388)
 * It may well be the case that PHP v5.2 isn’t supported anymore. However, some 
   web hosts still use it by default and WordPress itself runs just fine on PHP 
   v5.2.
 * The minimum version of PHP supported by WP-Piwik should be clearly stated in 
   the change log and documentation. No excuse for incorrect information or omitted
   that.
 *  Plugin Author [braekling](https://wordpress.org/support/users/braekling/)
 * (@braekling)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/#post-4872389)
 * The minimum version supported by WP-Piwik is clearly stated in the documentation:
 * > Also PHP 5.3 or higher is strictly required.
 * If a web host still uses PHP 5.2 as default, which isn’t supported by the PHP
   developers **for over 3 years**, you should urgently tell them. Using deprecated
   software versions may cause critical security issues.
 *  Thread Starter [Stanislav Khromov](https://wordpress.org/support/users/khromov/)
 * (@khromov)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/#post-4872390)
 * braekling,
 * While I agree PHP 5.2 is old, it is still receiving security patches for Red 
   Hat and CentOS distributions until March 31, 2017, so I disagree about the security
   issues aspect, as all fixes are being backported to the 5.2 branch on RHEL / 
   CentOS.
 *  Thread Starter [Stanislav Khromov](https://wordpress.org/support/users/khromov/)
 * (@khromov)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/#post-4872391)
 * Another fun fact: almost half of all WordPress sites (42.9%) run PHP 5.2.
 * [http://wordpress.org/about/stats/](http://wordpress.org/about/stats/)
 *  Plugin Author [braekling](https://wordpress.org/support/users/braekling/)
 * (@braekling)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/#post-4872392)
 * Of course there may be some specialized solutions to keep 5.2 alive, but these
   are no “official PHP developer team backports”. Have a look at Debians description
   of backports:
 * > Backports cannot be tested as extensively as Debian stable, and backports are
   > provided on an as-is basis, with risk of incompatibilities with other components
   > in Debian stable. Use with care!
 * I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to take care on software buried several years
   ago by its own developers – I also won’t test WP-Piwik with WordPress 3.5 or 
   less just because of more than 50% of WordPress sites still running old copies.
 * And at least: Piwik itself asks for PHP 5.3 since Piwik 2.0, see [http://piwik.org/faq/troubleshooting/faq_17045/](http://piwik.org/faq/troubleshooting/faq_17045/)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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 * 6 replies
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 * Last reply from: [braekling](https://wordpress.org/support/users/braekling/)
 * Last activity: [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/new-version-breaks-php-52-compatibility/#post-4872392)
 * Status: resolved