Description

The WP Engine PHP Compatibility Checker can be used by any WordPress website on any web host to check PHP version compatibility.

This plugin will lint theme and plugin code inside your WordPress file system and give you back a report of compatibility issues for you to fix. Compatibility issues are categorized into errors and warnings and will list the file and line number of the offending code, as well as the info about why that line of code is incompatible with the chosen version of PHP. The plugin will also suggest updates to themes and plugins, as a new version may offer compatible code.

This plugin does not execute your theme and plugin code, as such this plugin cannot detect runtime compatibility issues.

Please note that linting code is not perfect. This plugin cannot detect unused code-paths that might be used for backwards compatibility, and thus might show false positives. We maintain a whitelist of plugins that can cause false positives. We are continuously working to ensure the checker provides the most accurate results possible.

This plugin relies on WP-Cron to scan files in the background. The scan will get stuck if the site’s WP-Cron isn’t running correctly. Please see the FAQ for more information.

Update to PHP 7.3

Use this plugin to check your site for compatibility up to PHP 7.3!
As of July 2019, 20.1% of WordPress websites run a PHP version older than PHP 5.6.
These versions of PHP have been deprecated and unsupported for over 2 years.
Only 54.1% of WordPress websites run PHP 7, the current main version of PHP.

Disclaimer

While this plugin is written to detect as many problems as accurately as possible, 100% reliable detection is very difficult to ensure. It is best practice to run comprehensive tests before you migrate to a new PHP version.

The plugin was created by WP Engine to help the WordPress community increase adoption of modern PHP versions. We welcome contributors to this plugin, and are excited to see how developers and other WordPress hosts use this plugin.

To disclose security issues for this plugin please email [email protected]
PHP Compatibility Checker includes WP-CLI command support:

wp phpcompat <version> [--scan=<scan>]


<version>
    PHP version to test.

[--scan=<scan>]
  Whether to scan only active plugins and themes or all of them.
  default: active
  options:
    - active
    - all

Example: wp phpcompat 7.2 --scan=active

Screenshots

Main screen: compatibility checker options
Compatibility results screen

Installation

Note: If you have WordPress 2.7 or above you can simply go to ‘Plugins’ > ‘Add New’ in the WordPress admin and search for “PHP Compatibility Checker” and install it from there.

To manually install:
1. Upload phpcompat to the /wpengine-wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

You will find the plugin options in the WP Admin Tools => PHP Compatibility menu. Once you click run it will take a few minutes to conduct the test. Feel free to navigate away from the page and check back later.

There are WP-CLI commands available see the Other Notes tab for details.

FAQ

Will this work outside of the WP Engine hosting account?

Yes, this plugin can be used any ANY WordPress website on ANY host.
Are there WP-CLI commands available?

Yes, this plugin does extend WP-CLI and provide commands. See the Other Notes tab for details.
A plugin I created is listed as not compatible, what should I do?

We maintain a whitelist of plugins that cause false positives. If your plugin shows up as incompatible but you think that is wrong, please open a GitHub issue on the project, or email [email protected] with info about your plugin and why you know it is compatible (you have automated tests, the failure is on backwards compatibility code paths, etc).
Can I use this to test non-WordPress PHP Projects?

Yes! While you cannot use this WordPress plugin to test your non-WordPress projects, you can use the Open Source PHPCompatibility Library that this plugin is built on.
Why was my plugin/theme skipped?

Some servers have timeouts to prevent long running queries, this is commonly 60 seconds. This can prevent the checker from being able to process large themes or plugins. You should check with your host to see if this timeout can be temporarily removed. The best way around this timeout issue is to run this plugin on a local copy of your site, or you can use the WP-CLI command.

You can use the filter wpephpcompat_scan_timeout to customize the scan timeout. See this for an example.

Setting the timeout to 0 disables the cron/timeout.
The scan is stuck, what can I do?

The PHP Compatibility Checker relies on WP-Cron to process plugins/themes in batches, this is necessary to avoid server timeouts. The scan will get stuck if your site’s WP-Cron isn’t functioning. You can look into this using WP Crontrol. The cron is called wpephpcompat_start_test_cron. This could also be an issue if your site is using basic authentication.

You can also use the WP-CLI command or disable the timeout to avoid using WP-Cron.
I found a bug, or have a suggestion, can I contribute back?

Yes! WP Engine has a public GitHub repo where you can contribute back to this plugin. Please open an issue on the Plugin GitHub. We actively develop this plugin, and are always happy to receive pull requests.

The plugin was created by WP Engine to help the WordPress community increase adoption of modern PHP versions. We welcome contributors to this plugin, and are excited to see how developers and other WordPress hosts use this plugin.

To disclose security issues for this plugin please email [email protected]

Reviews

allmaito September 29, 2021

I ran the script and it brought my server to its knees. I spent 2 hours trying to find out what the hell was happening. I highly recommend avoiding this plugin at all cost!

Evolvingdoor August 3, 2021

This plugin hasn't been updated for 2+ years and is obsolete, and therefore seems clear that it has been abandoned. However, I can't uninstall it from the WP plugin dashboard - I click deactivate and then Delete, and it says "Deleting..." but it gets stuck there. I don't like to leave it in the site since it seems it could become vulnerable to being hacked. Can someone please advise how to uninstall this plugin that has essentially died to the point where you can't even uninstall it? Is it as simple as just disabling or deleting the plugin directory via FTP?

Mr.Fitz July 24, 2021

No updates in 2 years? Never tested with the last 3 versions of WordPress? Old and slow,.. never completes the job. Kinda like me! :o\

July 14, 2021

the plugin analyses the compatibility with PHP 7.3 (which is supported only until end of 2021). It would be great if it would check compatibility with PHP 7.4 or 8.

Stacy (non coder) July 7, 2021

Couldn't finish scan of 100 plugins. 14 took all night with no results for those done.

outrospective April 21, 2021

My first 1 star rating. Firstly, the plugin does not work for php 8.0. Secondly it can not be deleted using the normal WordPress interface/process. Had to manually delete it from the server.

Read all 99 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“PHP Compatibility Checker” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

“PHP Compatibility Checker” has been translated into 21 locales. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.

Translate “PHP Compatibility Checker” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

1.5.2

Removed PHP 5.2 checks
Fixed PHP 8 issue where plugin cannot cannot be uninstalled.

1.5.1

Added Smart Plugin Manager to whitelisted plugins

1.5.0

Added support for PHP 7.3 compatibility checks

1.4.8

Update dependencies.

1.4.7

Better translation support.

1.4.6

Switched to new PHPCompatibilityWP library to help prevent false positives.

1.4.5

Use plugin version number to enqueue scripts and styles.

1.4.4

PHP 5.2 Support & PHP 7.1 and 7.2 Lints.
Updated call to action sidebar depending on platform.

1.4.3

Fixed Composer issue.

1.4.1

Updated PHP_CodeSniffer to fix a security advisory.
Whitelisted a number of plugins.

1.4.0

Updated UX for viewing PHP errors to be more intuitive and require less scrolling.
Added links for non-technical users who need assistance from developers to fix PHP errors or to test their site in PHP 7 enabled hosting environments.

1.3.2

Added a “Clean up” button and uninstall.php.
Added phpcompat_phpversions filter.

1.3.1

Whitelisted a number of plugins.

1.3.0

Updated the PHPCompatibility library to latest version. Should fix many false positives.
Changed language and added help text to Admin UI.

1.2.4

Fixed Composer issue.

1.2.3

Updated the PHPCompatibility library to latest version.
Whitelisted TablePress.

1.2.2

Whitelisted UpdraftPlus and Max Mega Menu.

1.2.1

Updated the PHPCompatibility library to latest version

1.2.0

Updated the PHPCompatibility library to latest version
Added support for PHP 5.6

1.1.2

Fixed issue with WordPress notices breaking the plugin header.
Changed the way we send and parse JSON.
You can now restart an in progress scan.
Updated download.js to v4.2 for better Safari compatibility.

1.1.1

Fixed bug with active job display.
Updated progress bar calculation.

1.1.0

Test results now persist page reloads.
Failed tests will show an overview of the results.
The scan timeout is now configurable using a filter. See the FAQ for more details.

1.0.3

Fixed a bug in the WP-CLI command
Added a handful of PHP 7 compatible plugins to the whitelist

1.0.2

Added additional role protections
Changed the UI colors to better understand output at a glance
Exclude checking node_modules and tmp directories
Added support for child theme’s parent theme

1.0.1

Updated compatibility library with a few bugfixes
Added skip logic to prevent checker from hanging

1.0.0

Major update to add PHP 7 checking support
Improved the UX of the progress bar
Fixed bug with the way the plugin menu was registered

0.1.0

Initial version
PHP 5.5, 5.4, and 5.3 Support
Basic WP-CLI Commands

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