Readme: Update recommendations (include MariaDB) to reflect https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/

[Presskopp]

The readme.html misses MariaDB:

​https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/ recommends:
PHP version 7 or greater
MySQL version 5.6 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.0 or greater

readme:
MySQL version 5.6 or higher.

[pento]

I'm cool with making this change, but let's wait until after #30462 - running the test suite against MariaDB is helpful in declaring it properly supported.

As with MySQL and PHP, the recommended version should be dependent the dates declared in the MariaDB ​Maintenance Policy.

[desrosj]

I'd like to prioritize this for 5.9.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/41490

[audrasjb]

PR available for this change :)

[audrasjb]

Changing this ticket into a task.

[audrasjb]

The PR above is almost ready. Self-assigning the ticket.

[audrasjb]

As per yesterday's bug scrub, I'm committing the first part (add MariaDB recommendation), then I'll reopen the ticket to see if the Unit Test part can land in 5.9 or not.

[audrasjb]

In 52319:

General: Add MariaDB in the readme.html requirements.

This change updates the WordPress readme.html file to reflect WordPress.org requirements: as of WordPress 5.9, MariaDB 10.1 and higher versions are supported by WP. See ​https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/.

Fixes #41490.

[audrasjb]

Reopening to see if we can add some unit tests for this.

Worth noting that we recently deactivated the test for the PHP version. Also, the same goes for MariaDB: we recommend to use 10.1 and greater on w.org but the last supported version on MariaDB’s side is 10.2.

[JavierCasares]

Only FYI… Now, we are recommending:

— PHP version 7.4 or greater.
— MySQL version 5.6 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.1 or greater.
— HTTPS support

OK to PHP 7.4+

MySQL, the latest GA available version is MySQL 5.7 / 8.0 (5.6 is not supported anymore)

Same with MariaDB. Now, the latest GA version supported is MariaDB 10.2…

Should we recommend unsupported / insecure versions?

We should clarify if this page is for "requirements" or "recommendations" because, as requirements, WordPress may work with many older versions, but as recommended we should not propose unsupported versions.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to JavierCasares:

We should clarify if this page is for "requirements" or "recommendations" because, as requirements, WordPress may work with many older versions, but as recommended we should not propose unsupported versions.

I agree we should not recommend unsupported or insecure versions.

The ​Requirements page looks like a mix of both recommendations and requirements, with the recommendations at the top and the actual requirements a bit further down:

Note: If you are in a legacy environment where you only have older PHP or MySQL versions, WordPress also works with PHP 5.6.20+ and MySQL 5.0+, but these versions have reached official End Of Life and as such may expose your site to security vulnerabilities.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 52358:

General: Mark the recommended MariaDB version number in readme.html with a <strong> tag.

This brings consistency with the MySQL version number.

Follow-up to [52319].

See #41490.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 52418:

Tests: Separate the tests for recommended PHP and MySQL versions in readme.html

This aims to simplify the individual tests and reduce duplication using a helper function.

Follow-up to [52260], [52319], [52358].

See #41490.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

Replying to JavierCasares:

We should clarify if this page is for "requirements" or "recommendations" because, as requirements, WordPress may work with many older versions, but as recommended we should not propose unsupported versions.

I agree we should not recommend unsupported or insecure versions.

Created ​#meta5999 to update these recommendations on WordPress.org.

[SergeyBiryukov]

It looks like the unit test for MySQL version may need some adjustment, as it did not pick up the EOL for MySQL 5.6.

Per ​MySQL Technical Support page, Oracle actively supports MySQL releases for 5 years from GA release. At a glance, the test aims to make sure that the recommended MySQL version in readme.html is not older than 5 years, but in that case, it should retrieve the date of the first GA release to compare, not the latest one.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 52420:

General: Bump the recommended MySQL and MariaDB versions in readme.html.

• MySQL 5.6 has reached EOL (“End of Life”) in February 2021. The recommended minimum is bumped to 5.7 for now.
• MariaDB 10.1 has reached EOL in October 2020. The recommended minimum is bumped to 10.2 for now.

Follow-up to [31291], [35759], [52319], [52358], ​[meta11407].

Props JavierCasares, SergeyBiryukov.
See #41490, ​#meta5999.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

It looks like the unit test for MySQL version may need some adjustment, as it did not pick up the EOL for MySQL 5.6.

Per ​MySQL Technical Support page, Oracle actively supports MySQL releases for 5 years from GA release. At a glance, the test aims to make sure that the recommended MySQL version in readme.html is not older than 5 years, but in that case, it should retrieve the date of the first GA release to compare, not the latest one.

Fixing the test has an interesting effect: it flags MySQL 5.7 as outdated too.

This appears to be correct: per the ​MySQL 5.7 release notes, the first GA release of 5.7 was on 2015-10-21, more than 5 years ago. Per the Technical Support page linked above, this means that 5.7 moved from active support to extended support on 2020-10-21.

To prevent the test from failing, we have three options:

1. Update the recommended version to MySQL 8.0.
2. Extend the "supported" period from 5 to 8 years, which includes extended support.
3. Disable the test for now, like we did for PHP in [52260] / #54528.

As WordPress core is not fully compatible with MySQL 8.0 yet (see #49364, #51740, #52496), I think we can go with option 2 for now, but I'm open to other suggestions.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 52421:

Tests: Correct the check for the recommended MySQL version in readme.html.

This updates the regular expression in the test to retrieve the date of the first, instead of the last, GA release for the recommended MySQL branch, in order to properly track the EOL date.

Additionally, as the currently recommended MySQL 5.7 branch moved from active support to extended support on 2020-10-21, and WordPress core is not fully compatible with MySQL 8.0 at this time, this commit increases the “supported” period from 5 to 8 years to include extended support.

Follow-up to [31291], [35759], ​[meta11407], [52420].

See #41490.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 52424:

Tests: Add a unit test for the recommended MariaDB version in readme.html.

Per the ​MariaDB maintenance policy, MariaDB releases are supported for 5 years from the first stable (GA) release.

The test ensures that the recommended MariaDB version in readme.html is not older than 5 years.

Follow-up to [31291], [35759], [52319], [52358], [52418], ​[meta11407], [52420], [52421].

Fixes #41490.

Different patches were committed. Closing as the ticket is closed.