Requirements PHP Version plugin error with False positive

[cristiano.zanca]

Hi, in a local LEMP with NGINX and no APACHE,
phpinfo() show this PHP version PHP Version 7.2.15-1+0~20190209065123.16+stretch~1.gbp3ad8c0

I want to install and test my plugin ​https://wordpress.org/plugins/woo-fattureincloud/ that has minimum requirements PHP 7.1

=== WooCommerce Fattureincloud ===
Contributors: cristianozanca
Tags: fattureincloud, fattura elettronica, fatturazione elettronica
Requires at least: 4.6
Tested up to: 5.1
Requires PHP: 7.1

and an error is displayed

[cristiano.zanca]

Mark Wolinski says it may be the additional text on the PHP version number that’s causing the issue, @nerrad add that "The check is being done via:
version_compare( phpversion(), $plugin['requires_php'], '>=' )"

[nerrad]

I incorrectly informed @cristiano.zanca that this was a bug because in the test I did I included the PHP Version string :( .

Example:

var_dump( version_compare( 'PHP Version 7.2.15-1+0~20190209065123.16+stretch~1.gbp3ad8c0', '7.1', '>=' ) );

Instead, the correct test doing this:

var_dump( version_compare( '7.2.15-1+0~20190209065123.16+stretch~1.gbp3ad8c0', '7.1', '>=' ) );

returns the expected true value.

For future proofing against possible string issues we _could_ still use the constants as mentioned below but for all intents and purposes this does not appear to be a bug right now.

Alternatively, using the php version constants might be better here: PHP_MAJOR_VERSION, PHP_MINOR_VERSION, PHP_RELEASE_VERSION. That will ensure we're only comparing on the important values, so something like:

$server_php_version = implode( '.', array( PHP_MAJOR_VERSION, PHP_MINOR_VERSION, PHP_RELEASE_VERSION ) );
$compatible_php = ( empty( $plugin['requires_php'] ) || version_compare($server_php_version, $plugin['requires_php'], '>=' ) );

[TimothyBlynJacobs]

The PHP_VERSION_ID constant is also a possibility.

​http://php.net/manual/en/function.phpversion.php#example-567

[swissspidy]

Closing as per discussion on Slack: ​https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C60K3MP2Q/p1551712706035200