Based on statistics, over 80% of PHP websites continue to operate on PHP 7.4 or older versions. This situation poses security vulnerabilities, restricts the addition of new features, and can lead to unpredictable behavior on the site. The larger the project, the greater the potential risks associated with migrating to a new version. However, transitioning to PHP 8 is essential to ensure your product’s ongoing modernization. So, let’s discuss the most efficient and seamless methods for upgrading your web application to PHP8.
Why You Should Upgrade to PHP 8
When you realize that your current technology stack no longer aligns with your business requirements, one crucial decision to make is whether to migrate to new technologies or modernize your existing PHP application. Updating to PHP 8 brings several significant benefits and reasons why you should consider making the transition:
- Improved Performance: PHP 8 introduces a new Just-in-Time (JIT) compiler that optimizes code execution, resulting in faster performance and reduced response times for your web application.
- Enhanced Language Features: PHP 8 introduces new language features, including union types, named arguments, attributes, and more. These features improve code readability, and maintainability, and allow for more expressive and modern coding practices.
- Error Handling: PHP 8 introduces stricter type declarations, enabling better static analysis and reducing the likelihood of runtime errors. The new features, such as the null-safe operator and the mixed type, make handling and preventing common programming mistakes easier.
- Ecosystem and Compatibility: By updating to PHP 8, you ensure compatibility with the latest ecosystem developments and can take advantage of new features and improvements offered by popular PHP packages.
- Security and Bug Fixes: PHP 8 includes security enhancements and bug fixes, addressing vulnerabilities and improving the overall stability. Keeping your PHP installation up to date is crucial for maintaining a secure web application.
- Support and Longevity: PHP 8 is the latest version of PHP, which means it will receive active support, bug fixes, and security patches from the PHP development team. Staying on older versions may result in limited support and potential security vulnerabilities.
So, if you are ready to continue working with PHP and take full advantage of this technology in the future, let’s talk about how to upgrade your application step by step.
Migrating to PHP 8 Step by Step
To start the process, PHP developers need to containerize your application using Docker. It provides a convenient solution that allows you to encapsulate your PHP app within containers. By doing so, you can easily manage and switch between different versions of PHP on the same machine, ensuring flexibility and efficiency in your development and deployment workflows.
Step 1. Make sure your frameworks and libraries work with PHP 8
Сheck your frameworks’ documentation. If you find outdated versions of frameworks and libraries, it is advisable to prioritize upgrading them. Different frameworks have specific guides available to assist you in the upgrade process.
While PHP 7.4 is the latest release in the PHP 7.x series and it shares similarities with PHP 8.x, transitioning to PHP 7.4 first can make it easier to subsequently migrate to PHP 8.x. However, the best approach depends on the specific features of your project, and in some cases, it may be viable to directly upgrade to PHP 8.
Step 2. Update the PHP version
By utilizing Docker Compose, you can easily run your project with the desired PHP version. This allows for a streamlined and efficient process of managing different PHP environments within your development setup.
Step 3. Fix issues
When switching between PHP versions, it’s common to encounter bugs related to backward compatibility. Newer versions may introduce changes that cause certain functionalities to behave differently, such as modified function names. To ensure your source code is compatible with PHP 8.x, Rector is a highly effective tool. It assists in updating your codebase, making it ready for newer PHP versions.
Step 4. Verify results
To ensure that your code is free of issues, PHPStan can be utilized for comprehensive verification. Rector already incorporates PHPStan, simplifying the process. However, it’s important to note that automated testing may not always uncover all system vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is recommended to complement automated testing with manual testing. Collaborating with QA engineers can provide valuable assistance in identifying and resolving any identified issues.
This is it. You have migrated from PHP 7 to PHP 8. If you need more detailed instructions with code examples, you can find them in this PHP migration guide.
Wrapping Up
In every company, numerous diverse tasks often take precedence over updating web resources. This is especially true when web applications and websites appear to be working properly. While limitations and vulnerabilities may still be tolerable, their presence can gradually escalate and become troublesome.
The decision of when to proceed with the PHP 7 to 8 migration ultimately rests with each company. However, we strongly recommend undertaking the migration before encountering security gaps, crashes, increased downtime, degradation of user experience, and other related issues. It is advisable to act proactively rather than delaying the migration, as doing so could result in user frustration with your website or web application.
