When can we expect 8.2 support? The fact that we’re still waiting for this is troubling when I thought the whole idea of re-doing how the PHP versions were handled was so that we can get PHP versions before they are out on production.
Hi @arecian - thanks for popping into the forums! I’m going to move this over to our Feature Requests category and update the title so that we can group requests for PHP 8.2.
Short answer: this project is next up on our list and we’ll be starting after our next release (
out for that soon). Since it is a minor version bump from the last PHP release, it should be more straightforward than when we released PHP 8.0.
Longer answer: Our roadmap follows a Now, Next, Later format internally, and the top of our Next column is:
- PHP 8.2 support, and
- Modernizing the Connect to WP Engine workflow, as this requires a separate binary that ships with Local and isn’t API-driven like you’d expect.
This means once we complete our current work (next release), this is where we head next. We’re working on finding a way to make our roadmap more public so that users have a better idea of what to expect (if you have examples of other tools you use that have done this and that you like, let me know!).
Related to the effort - we’ve also been trying internally to dual-track some community efforts to get the “beta support” tag removed from PHP 8/8.1/8.2 on WordPress. As you can imagine, that is an uphill battle. To date, getting enough community support to get that over the hump has been tough. PHP Compatibility and WordPress Versions – Make WordPress Core. We’ll keep working with our Developer Relations team and the WordPress community where it makes sense, but if you have ideas on how we can continue pushing that discussion in the right direction, let me know!
Thanks for the update, Austin. For those of us that use Local to make sure our WordPress products are compatible with PHP versions as they are released, it’s really important to have them available sooner rather than later so it’s great to know it’s on the priority list and is coming in the next couple months (I hope, that’s me looking at when prior releases have come out).
As for the WP beta support, I checked the Make blog and didn’t see any dev notes in regards to PHP version for the upcoming WP release this month but I have seen people inquire about that in #core in the WP slack and get some responses so maybe have your developer relations team try that (if they haven’t already).
I think that having support in tools like Local is a vital part of making progress on efforts like this. Local is used by developers who are working toward things like full PHP 8.0/8.1/8.2 compatibility, so not having access to them in the Local environment can slow that down.
That’s why I’m glad we’ve got 8.0 & 8.1 right now, and I’m really looking forward to 8.2. Glad to hear 8.2 support is next on the roadmap!
That said, it would be helpful to have access to the latest versions of 8.0 and 8.1. Currently we have the 04 August 2022 releases 8.0.22 and 8.1.9 (most recent are 8.0.28 and 8.1.16, released 14 Feb 2023). I’d prefer not to be six months out of date on bugfixes in my dev environment.
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(Can I also pop in here and remind you when you’re building PHP 8.2 (and hopefully 8.1 and 8.0) to include all the necessary libraries - including imagick. Thanks!)
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I’d like to add that this should be highest priority as PHP 8.2 continues the trend of changing warnings into Fatal errors. PHP 8.x releases are really unlike most other PHP releases and it really hurts those of us who use Local for our daily development and we are already well past the stage of needing to be fully compatible with PHP 8.2. 
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Couldn’t agree more! The PHP versions need to be out in advance of them being released or at least very shortly after or how are we to stay on top of things? It’s been out for months at this point.
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+1 on staying ahead on PHP versions so we can test easier.
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Hello all! Sharing an update here just to let you know this has been on the team’s roadmap and should be rolling out in Q2. We’ll post an update here once it’s out and there will also be notes on our releases page as well: Releases - Local
I understand this is now planned, but LocalWP is obviously a developer tool and it really ought to be adding PHP Version support when that version hits RC (3 months before GA), not waiting until 3 months AFTER general availability… or 6 months in this case.
But hey, the “beta” label on core is way more embarrassing… At this rate PHP 8.0 is going to be EOL before core removes it’s beta flag…
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Agreed. Supposedly they only have that beta label because of they can’t account for themes and plugins being compatible but I’m not sure how that is relevant to how to classify core PHP 8 support.
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Yeah. That this “would be a problem” was identified 10 years ago. #23880 (Minimum PHP version in Plugins) – WordPress Trac Only took us several trac tickets #40934 (Allow PHP version requirements for plugins & themes) – WordPress Trac and 7 years to finally get “minimum php version” and “tested up to” into the plug-in header #40934 (Allow PHP version requirements for plugins & themes) – WordPress Trac
I’ll be honest this is one I gave up on and thought it’d never actually land. Still plugins will never universally support it (most active do). I use a couple plugins that have been updated in 10 years, so obviously those will never have these flags.
I feel like at this point enough so support it that wp can reliably know if a site will be compatible with 8+ or at least advise a user which plugins “might not be compatible”.
For anyone needing it, Dev Kinsta has PHP 8.2.
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I’m going to have a look at Dev Kinsta if only to get PHP8.2 support. And in light of all the quirky problems with Local 6.7.0 on Mac with dodgy site indicators etc, it might be the appropriate time to jump ship.
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DevKinsta needs Docker running, right? I’ve had issues in the past with running Docker because it doesn’t seem to play nicely with VirtualBox - and I need VirtualBox as well.
I did migrate some sites out of LocalWP and into plain Docker to do some PHP8.0+imagick work but it crippled my VirtualBox… was a pain having to shut stuff down etc every time I needed one or the other.
It does require docker.
I can’t use DevKinsta though because you can’t use symlinked folders like you can with Local. That’s unfortunately a deal breaker. If they ever fix that, I’d give it a good test.
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lol 6.7.2 still does not have PHP 8.2.
I guess I will be re-looking at MAMP because this is ridiculous.
I had to move on to MAMP between the lack of PHP 8.2 support, the SSL annoyance, and this new notice about my site domain and ports but the site still works.
I do hope to see Local be able to support PHP versions before they come out instead of still waiting 6+ months after releases. PHP 8.3 is scheduled to be released in 4 months.
@austinwendt can we get an update on 8.2 support in LocalWP? Most of the hosts we use are supporting 8.2 now and we really need to be able to test locally on 8.2.
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Hey @jb510 - thanks for the ping! You bet, happy to give an update.
This is actively being worked on by the engineering team. We’re in the process of moving our PHP build pipelines to a new CI tool and then we should be ready to compile and make PHP 8.2 available in Local. This won’t require downloading a new version of Local, they’ll just appear as options in the dropdown when ready - I’ll make sure to post broadly so that is communicated!
As far as timeline, it won’t be until after the U.S. Holiday (Independence Day) as the engineers will be OOO. I’ll keep this thread posted!
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