Backwards / forwards compatibility: 5.6 <- 5.6.30 -> 7.0

techstuff

I just finished building a site on 5.6.30 and I just found out that the server host is only running 5.6 or 7.0. Just wondering what the best way to go and what issues I may encounter during migration, also how to deal with them... :queasy:

NogDog

What is the sub version of 5.6 they're running (i.e. the 'x' in 5.6.x)? Generally within the same first "dot level" (.6) in this case, it would be unlikely that there are breaking changes. That being said, my inclination would be to test it in 7.0, and if it works, go with that, so that you can take advantage of its performance improvements.

Weedpacket

I, too, would prefer to go to the more recent version if feasible (7.2 is expected to be out by the end of the year) - there are reasons why new versions are made, after all - but going from 5.6.30 to an earlier 5.6 would likely be less work.

you can compare Migration 5.6-7.0 with Migration 5.5-5.6 with what you have to see if anything jumps out at you as "oh yeah, I'm doing that". Note that the latter is for upgrading from 5.5 to 5.6, so probably aren't relevant to you (the change to GMP's model, for example, came in with 5.6.0), but the pages for the individual features mentioned give finer-grained version histories.

Ultimately, it comes down to a matter of suck it and see - which is why a test suite is useful. The number of times I've seen a place scared to leave 5.2 because they have no idea if something in their huge hairy site would break in an upgrade....

techstuff

Not sure of the dot sub version running on the hosting server, NogDog -- all I could get out of them was 5.6 or 7.0 (they speak Icelandic). Since Wordpress recommends 7.0 with my current version (4.7.5), I'm going to go with that and hope for the best.

Tried running the PHP Compatibility Checker plugin to double check, but it failed because of something about CodeSniffer functions stripping out the \ character on Windows/localhost servers. Some workarounds were suggested but honestly they're way beyond my technical abilities (as in can't code my way out of a paperbag).

So yes, Weedpacket, I'm going to suck it and see. All else fails, I could go with 5.6. Barring that, a Windows host but I doubt they take bitcoins.... Lol