As you may already know, Microsoft is officially supporting the PHP interpreter on Windows. The company provides support for building and applying security patches to Windows binaries of PHP.
However, this will no longer be true for PHP 8.0 and above. Microsoft will drop official support of PHP 8 on Windows.
Microsoft engineer Dale Hirt confirmed the change on the PHP mailing list. He warning that the Windows was not “going to be supporting PHP for Windows in any capacity for version 8.0 and beyond.”
We know that the current rate is 2 years from release for bug fixes, and one year later for security fixes. This means that PHP 7.2 will be out of support in November. PHP 7.3 will enter security patch mode only in November. PHP 7.4 will continue to have another year of bug fixes and then a year of security patches. We are committed to maintaining the development and build of PHP on Windows for 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 as long as they are officially supported. We are not, however, going to support PHP for Windows in any capacity for version 8.0 and above.
Microsoft has provided support for the development and construction of the PHP programming language on Windows. This support includes the development of security patches for PHP and the creation of native versions of Windows.
So, what is the future for PHP 8 on Windows?
In addition to add clarity to Hirt’s message, Sara Release Golemon, responsible for PHP versions, posted on Reddit. She explaining that this does not mean that PHP 8.0 will not be supported in Windows. It just means that Microsoft won’t be the only one to build and support it.
In addition Sara Golemon said: “I won’t say I’m not bummed,” before expressing the hope that some sort of alternative might be worked out by the end of the year, when version 8 is due to drop.
PHP 8.0 is scheduled for release in November 2020.
