Hi Daniel,

Thank you for the feedback, my question was in relation to PHP version 8.3

See email from fasthosts :

Account Number:

Changes to PHP 8.0 support

Hi,

PHP 8.0 went out of support on 26th November 2023.

But don't panic! PHP 8.3 was released for general availability on 23rd November 2023 and is available in our Control Panel for Linux hosting if you'd like to upgrade your version.

The new release has some major improvements and features that address error handling, innovate the use of random values and add a new JSON validation function.

Here are some of the changes that come with PHP 8.3:

New updates:

·         Typed class constants – this lets you explicitly declare a type for a PHP class constant. This ensures type compatibility of the constants when child classes and interface implementation override them. It's designed to boost reliability by enforcing strict data type declarations for class constants.

·         Dynamic class constant and enum member fetch support – this means you assign values to class constants based on expressions. This dynamic nature gives flexibility and adaptability to class constants.

·         json_validate() function – this allows you to validate JSON strings against predefined schemas efficiently, ensuring data accuracy and consistency.

·         Random extension additions – the "random" extension was added in PHP 8.2 to provide a more flexible and expandable system for operations needing random bytes, particularly those requiring cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generation (CSPRNG). However, the new PHP 8.3 comes with an improved unserialize( ) function, allowing for easier error spotting and resolution.

·         More appropriate Date/Time exceptions – this will use a more detailed approach to raise exceptions and errors.

·         Addition of #[\Override] attribute – This will help to avoid mistakes when updating code, as the PHP engine will check to make sure the method exists in the parent or an interface being implemented, with the same signature, and raise a compile time error if not.

Deprecated with 8.3:

·         Calling get_class and get_parent_class functions without parameters is deprecated.

·         The U_MULTIPLE_DECIMAL_SEPARATORS constant has been deprecated.

Backward compatibility issues:

·         Instead of a generic ValueError, you'll now get a DateRangeError instead of "Epoch doesn't fit in a PHP integer" error. If you use a 32-bit system, that might be an issue.

·         For "only non-special relative time specifications are supported for subtraction" warning, you have DateInvalidOperationException with functions like date_sub() and DateTime::sub(). If you leave it with a NULL return value or warning, it won't be useful.

If you don't have automatic updates on, we have a handy help guide for both Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting. Check them out here:

·         Web Hosting

·         WordPress Hosting

Note that PHP 8.3 is not yet supported by WordPress, but should be available soon. In the meantime PHP 8.1 or 8.2 are available.

If you have any questions or need help, please don't hesitate to contact our Support team. You can call us on 0333 0142 700 or send us a message via live chat. We're happy to help you in any way we can.

Kind regards,

Fasthosts

Many thanks,

Jim

I only know that WebSiteX5 supports PHP 8.2 since version 2023.1.2. As long as there is no message from Incomedia that WebSiteX5 is compatible with PHP 8.3, I would simply select PHP 8.2.

My own webspace (Hosteurope) only has PHP 8.1 and 8.2 to choose from, so I can't test PHP 8.3.

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for the further update.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes,

Jim