Support for older php versions

[im-adithya]

First of all, thanks for building this 🙌

We are currently using this to build https://github.com/getAlby/nwc-php, which is inturn being used for https://github.com/getAlby/lightning-publisher-wordpress to add support for Nostr Wallet Connect payments in Wordpress.

To provide more flexibility to our plugin users, we're hoping to offer compatibility with older PHP versions, such as PHP 7.4 or PHP 8.0.

Would it be possible to consider downgrading the PHP requirement, or are there specific features in PHP 8.1 that are essential for the functionality of the library?

[berkantkockaya]

Hi, To solve the issue of supporting older PHP versions for the nostr-php library:

1.  Assess the code for any PHP 8.1 specific features being used.
2.  Identify and replace these features with alternatives compatible with PHP 7.4 or PHP 8.0.
3.  Update the composer.json file to reflect the lower PHP version requirement.
4.  Thoroughly test the library to ensure functionality is maintained with the older PHP versions.

[Sebastix]

@im-adithya Thanks, you're welcome!

Could you perhaps give some additional / contextual information why you can't upgrade to a maintained / security supported version of PHP? Both versions 7.4 and 8.0 are EOL and are considered to be unsafe with vulnerabilities.

AFAIK @fabianfabian is using a fork with >7.4 compability: https://github.com/fabianfabian/nostr-php

[im-adithya]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Could you perhaps give some additional / contextual information why you can't upgrade to a maintained / security supported version of PHP?

Not any specific reason per se but most people run an old version of php for Wordpress and we want to be able to offer our plugin support to many.

@fabianfabian is using a fork with >7.4 compability: https://github.com/fabianfabian/nostr-php

Awesome, will check it out. Thanks again 🙌

[Sebastix]

Tell them to upgrade ;-) Otherwise hosting providers will do. It's worth it to upgrade to 8.1+.

My goal with nostr-php is only to support the current maintained versions of PHP as all other major PHP frameworks do. I'm not a WordPress expert (and not a fan of it as well) but I assume WordPress is doing the same?

[im-adithya]

Tell them to upgrade ;-)

Yeah, have to at some point. Managing support for multiple versions is a pain

but I assume WordPress is doing the same?

Yup, they do, but with an (*) or (e) (Wordpress php compatibility)