New php-latest tag

[alopezari]

Hi!

We currently have the tag "latest" for images with the latest WordPress version. Would it be possible to have another php-latest, phplatest or similar tag (in the same way as php8.1, php8.2, etc) to indicate the latest PHP version available?

It would be quite useful for plugin developers to test compatibility with the latest PHP version dynamically.

Thank you!

[LaurentGoderre]

I believe we are blocked as per #932 (comment)

[tianon]

Sorry, but even with #932 I don't think I'm comfortable with a php-latest tag -- WordPress doesn't always officially support the latest version of PHP, and I worry we'd be mixing concerns by reporting it as doing so (and making an already "tough" user-facing decision about which tag to choose even harder). 😅 🙈

[alopezari]

Thank you both for jumping in!

Fair point @tianon. When I suggested this, I was thinking about php-latest as the tag for the latest PHP version available in this docker repository (for example, PHP 8.3 right now), not about the latest PHP version accessible for users, which might differ from the other concept as you pointed out (8.4).

This would simplify things for developers when building pipelines with a compatibility matrix. Let's suppose I want to test my plugin with PHP 7.4, 8.1 (the 2 most used major versions) and the latest PHP version available. It would be 8.3 right now but once there is an image for 8.4, we would test against 8.4 without applying any change to our plugin repository. I don't see a problem in calling PHP 8.3 as "php-latest" for the moment even though PHP 8.4 is out since there isn't any official WordPress image for 8.4, so anyway I can just opt in for 8.3 - i.e. for me that would be the latest version I could use.

Without this "php-latest" dynamic tag, we would need to continuously monitor and update our repository every time a new image with a new PHP version is released.

Do you see value in this and do you think there could be a workaround for it?

Thank you!

[LaurentGoderre]

It's an interesting idea but I am worried it would cause confusion (since both Tianon and us made the same assumption)

[alopezari]

That's a great point indeed.

What about php-latest-supported, php-latest-available or similar? I guess we're not in the best position to test these tags now that you're aware of the context, but it would be great if we could find a concise yet clear tag for it (not an easy thing though 😄 )

[LaurentGoderre]

Naming is hard!