Odhiambo Washington writes:
Imagine you were running PHP code and you automatically upgraded from PHP7 to PHP8! Chances are high that all your PHP applications will be broken in the process. You ALWAYS need to review all the software for compatibility (with your code & configs) before you do an upgrade.
My pattern is different. I have the advantage that my usages are seasonal, eg, Mediawiki is online October 1 to January 15. Especially with PHP applications, I generally just do it and let it break. A lot of the major apps (Mediawiki!) are quite secure. But minor ones and 3rd party extensions ... there are so many ways to shoot yourself in the foot in all the inject-code-from-the-console P-languages, and PHP has a worse record than most. Staying up to date is worthwhile to me. So PHP and Mediawiki I update in early September, test the features we use, fix things up, and ready to go October 1.
Few businesses can do that. Universities and ski areas, I guess. :-) But if you can do it, it may be a reasonable workflow.
Steve
-- University of Tsukuba Faculty of Policy and Planning Sciences Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN tel/fax: +81-29-853-5091 turnbull@sk.tsukuba.ac.jp https://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/