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PHP.Watch Articles

How to fix `mysql_native_password` not loaded errors on MySQL 8.4

How to fix mysql_native_password not loaded errors on MySQL 8.4

How to fix the SQLSTATE[HY000] [1524] Plugin 'mysql_native_password' is not loaded errors caused in MySQL 8.4 no longer enabling the mysql_native_password plugin by default.
How to fix PHP Curl HTTPS Certificate Authority issues on Windows

How to fix PHP Curl HTTPS Certificate Authority issues on Windows

On Windows, HTTPS requests made with the Curl extension can fail because Curl has no root certificate list to validate the server certificates. This article discusses the secure and effective solutions, and highlights bad advice that can leave PHP applications insecure.
AEGIS Encryption with PHP Sodium Extension

AEGIS Encryption with PHP Sodium Extension

The Sodium extension in PHP 8.4 now supports AEGIS-128L and AEGIS256 Authenticated Encryption ciphers. They are significantly faster than AES-GCM and CHACHA20-POLY1305. This article benchmarks them and explains how to securely encrypt and decrypt data using AEGIS-128L and AEGIS256 on PHP.
How to Install/Upgrade PHP 8.3 on MacOS with Homebrew

How to Install/Upgrade PHP 8.3 on MacOS with Homebrew

Install PHP 8.3 and PHP extensions on MacOS with Homebrew.
How to install or upgrade to PHP 8.3 on Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, and more

How to install or upgrade to PHP 8.3 on Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, and more

Beginners guide on how to install PHP 8.3 on Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, and others.
How to install or upgrade to PHP 8.3 on Ubuntu and Debian

How to install or upgrade to PHP 8.3 on Ubuntu and Debian

A complete guide to install or upgrade to PHP 8.3 on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy), Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal), Debian 10 (Buster), 11 (Bullseye), and Debian 12 (Bookworm).

PHP News

PHP 8.4 Feature-freeze, first Release Candidate released

The first release candidate of the upcoming PHP 8.4 is now out. PHP8.4-RC1 previews all new features, changes, and deprecations available on PHP 8.4, and can be used to test the compatibility of applications with PHP 8.4.

PHP Release Cycle Update

The PHP release cycle changes to extend the active support for all current and future PHP versions from one year to two years, and to align the support timelines to the end of the calendar year.

PHP 8.3 Released!

PHP 8.3 was released today, containing over 1,000 commits from over 100 contributors.

PHP Versions and Changes

Release Date2025-11-20
Version StatusFuture Release

PHP 8.5 is the active development branch for the upcoming PHP release, scheduled for 2025 November.

Release Date2024-11-21
Version StatusUpcoming Release

PHP 8.4 is a feature-rich PHP version that brings support for property hooks, asymmetric visibility support in classes, database driver-specific PDO classes, Lazy objects, a HTML5 support in the DOM extension, along with several new features, improvements, and deprecations.

Release Date2023-11-23
Version StatusSupported (Latest)
Release Date2022-12-08
Version StatusSupported

PHP 8.2 is the latest PHP version which brings readonly classes, DNF types, null, false, and true types, sensitive parameter redaction support, a new random extension, and several new features along with a few deprecations.

Release Date2021-11-25
Version StatusSecurity-Fixes Only

PHP 8.1, released in 2021, brings major new features such as Enums, Fibers, never return type, Intersection Types, readonly properties, and more, while ironing out some of its undesired legacy features by deprecating them.

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