How can we improve WHMCS?

Share, discuss and vote for what you would like to see added to WHMCS

  1. Home
  2. Ideas
  3. Core System
  4. PHP 8.0 support

PHP 8.0 support

  • Jed O'Donnell shared this idea 1 year ago
  • Core System
  • 14 Comments


58 Votes
Login to Vote
Make WHMCS support PHP >=8.0
https://www.php.net/releases/8.0/en.php

Featured Comment

WHMCS Dev Team commented 17th December 21
Greetings,

We are still monitoring for an ionCube Loader update that will bring support for the PHP 8 runtime environment. As soon as a compatible loader is available, we will shift priorities to testing it and, if necessary, delivering a WHMCS update.

The fact that ionCube Loader environment support is not tracking with PHP's faster development and support cycles is problematic for the larger PHP community. However, the recent release of the 11 series, which includes encoding for PHP 7.4, is encouraging. Based on their messaging, we can expect an ionCube Loader release to provide PHP 8 environment support soon.

WHMCS is perpetually reevaluating its technologies and system requirements for continuity as a part of your business strategy.

19 Comments

Login to post a comment.

WHMCS Team Member
WHMCS John commented 2 weeks ago
Hi all,
We know you're anxious to switch to PHP 8.x, as are we!

Ioncube have stated publicly they expect loaders for PHP 8.x to be available this month. As soon as they do, we'll be looking to begin testing with the aim of publishing a PHP 8 compatible release of WHMCS using the new encoder as soon as possible.
WHMCS Team Member
WHMCS John commented 1 month ago
Hi all,
We continue to monitor the status of our dependencies. At present we remain confident that Ioncube will deliver a solution for PHP 8 in the near future, and we are ready for when this happens.

Switching to an alternative of ionCube would be burdensome for our users - meeting the new system requirement and likely requiring a non-standard update process - which is something we're keen to avoid if at-all possible.
Miami Jack commented 2 months ago
I find it ironic that within WHMCS warnings for system health status that we get a note telling us PHP 7.4 no longer gets updates/bug fixes, but we can't upgrade WHMCS to PHP 8.

I totally get @Alternative Hosting's situation, and while mine is not as important, if I'm trying to stay current (which everyone should be), that your product has a dependency on a company like ION Cube, which clearly is dropping the ball!
I think it's time to change and quickly.
ramf commented 2 months ago
This is from https://forum.ioncube.com:

liaison
ionCube Support

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 11:49 pm
There is an internal timeline but no public date for 8.1 support yet as it would not be accurate.
_________________
Community Admin
Haavard D. commented 23rd March
I guess that WHMCS is already working on php8, but you do not have the possibility to protect the code with Ioncube.
My suggestion is that you seriously start looking for another encoder/decoder to protect your source.
Another option is to go open source but still with a license for maintenance and support.
Alternative Hosting commented 7th January
Ioncube is not taking this seriously at all. Rather than deliver support for a PHP version that is already over a year old, they chose to focus on a PHP version that they KNEW was going to be out of general support by the time they released version 11. All you need to do is ask your own Product Management team if that was a smart move. Rather than focus on support for the PHP 8.x stream, which people NEEDED, they chose to focus on adding new features, so they could make a few more sales (I work for a major software company in my other hat, so I know about the pressure from Sales to deliver new features. I also know PM and PO set the roadmap, and it is their job to balance new features intake, product maintenance and bug fixes, in order to retain current customers, while providing new features to bring in new sales). In this case, the Ioncube PM team failed the job, epically. They delivered a new release that nobody, except their sales team, wanted. This failure on their part is going to have the opposite effect than what their sales team desired, as many of their customers are going to drop them in favour of competitors who offer PHP 8.x support. WHMCS is also going to see a similar effect on net sales and Monthly Recurring Revenue if you don’t find and implement an alternative solution soon. I know I am already evaluation other solutions, even though I hope WHMCS will provide a solution very soon.
ramf commented 18th December 21
Hi @WHMCS Dev Team - are you talking about inside messaging?
As far as I know the official response from them is Maybe: 2 June 2022 and For sure: 2 December 2022.
This is not soon in my opinion...
sol2010 commented 17th December 21
Time to go open source for 90% of the files...
WHMCS Team Member
WHMCS Dev Team commented 17th December 21
Greetings,

We are still monitoring for an ionCube Loader update that will bring support for the PHP 8 runtime environment. As soon as a compatible loader is available, we will shift priorities to testing it and, if necessary, delivering a WHMCS update.

The fact that ionCube Loader environment support is not tracking with PHP's faster development and support cycles is problematic for the larger PHP community. However, the recent release of the 11 series, which includes encoding for PHP 7.4, is encouraging. Based on their messaging, we can expect an ionCube Loader release to provide PHP 8 environment support soon.

WHMCS is perpetually reevaluating its technologies and system requirements for continuity as a part of your business strategy.
Michael Foland commented 12th January
I should upgrade to Ioncube Version 11! I'm actually shocked IonCube hasn't rolled out with loaders for php 8 yet. It would be nice indeed.
Michael Foland commented 12th January
I've heard of Source Guardian! I thought about using them in the past. I know you guys use IonCube, just like me, but something to consider could be Source Guardian, especially with the fact that they already have loaders out for PHP 8.
ramf commented 3rd December 21
So now there is an error in the System Health Status:


PHP Version
Your PHP version 7.4.26 is supported by WHMCS.

The PHP 7.4 branch no longer receives regular bug fixes and will only receive critical security updates until it reaches its end of life. Please see our documentation for more information.


Now as far as I know PHP version 7.4.26 is the Current Stable PHP version. Other than this version there is only PHP 8.1.0 that you don't support yet.

As far as I know you are waiting for ioncube to release a new PHP Encoder that will support PHP 8.1.0 - but as for their last release (25/11/2021) it's only supporting up to PHP 7.4.

According to ionCube Support it will take a year to support PHP 8.1 - you can see the answer from liaison from ionCube Support here:

https://forum.ioncube.com/viewtopic.php?t=4592&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45&sid=73f25f47b85eae701ce63c66feb8d5b1

That is not good since php 7.4 is no longer receives regular bug fixes...
Maybe it's time to think on another solution instead of ionCube?

What do you think?
ramf commented 4th October 21
According to ionCube's website (https://forum.ioncube.com/viewtopic.php?t=4592&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=9dc10d5f55841363dad4136f2560d53d) they are waiting for PHP 8.1 release and as far as I see PHP 8.1.0 RC 3 is available for testing (https://www.php.net/index.php#id2021-09-30-1) The next release will be the fourth release candidate (RC 4), planned for 14 October 2021 and 8.1 should be ready by 25 November 2021 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP#Release_history)
sol2010 commented 25th September 21
Hi what's the latest with PHP 8 ? All our servers will be dropping support for PHP 7.4 in one month (as PHP 7.4 is now End of Life).
Nicolas Laruelle commented 22nd March
Same here, we are now on PHP 8.1 by default. Time to move forward and move from ioncube.
WHMCS Team Member
WHMCS John commented 19th August 21
Hi all,
We've shared an update on PHP 8 support in our blog: https://blog.whmcs.com/133698/update-on-php-8-support-in-whmcs
Check it out!
Michael Foland commented 14th March
Hey John! What would it take to switch over to Source Guardian? CPanel works with Source Guardian, and they already have php 8 support. I know it would be just a matter of encoding in Source Guardian over Ioncube.
WHMCS Team Member
WHMCS Dev Team commented 13th April 21
Thanks for taking the time to submit a request. We can confirm that PHP 8 support is already being worked on.

Thanks!
Tapeix commented 7th March
As Ubuntu 22.04 will be shipped with PHP 8.1 by default, and PHP 7.4 will become EOL by this year, we want to know when WHMCS will bring support to PHP 8.1.