We are extending security support for the Magento 2.3.x release line for an additional three months (through April 2022). Considering that support for PHP 7.3 ends in December 2021, we will be introducing PHP 7.4 compatibility to the release of Magento Commerce and Magento Open Source 2.3.7 in May 2021. For compliance reasons, we encourage all merchants to upgrade to PHP 7.4 before December 2021 - even those still using Magento 2.3. While Magento 2.3.7 and later 2.3.x versions will still be compatible with PHP 7.3, Adobe will not be testing with PHP 7.3, nor will Adobe release any fixes for PHP 7.3. Given that Magento 2.4.x already supports PHP 7.4, with the Magento 2.3.7 release, both 2.3.x and 2.4.x will have PHP 7.4 as the recommended PHP version.
Compatibility considerations
Magento 2.3.7 introduces backward incompatible changes which need to be considered by anyone who has not yet upgraded to Magento 2.4. Migration from PHPUnit 6 to PHPUnit 9 (which is what occurred for Magento 2.4.0) is one such change, as it affects the following types of tests:
- Static
- Unit
- Integration
- API Functional
- Magento Functional Testing Framework.
See this DevBlog article for details about PHPUnit migration. Additional compatibility considerations are documented in the Magento 2.4 backward incompatibility DevDocs article.
Extension considerations
Magento Marketplace extension vendors should ensure their extensions are compatible with PHP 7.4 when publishing new versions for Magento 2.3.7 and later. Merchants should thoroughly test and evaluate their store before running a live site on PHP 7.4.
Conclusion
While added support for PHP 7.4 in the 2.3.x release line will help ensure PHP compatibility through the life of Magento 2.3, we still recommend you evaluate and prioritize an upgrade to Magento 2.4. This will ensure that your organization is positioned for long-term success with the latest, most secure version of Magento.
