Perch V4 (and future) Megathread

  • Did you go ahead with this? Which apps aren't PHP8 compatible at the moment?, do you know? We do have until November 2022 until PHP 7.4 becomes unsupported. I've recently developed a Perch site which uses Shop, Blog, Members, Forms and all seems well on PHP 7.4 running Perch 3.1.7.


    I'm hoping I can keep things running smoothly on 7.4 until either Perch is updated or I move all my sites over to Craft CMS. At least I've got a year to decide.

  • I'm currently in the process of getting php8 versions. I can't remember of the top of my head which ones aren't. A while ago I tested a few sites my upping the php in MAMP and it threw up deprecation warnings. The apps haven't been updated for quite a while, so I'm thinking they are all going to need looking at. The plan is to get a full set, so if I need to use any in the future I can.

  • is there any news on this? This and PHP 8 compatibility surely count as technical support.

  • I can see that some people are feeling that they need to hire third party developers or work on Perch apps themselves to make them compatible with PHP 8. To my mind, this is not optimum and is a consequence of very little communication by the Perch core team. Perhaps the Perch core team would like to rectify this by commenting and giving an update on their own work to make the apps and Perch itself compatible with PHP8? It would surely be beneficial?!

    George G  Matt A  Will B ??

  • We all know this isn't going to happen. At this point it's pretty obvious that they've taken more on than they can handle. They're either unable or unwilling to invest the time and money needed to create a viable product, and in the meantime what little users they had left are jumping ship, and I don't blame them.


    It's a shame as I'm sure this isn't what Drew and Rachel wanted Perch to become when they sold it.

  • While I understand the sentiment(s) expressed above, I don't believe they are correct in the sense that if you read the last official statement; it stated unequivocally that the handover of the software was not yet complete so any comment from the new owners would only be qualified in terms of what has actually taken place.


    If I am wrong, then may I be corrected but if people want to try something else, then that is for them to decide.


    As to technical issues such as PHP 8 support, it is common knowledge that while a previous version remains supported, i.e., 7.4, then that would be the current supported version and anything further is likely speculative on the part of end users.


    Just my opinion of course!

  • The Perch sale announcement was in January. If the handover is not complete by now, I'd suggest that we really do have problems!

    I can't see why a handover would take more than a month - at the very most. Why would it take longer than that? Perhaps Perch can comment? this would be useful and would clarify what's happening.

    Whilst there are no comments from Perch on this forum (since September in fact), inevitably this will lead to speculation, which is counterproductive. Please comment Perch and help clarify where things stand now. Thank you!

  • Hello all.


    Regarding the PHP8 situation. I have asked the development team whether PHP8 compatibility was being worked on for Perch apps but haven't heard anything back yet. I will chase this for you to see if I can get a response from the development team.


    Any questions about the Perch handover and specifics details about the company itself, this is not information I am privy to. I can make the higher ups aware of your concerns, but I can't promise any information regarding the finer details of this will be shared openly.


    ex-jedi Regarding the "Perch is a product developed by Perch Runway " line on the website, I'll chase this to see whether this is something that was overlooked by the team that handles the website.

  • I believe one can deduce, that the reason why the handover is taking time, is because Drew and Rachael want to ensure that the product they are parting with, is well maintained going forward, which is reasonable considering the quality of the CMS in question.

  • I believe one can deduce, that the reason why the handover is taking time, is because Drew and Rachael want to ensure that the product they are parting with, is well maintained going forward, which is reasonable considering the quality of the CMS in question.


    are you for real? perch was severely neglected long before the current owners! Do a forum search!!

  • Only about 1% of PHP based websites are on PHP8, as of November 2021. [1]


    Don't stress. PHP 7.4 is good, it's not full of security holes like the old days of early PHP versions. You'll be fine on PHP7.


    Literally millions of Wordpress sites will not be updating to PHP8 any time soon. Stuff will break if they do. The recommended version of Wordpress is currently 7.4.


    The "performance benefits" of PHP8 over 7, will probably in real-world terms be negligible.


    If you must join that 1% of PHP8 websites, then test your sites and observe issues. You might get a few warnings, but if no errors then maybe you'll be fine.


    [1] https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/pl-php

  • I'm not concerned about the now. But in 6months - 1year with around 50 Perch sites I will be.


    80% of the site are on my server, so I can control when it goes to 8. But the other 20% are on hosting where they just update and then I get an email from the client asking why there are warnings on there site. I know you can roll back, but its not a great situation. I'd rather get the sites php8 ready before its needed. If that means paying someone to do it, I would rather do that then be in the same situation as the SCA mess.


    The fact I asked a legit support question last month (not asking for time-scales) about whether it was being worked on and didn't get a reply, shows I'm better off looking after myself.

      • are you for real? perch was severely neglected long before the current owners! Do a forum search!!

    Unless you are wanting to start an argument, or have some vested interest; I respectfully ask that you refrain from further comment.


    Also, as a coder, one could reasonably assume that you know how to quote others' correctly.

    throw a hissy fit and attempt to shut people down, not really useful is it?.


    I simply do not understand how you can say perch was well looked after when patently most here were very concerned about ongoing dev long before perch changed hands, unless of course the vested interest lies with you?