Performing the Migration

Performing the actual migration from our current version to PHP version 8 is much like the process of deploying a new set of features to an existing application. If possible, we might consider running two websites in parallel until such time as we are confident the new version works as expected. Many organizations run the staging environment in parallel with the production environment for this purpose.

We present a 12-step guide to perform a successful migration. Although we are focused on migrating to PHP 8, these twelve steps can apply to any PHP update we may wish to perform. Understanding and following these steps carefully is critical to the success of our production website. The twelve steps include plenty of places where we can revert to an earlier version if we encounter problems.

Before we get into details, here is a general overview of a 12-step migration process going from an older version of PHP to PHP 8:

1. Carefully review the appropriate migration guide located in the PHP documentation appendices.

2. Make sure our current code works on the current version of PHP.

3. Back up the database (if any), all source code, and any associated files and assets (for example, CSS, JavaScript, or graphics images).

4. Create a new branch for the soon-to-be-updated application code in our ...