SMF 2.0 EOL

[spiros]

Is there an SMF 2.0 end of life date? I.e. any plans to update for anything higher than php 8.1?

[Arantor]

Is there a date? None has been officially announced.

8.2 compatibility? Unofficially it's not tragic but it's not great for some mods.

[Kindred]

We typically support the current version in active support. (this is 2.1.x)
The previous version gets support, but security updates only (this is 2.0.x)

When 3.0 is released, 2.1.x will go to support and security only and 2.0.x will be EoL.

In other words - no - there is no currently intention to make 2.0.x support 8.2 or higher...

[spiros]

When 3.0 is released, 2.1.x will go to support and security only and 2.0.x will be EoL.

Well, the idea was whether it would be feasible to go straight to 3 from 2.0.x... especially if one has a heavily modified theme/custom mods, it can be no mean task.

[Kindred]

We always provide an upgrade path... 

that being said, I would recommend moving to 2.1 rather than waiting for 3.0 --  one reason being that MANY 2.1 mods stand a better chance of working in 3.0 than 2.0 mods (because most 2.1 mods are using hooks)
The other reason being that (as noted) 2.0 is unlikely to get additional support for new php versions. This means that more and more things in 2.0 (mods and eventually core) are going to break.

[spiros]

Hmmm, I see, so try to move any existing custom code to a hook if possible to ensure SMF 3 compatibility. In my case it is not mods in general but all the customizations I have which are very specific so instead of doing the work twice, just do it once with SMF 3.

That is what I did with the server, from CentOS7 → Almalinux 9.

[Kindred]

it does not "ensure" compatibility -- but it makes the possible compatibility more likely.

[Diego Andrés]

From 2.1 to 3.0 it should be above 90% sure that it works, almost all hooks will remain available so it's down to the code working/interacting in the same way.
Of course the caveat is that a hook could move up or down a few lines, affect different code, or include/remove parameters from the function. And the other part of course is the PHP compatibility which shouldn't be a problem if keeping up with SMF.

[spiros]

Indeed, either way, an extra migration step always implies more work, especially if one has to do things on a different skin which is a more than likely scenario -:)