Definition
This measure identifies WordPress plugins that declare a minimum PHP version of 7 or older. Those plugins have had no release for two years. It also states the active installs those plugins hold according to WordPress.org. It pairs a declared PHP floor with a separate lack of recent release activity in one figure. Both conditions must hold for a plugin to be counted here.
Population and window
Rivale measures this across the whole directory, meaning every plugin listed on WordPress.org on the issue's data date. The window is a single date, the last day of the report month. The same two-year and PHP 7 thresholds are applied to every plugin considered.
How it is computed
Plugins whose declared minimum PHP version is below 8 and whose last release is 24 months or more before the stated date. Reported next to the plugins that declare no minimum PHP version at all, since most plugins without an update in two years predate the field. Install counts are the bucketed figures WordPress.org reports.
How to read it
This figure combines two declared conditions, an old PHP floor and a stale release date. It is best read alongside PHP requirement and two years without an update. It is not a replacement for either measure. It is also reported next to plugins declaring no minimum PHP version at all. Most plugins without an update in two years predate that field being introduced. Install counts shown are the bucketed figures WordPress.org itself reports, not exact numbers. Reading this figure beside the undeclared-PHP group shows how much of the stale-release population has set a PHP floor at all.
What it is not
This measure does not mean a plugin is unsafe or broken. It only means the plugin declares an old PHP floor. It has not released a new version in two years as of the stated date. It does not verify that the declared PHP version is itself accurate. It is not limited to the top 12,500 plugins, unlike several other measures in this dictionary. It is not the same figure as two years without an update on its own. This measure adds the PHP condition on top.
Related measures
PHP requirement, Two years without an update, Plugin support for WordPress versions