Supported versions

[fooman]

I think we need to have a discussion around supported versions of Magento (which in turn would inform what php language features to aim for).

My base assumption is that all active versions of Magento (currently 2.0/2.1/2.2) should be considered.

[larsroettig]

Hi @fooman, the repository needs php7.1 but Magento 2.0.x and 2.1.x are not compatible with PHP 7.1.0.

[jissereitsma]

Likewise, we need a discussion on which PHP Codesniffer version is used. Currently, the MEQP ruleset (at least MEQP1) requires PHPCS 2, ECG requires PHPCS 3. I would suggest to go for the obvious part: Support the latest available (3.x).

[schmengler]

As written in #31 (comment)

I would like this code sniffer to be oriented towards the future, not the past. If the need for a 2.1 compatibility branch (soon: 2.2 compatibility branch) arises, and people are willing to work on that, fine. But let's embrace the standards and possibilities of the latest version.

[fooman]

Nothing wrong in my view with taking a view towards the future and embracing what is possible. I however do think we do need to have at least 2.1 support as this is a supported version of Magento and as an extension dev I do not want to exclude them (it's also beyond my choice what version of Magento someone is on).

Also we will have these issues on an ongoing basis. For example declarative schema is coming in 2.3 - if we advocate for using it straight away we automatically suggest either dropping support for older versions or branching extension code - neither are great options in my view.

In summary I'd like us to formulate some approach so that we can tag certain rules as coming into effect on a certain Magento targeted version (or maybe it's easier to do this as a negative: this rule applies to all except 2.1 branch). Maybe it is in relation to the levels discussion? So if a rule is 2.2+ only while 2.1 is still around this becomes a suggestion rather than an error.

I am happy to help with this effort.

[jissereitsma]

As an extension provider, I would love to see a ruleset that is compatible with older versions indeed. However, as a project-based developer (working for a SI), I would love to work with a Magento-version-specific ruleset. Different jobs, different needs. It would be good if we could support all these different needs.

One way to deal with this is git branching.

Another way to deal with this is by simply organizing the PHP classes of rules in a subfolder in this repo per Magento version. For instance, a rule on ViewModels could be added to a file Extdn/Magento-2.2/Sniffs/PreferViewModelsOverBlocks.php which is referred to in a ruleset Extdn/Magento-2.2/ruleset.xml and perhaps as well in the general ruleset Extdn/Magento-2/ruleset.xml. One would need to play with symlinks to set this up correctly with PHPCS, but this could be documented.

[schmengler]

@jissereitsma I think you are onto something there. Git branching can get tedious, organizing the rules within the repository makes more sense. But I don't think we need symlinks or even subdirectories.

Instead, we can create magento-2.x-ruleset.xml for older versions with exclude declarations. It's also possible to override default severities in the XML ruleset, so it is possible to introduce new rules as kind of optional for older versions.

[schmengler]

As discussed, I will create separate rulesets that may exclude rules from the default, latest one:

• magento-2.0/ruleset.xml
• magento-2.1/ruleset.xml
• magento-2.2/ruleset.xml