In versions 4.x and previous, Mooberry Book Manager has been compatible with WordPress 3.8+ and PHP 5.2+. Both WordPress and PHP have come a long way since those versions.
Starting with version 5.0, MBM will require at a minimum:
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WordPress 6.3
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PHP 7.0
If you are already at those versions or higher, you are good to go! If not, you will need to update before you update to MBM 5.0.
(PHP is the programming language WordPress, plugins, and themes are written in.)
How To Know What Version You Have
If you have WordPress 5.2+, the WordPress Admin already has tools with that information in the Site Health section (at Tools in the menu).
If you have an older version, you can activate the Site Health section installing the WordPress Community Plugin called Health Check & Troubleshooting (more help for this plugin).
Once at the Site Health page, click on Info. The WordPress version can be found in the WordPress section. The PHP version can be found in the Server section.
Important! Before You Update!
DO NOT update your PHP or WordPress versions until you are sure that ALL of your plugins and your theme support them! You may need to update them in order for them to support the higher versions.
It’s wise to make a backup of your site before updating, especially if you have a lot of plugins to update! Check with your hosting company for instructions.
Trying to run a plugin that doesn’t support the PHP version will at best cause the plugin to stop working or at worst, break your site with an error message or a blank screen.
If you are still using PHP 5.x it’s important to update because you are leaving your site open to vulnerabilities. If you have any plugins that are NOT supporting PHP versions 7 or 8, strongly reconsider using them.
It’s OK if plugins still support PHP 5.x as long as they ALSO support version 7 or 8.
How will you know what versions a plugin supports? It should be stated wherever you got the plugin from. For free plugins, that’s mostly the WordPress Plugin Repository: https://wordpress.org/plugins/.
If it’s a plugin you’ve paid for, it should be somewhere in the plugin’s information on your site (such as a setting page for the plugin) or on the site you originally purchased the plugin from.
When in doubt, contact the plugin’s support.
How to Update PHP and WordPress
Definitely back up your site before updating PHP or WordPress! See your hosting company for instructions.
You need to go through your hosting company to update you PHP version. Some hosting companies let you change it yourself. Others you have to contact them. Check your hosting company’s documentation to find out what procedure you need to use.
Unless you are using a managed WordPress hosting company, you can update WordPress directly through your website by going to Dashboard -> Updates.
(If you are using a managed WordPress hosting company and cannot update WordPress yourself, you are probably already at the versions you need. If not, strongly consider a different host!)
Why the Change?
WordPress has had a long-standing policy of being as compatible with as many servers as possible, which is why they supported PHP 5.x for so long.
Unfortunately, PHP 5.x has many security vulnerabilities. PHP 5.6 went end of life back in 2018, which means no more updates, including security updates, were applied to any versions 5.6 and lower.
In WordPress 6.3, they finally stopped supporting PHP 5.x and moved to PHP 7.0. (There was no PHP version 6.)
There were many changes in PHP 7.x that were not backwards compatible with version 5.x. So plugin developers were not able to take advantage of some of the new features of PHP 7.x while still supporting version 5.x. The new features that have been added to version 7 and 8 of PHP are not only important for security reasons but they also make the resulting software better.
With WordPress finally dropping support for PHP 5.x, I decided it was time MBM could as well. So I have taken advantage of those new features of PHP 7 to improve the code of MBM.
Hope This Helps!
I hope this information is helpful in getting you ready to update to MBM version 5. If you have any questions or problems with updating PHP or WordPress, your hosting company is going to be your best source for help. If you have questions or problems with updating any plugins or themes you use, contacting those companies will be the way to go.
And please don’t forget to make a backup of your site before making any big changes!