Moodle 3.5.7 LTS released "2019-07-08" fails w/ PHP 7.3

[holta]

ETA 2019-07-08 but that might slip by a week or so...the date can often change, due to unforeseen circumstances...as Moodle folks try to warn us:

"All releases are preceded by a one week warning."

Bad news is Moodle 3.5.x LTS is starting to show its age. Perhaps we should consider non-LTS Moodle 3.7.x when it's released in coming weeks — or Moodle 3.8.x when it's released by/around December 2019?

Or possibly holding off til "Moodle 3.9.x LTS" in Q2 2020 ??

ASIDE: people like @ericnitschke @kananigit @mikkokotila are starting to look at more nimble alternative LMS's even including WordPress, for more focused responses to very low-income community/school needs~

Ref: #1529

[holta]

Draft release notes for Moodle 3.5.7 should appear here in coming days, prior to its release:

https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_3.5.7_release_notes

[holta]

Draft release notes for Moodle 3.5.7 should appear here in coming days, prior to its release:

https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_3.5.7_release_notes

Released/Confirmed!

Please all who can test Moodle 3.5.7 going forward.

[georgejhunt]

When I bring up the install page, (rpi,buster,big), I get at the top of the validation page:
PHP version 7.3 is not supported.
Reading moodle docs at: https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_3.5_release_notes

PHP version: minimum PHP 7.0.0 Note: minimum PHP version has increased since Moodle 3.3. PHP 7.1.x and 7.2.x are supported too. PHP 7.x could have some engine limitations. and https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_and_PHP7 "PHP 7.3 can be used with Moodle 3.6.4, Moodle 3.7 and later releases." ( buster installs php7.3)

[holta]

Thank @georgejhunt for catching this.

Can we consider dumping Moodle 3.5.x LTS in favor of 3.7.x ?

[georgejhunt]

Or perhaps just dropping support for moodle entirely. Do you know of any moodle users?

…

On Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 12:21 PM A Holt ***@***.***> wrote: Thank @georgejhunt <https://github.com/georgejhunt> for catching this. Can we consider dumping Moodle 3.5.x LTS in favor of 3.7.x ? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1658?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAOTQHFNKKYPQ44P4JIYJVTP6YZDVA5CNFSM4HMQMROKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGODZUPCBY#issuecomment-510193927>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAOTQHH7ISL2GNG4Y2FFFMTP6YZDVANCNFSM4HMQMROA> .

[holta]

Or perhaps just dropping support for moodle entirely. Do you know of any moodle users?

Many implementers try it.

Few follow through to use it long-term.

It seems that its main purpose is to rapidly trial the Moodle experience.

Interestingly this is the main purpose of BIG-sized IIAB too: to provide a live working environment to help educate implementers learning the ropes, establishing what kinds of LMS-like features their communities can rapidly learn & take advantage of...

[holta]

I've upgraded IIAB 7.0 DRAFT Release Notes to Moodle 3.7.1 which solves the problem on Raspbian Buster on RPi 4, and hopefully other OS's too.

[holta]

Do you know of any moodle users?

Many implementers try it.

Few follow through to use it long-term.

(One of) the reasons, is that we've never made it easy to adopt Moodle.

Specifically everyone that's tried to use Moodle with IIAB has struggled with its URL's.

As I believe IIAB's Moodle URL's (like http://box/moodle) all force a redirect to http://box.lan/moodle) which is not what everyone wants...

Not that there's a magical, easy fix. But we have a chicken+egg situation here:

#10 Moodle erroneously redirects to schoolserver.lan/moodle (bad enough on LAN, worse on WAN)
#551 How to mitigate campuswide failures for Nextcloud, WordPress, Moodle, Elgg etc?
#941 http://10.0.0.x/moodle must be customized on installation

Whereas with WordPress we've cleanly documented several solutions, that people use regularly:

http://FAQ.IIAB.IO -> ITEM 33 "WordPress & Moodle Administration: What tips & tricks exist?" -> "How do I set the WordPress URL (like http://box/wordpress) so it works for everyone?"