ubuntu 22.04 package wordpress incompatible with default php version 8.1

@Jan, while I understand the convenience of `apt install`, Wordpress is unfortunately not well maintained in Ubuntu so I would recommend doing a manual installation of an upstream supported version.

@Simon: Uh, my idealistic world view is destroyed ;-).
Best practice used to be to stick with the distribution's packages because they will take care of all nasty edge cases and security bugs.

If the wordpress package really is badly maintained it would be better to remove it than to suggests that the distribution takes care of it.

Hmm, I don't like the tone of @Simon, but I see where it's coming from. wordpress is one of those packages where it's biting Ubuntu's users that Ubuntu choose to use MySQL, while Debian choose MariaDB. Normally, most packages are maintained in Debian changes there flow into Ubuntu automatically. However, MySQL requires changes to the wordpress package that haven't been made in Debian. Therefore wordpress needs to be updated for all the relevant Debian updates, and unfortunately that didn't happen with the latest version.

It would be good if the delta could be merged in Debian somehow, but I suspect it needs work on the Ubuntu side to prepare that.

See bug https://bugs.debian.org/1007005

@Jan, indeed before replying to you I opened https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wordpress/+bug/1970440 ;)

@Paul, I am assuming you are referring to the "not well maintained" part of my comment so let me clarify. Ubuntu being a "frozen distro" (package versions are normally set in stone at release time), keeping up with Wordpress releases would be very hard. Someone from the community would need to backport patches or ask for a Minor Release Exception and ship newer versions.

That's a lot of effort to put in and it seems nobody from the community has stepped up to do it. I can't blame anyone as I wouldn't be ready to make such commitment myself. It's just unfortunate because the community would benefit from such effort.

That said, what's in the archive ATM is not something I'd recommend a friend to deploy due to the security risks, hence my suggestion to Jan to go with a manual install.

@Simon, thanks for the reply. Yes, it was about "not well maintained". I'm well aware how Ubuntu works as I have contributed in the past, although nowadays nearly all my work flows in via Debian. What I meant explicitly here is that the problem related to the shiny new PHP in the last Ubuntu release was solved in Debian before the Ubuntu release and would have been automatically shipped (if I counted correctly) with the Ubuntu release if it were not have been for the Ubuntu delta.

I didn't say nor intended that Ubuntu should be following the latest upstream in released suites, we don't do that in Debian either (except for the rare exceptions to that rule).

can't fix, delete!

While I agree that the Ubuntu Wordpress package shouldn't be used in production as it is not getting adequate updates, it still is useful to get a quick installation in a test environment. The security team uses this package to help test MySQL updates, for example.

Hence, I will be SRUing a fix for this bug.

Hello Jan, or anyone else affected,

Accepted wordpress into jammy-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wordpress/5.8.3+dfsg1-1ubuntu1.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-jammy to verification-done-jammy. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-jammy. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

I have successfully tested 5.8.3+dfsg1-1ubuntu1.1 in a jammy VM by setting up a new instance, and it worked properly.

This bug was fixed in the package wordpress - 5.8.3+dfsg1-1ubuntu1.1

---------------
wordpress (5.8.3+dfsg1-1ubuntu1.1) jammy; urgency=medium

  * Fix compatibility with PHP 8.1 (LP: #1970194)
    - debian/patches/lp1970194.patch: set the MySQLi error reporting off in
      wp-includes/wp-db.php.

 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Wed, 03 May 2023 14:11:14 +0200

The verification of the Stable Release Update for wordpress has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

I confirmed that this is already fixed in Kinetic.