What versions should the documentation cover?

Gina suggested (https://github.com/php/doc-base/pull/146#issuecomment-2308900139 ) that we should remove older function changelog entries from the documentation rather than just configure the page generated to exclude old versions.

I agree, and I poked around a little to see if there was any policy/guidance about what versions the documentation is meant to cover. If there is, I didn’t find it.

It’s tempting to say we should just be documenting the supported versions, but I think migration from old versions is a key usage for the manual so it makes sense to have a longer timeline.

Here’s what I would propose:

* The documentation is intended to cover the current and previous major version of PHP (as of now, PHP 7 and 8).

* Migration guides from earlier versions should continue to be included.

* Extension version information should continue to cover all versions.

Am I missing anything from this? This would mean that functions or extensions that only exist in versions prior to PHP 7 could now be excised from the documentation, as well as those older function changelog entries.

I’d like to add a section to the preface that captures this (or whatever else we decide). Alternatively, we could create a whole appendix that pulls in all of the ‘PHP Manual Contribution Guide’ stuff from doc.php.net.

Jim