[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #63017: Compression via PHP documented and in URL but not used anymore

[WordPress Trac]

#63017: Compression via PHP documented and in URL but not used anymore
--------------------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  zodiac1978                |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)              |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                    |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Script Loader             |     Version:  5.0
 Severity:  normal                    |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch needs-dev-note  |     Focuses:
--------------------------------------+------------------------------
Changes (by zodiac1978):

 * keywords:  changes-requested dev-feedback => has-patch needs-dev-note
 * focuses:  docs =>


Comment:

 @sainathpoojary Thanks for the updated patch! Looks good to me.

 In the latest devchat I asked for feedback - starting here:
 https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1741794112933009

 @joemcgill, @desrosj and @joedolson have raised some concerns about the
 usage in plugins. I've checked ''every'' search result in the official
 directory, and this is only used in system reports / debugging info.
 Sometimes it is set to false if not defined, and only one or two times a
 very old plugin tries to set it according to its own option.

 But **no plugin uses PHP compression if this constant is set to true.**

 COMPRESS_CSS (95 matches in 44 plugins)
 https://wpdirectory.net/search/01JPNFP946XW7V4MFBP1CRMCNW

 COMPRESS_SCRIPTS (97 matches in 46 plugins)
 https://wpdirectory.net/search/01JPNFQRT2WGMS9C2HCAHC271K

 ENFORCE_GZIP (53 matches in 29 plugins)
 https://wpdirectory.net/search/01JPNFRB89HF670GMJB8PWKJ95

 As described in the description, core ''does not use this anymore''
 intentionally since #44815, but there is a dev note missing about the
 deprecation of this constant.

 A search for COMPRESS_CSS and ENFORCE_GZIP in core only shows two
 findings, one in debug data and one for the mentioned file:

 https://github.com/search?q=repo%3AWordPress%2FWordPress%20COMPRESS_CSS&type=code
 https://github.com/search?q=repo%3AWordPress%2FWordPress+ENFORCE_GZIP&type=code

 Only COMPRESS_SCRIPTS shows more results, but only because the phrase
 catches "can_compress_scripts" too:
 https://github.com/search?q=repo%3AWordPress%2FWordPress+COMPRESS_SCRIPTS&type=code

 With quotes, it shows the same results:
 https://github.com/search?q=repo%3AWordPress%2FWordPress+%27COMPRESS_SCRIPTS%27&type=code

 As the component maintainer, maybe @azaozz can now decide on this research
 that this constant is unused and should be officially announced as
 deprecated. I would suggest adding a dev note to inform plugin authors
 about it, so they can remove it from those debug reports.

 Maybe @SergeyBiryukov can also shed some light to why this wasn't
 deprecated at the time of the remove of the underlying code.

 Additionally, we should open a new trac ticket for removing those
 constants from our own Health Check debug report.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63017#comment:9>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform