PHP 7 released!

What optimisations do you think there could be? Would need to work with >= 5.5.6

laravel works fine with latest version of php-5.6.16
hope it will work fine with php7

Not officially. Yet. :)

Framework tests have been passing for PHP7 for quite some time.

i wish they would make all the function names CONSISTENT... or provide new consistent functions and using the old ones issue a deprecated warning and remove them in the future.. like they did with mysql_* functions

Laravel 5.1 and up will be compatible with PHP 7 ;)

There's no RC anymore https://github.com/php/php-src/releases

Without breaking >= 5.5.6 there won't be any framework changes to make it PHP7 optimised. You can use PHP7 stuff in your app if you wish. That is where you can take advantage of it.

@shez1983 remembering argument order in PHP is like trying to find a haystack in a needle

@milon I wouldn't worry about php 7, any reputable company holds off on a latest release for at least a year or two. I worked for the State of Texas for a while, and even a new operating system had a 2 year lag.
That's in fact part of the problem, new programmers who are totally without clue cram the latest technology into a website, expecting that everyone has a new computer, the newest iphone, etc. A site should be written for hardware (browers) at least 7 years back. Some States and local governments require longer. Most large companies sites can still be viewed in old IE5 in fact.

@jlrdw We're not talking about front-end here and Laravel 5.1 works fine on PHP 7. I would however, wait for a while until using it.

@jlrdw I think the take-up of 7 will be quicker - partly because there's a decent PR campaign around it (much like there was around the shift to 5 with goPHP5) and partly (mostly?) because it consumes a lot less resources so shared hosting companies especially can cram even more onto their hardware. phpversions is showing take-up already.

I also have one site written with Simple MVC http://simplemvcframework.com/php-framework and I'm a contributor. Me and a couple others have got it php 5.5 through php 7 ready. I still plan on developing in a php 7 ide, but will wait for at least 4 to 6 months. I still have one machine with php 7 for testing. If you recall, some of the breaking exception handling was over rode, and now php 7 is very backwards compatible, and I'm so glad.
Laravel worked right away in test, simple mvc needed a router tweak only then it worked.

remembering argument order in PHP is like trying to find a haystack in a needle

Loved that joke @shez1983 - made us chuckle in the office!

I would worry about the future. When we support the latest stable releases of browsers and the underlying components we rely on for our web applications, we are doing our part to create a brighter ecosystem for us all. Some organizations have a mandate which precludes them from disenfranchising users and some hosts and companies know moving forward will mean breaking (potentially thousands) of customer or internal applications. They're stuck. However, it doesn't make them "reputable". It means they are pragmatic at best and fools at worst. It means there are old guys like me working there that remember when upgrading an OS meant all hell would break loose for desktop users. Bob in accounting couldn't run his spreadsheet app or Sally couldn't use the intranet because, LOL ActiveX. Users hate change. Admins hate supporting users. And sure, some companies are inextricably tied to those legacies. They made or were forced to make that choice.

If it isn't an intranet and it isn't on the desktop, move it forward. We told users our sites worked best when viewed in IE 6 or NN 4, and lots of us are doing the same thing today when we detect old browsers. Some of us with a compatibility mandate are ensuring graceful degradation for users. BUT, on the server, we don't have to have the same mentaility. I could go to full on rant mode, but my overall take on things is that if you have a choice you should keep moving forward. As a company you will be stuck with the costs no matter what you do. If you lag behind, you'll end up paying for it in maintenance later. If you keep moving forward, you'll pay for it incrementally.

To the point of the OP's question, I have a 5.1 app that's been in development for 6 or so months. I deployed it to test on a droplet running RC8 and MySQL 5.7 with no issues. YMMV. Actually, your mieage will vary.

Also, TIL you can emulate IE5+ from IE's developer tools (although 6 is strangely missing). It wasn't pretty, but it was fun.