PROBLEM changedata fails with http500 after php update to 8.x

[vanfruniken]

With many people being forced to upgrade to 8.x ........

I am reading this statement in different posts in the forum. I don't know where this statement
is coming from but it has no relationship with reality.
There are millions of apps and websites out there on the internet that simply were not made for php8
and still need to stay functional. Hosting Companies do know this very well and therefore
let you choose the php version as a service ...
And please don't come with the story that your Hosting Company does not let you choose the php
version as a service. That does not exist and if it does ... you are simply not paying for that service.

My hosting provider (one.com), gave a few weeks advance notice that 8.x was coming and would supersede 7.4.2.
2 months ago, they switched to 8.x, making many people's site inoperational, but they left the option to switch back to 7.4.2 from their control panel. Then, on Dec 1st, they *removed 7.4.2*.
There was a similar scenario not so long ago, when they switched from 5.x to 7.4.2.
Next year, support for 8.0 will terminate, if I am correct and my hosting provider is now at 8.0.6, with no further php version options.

So please don't you come (your words) claiming that everybody has the option to stay with an old php version.
Unless of course, they change hosting providers. But that's a hassle (fortunately, not so serious for GetSimple users, as GS sites are rather simple to move, but still).
Thanks to the work of MultiColor, Islander, you, and probably many others, it will be possible to adapt and stay php compatible. GSCE seems to run flawlessly indeed under 8.0, but if one makes use of many plugins (and components), that's a different matter. The components I have control over. Not being a power php developer, though, I still managed to get my site mostly working without warnings, even the ones that aren't fatal *yet*, hoping to remain safe for a while from further code-breaking changes in the php "language".

This is not to say it is not good riddance for php to leave behind the old versions. It is just that we are kicked awake and *forced* to deal with it. Just so sad that GS 3.4 hasn't been released yet. I am sure there would be a lot of non-issues if GS3.4 came out.