[adimoldovan]

The Installation Tests workflow now downloads release zips with wp core download, and pins WP-CLI 2.12.0 on PHP 5.6, 7.0 and 7.1.

This removes the curl + tar workaround from [65004]. WP-CLI 2.x extracts tarballs with PharData, which cuts paths at 100 characters. It extracts zips with ZipArchive, which keeps the full path. wp core download also checks the MD5 hash of the zip.

WP-CLI 3.0 will need PHP 7.2.24 or later. On PHP 5.6, 7.0 and 7.1 it exits with "WP-CLI requires PHP 7.2.24 or newer". The pin keeps these jobs on 2.12.0. PHP 5.4 and 5.5 stay on 2.4.0.

latest, nightly and trunk work as before. nightly and trunk still use wp core download --version=nightly.

Testing

Run the Installation Tests workflow manually with wp-version set to 4.9, 5.9, 6.0, latest, nightly and trunk. All install jobs pass.

Results on my fork, with this change and the github.repository checks removed so the jobs run outside WordPress/wordpress-develop:

• WP 4.9 (PHP 5.4–7.2, WP-CLI 2.4.0 on PHP 5.4 and 5.5): 24 of 24 install jobs pass
• WP 5.9: 48 of 48 install jobs pass
• WP 6.0: 48 of 48 install jobs pass
• latest: 70 of 70 install jobs pass
• nightly: 70 of 70 install jobs pass
• trunk: 70 of 70 install jobs pass

The WP 5.9 job logs for PHP 5.6 and 7.1 show WP-CLI 2.12.0, Downloading from https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9.zip and md5 hash verified.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/66403

Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: Yes
Tool(s): Claude Code
Model(s): Claude Opus 5.5
Used for: Investigation, implementation, and review. I reviewed the final change.

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This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

There are no active review issues with the WordPress release-download update.

No open issues 🎉

What changed in this PR

Updates Installation Tests to download WordPress release ZIPs through WP-CLI, avoiding tarball path truncation while retaining compatibility with older PHP versions.

Changes:

• Replaces release downloads using curl and tar with wp core download targeting ZIP archives.
• Pins WP-CLI to 2.12.0 for PHP 5.6, 7.0, and 7.1, preserving the existing 2.4.0 pin for PHP 5.4 and 5.5.
• Leaves nightly and trunk download behavior unchanged.

File	Description
.github/​workflows/​install-testing.yml	Uses WP-CLI for release ZIP downloads and adds compatibility pins for older PHP versions.

_{Review effort: Balanced}

[lancewillett]

This follows the agreed ZIP-download approach and preserves latest/nightly/trunk handling while keeping older PHP jobs on compatible WP-CLI versions. Verified the six successful fork runs and that their workflow differs only in enabling fork execution. Locally, WP-CLI 2.12.0 downloaded the WordPress 5.9 ZIP, verified its checksum, and preserved the long Twenty Twenty-Two filename. Actionlint passes with Core’s configuration; current CI and Copilot are clear.

_{AI review · gpt-6}

[github-actions]

The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props adrianmoldovanwp, lancewillett.

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[lancewillett]

PR #15252 landed in https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/65191