PHP Version on Status Report Shows Potentially Misleading Information

Problem/Motivation

The status report general information should show system information but instead shows module runtime requirements, which can be misleading for PHP version if a module defines a minimum requirement.

In core/modules/system/system.routing.yml:

system.status:
 path: '/admin/reports/status'
 defaults:
   _controller: '\Drupal\system\Controller\SystemInfoController::status'
   _title: 'Status report'
 requirements:
   _permission: 'administer site configuration'

status() in core/modules/system/src/Controller/SystemInfoController.php:

 /**
  * Displays the site status report.
  *
  * @return array
  *   A render array containing a list of system requirements for the Drupal
  *   installation and whether this installation meets the requirements.
  */
 public function status() {
   $requirements = $this->systemManager->listRequirements();
   return ['#type' => 'status_report_page', '#requirements' => $requirements];
 }

listRequirements() in core/modules/system/src/SystemManager.php:

 /**
  * Displays the site status report. Can also be used as a pure check.
  *
  * @return array
  *   An array of system requirements.
  */
 public function listRequirements() {
   // Load .install files
   include_once DRUPAL_ROOT . '/core/includes/install.inc';
   drupal_load_updates();

   // Check run-time requirements and status information.
   $requirements = $this->moduleHandler->invokeAll('requirements', ['runtime']);
   uasort($requirements, function ($a, $b) {
     if (!isset($a['weight'])) {
       if (!isset($b['weight'])) {
         return strcasecmp($a['title'], $b['title']);
       }
       return -$b['weight'];
     }
     return isset($b['weight']) ? $a['weight'] - $b['weight'] : $a['weight'];
   });

   return $requirements;
 }

If a given module requires a specific version of PHP, such as in https://www.drupal.org/project/trailing_slash/issues/3016988, then the status report will show 7.1 even if 7.2+ is actively running.

In trailing_slash/trailing_slash.install:

/**
* Implements hook_requirements().
*/
function trailing_slash_requirements($phase) {
 $requirements = [];
 $requirements['php'] = [
   'title' => t('PHP'),
   'value' => TRAILING_SLASH_MINIMUM_PHP,
 ];

 if (version_compare(phpversion(), TRAILING_SLASH_MINIMUM_PHP) < 0) {
   $requirements['php']['description'] = t('Your PHP installation is too old. This module requires at least PHP %version.', [
     '%version' => TRAILING_SLASH_MINIMUM_PHP,
   ]);
   $requirements['php']['severity'] = REQUIREMENT_ERROR;
 }
 return $requirements;
}

In trailing_slash/trailing_slash.module:

<?php

use Drupal\Core\Routing\RouteMatchInterface;

define('TRAILING_SLASH_MINIMUM_PHP', '7.1');

In trailing_slash/trailing_slash.info.yml:

name: Trailing Slash
description: Adds trailing slashes to Drupal URLs.
type: module
# core: 8.x
dependencies:
  - drupal:language
php: 7.1

# Information added by Drupal.org packaging script on 2018-09-07
version: '8.x-1.0'
core: '8.x'
project: 'trailing_slash'
datestamp: 1536320883

Proposed resolution

Could this check be switched to pull information from another source, perhaps from the phpinfo() function as output in /admin/reports/status/php?

Remaining tasks

• Determine if this behavior is intended/preferred
• Adjust the source of the PHP version check
• Write tests