Fix PHP 8.5 deprecation notices

[Dan0sz]

Fixes PHP 8.5 deprecation notices, reported on a site running the 2.6.2 beta:

Deprecated: Using null as an array offset is deprecated, use an empty string instead in wp-includes/functions.php on line 1194

Cause

add_query_arg( null, null ) is used to get the current request URI. Internally WordPress then does $qs[ null ] = null, which PHP 8.5 deprecates. It's called:

• in Search::get_referrer(), on every page with a search form when Search Queries tracking is enabled;
• in InitOptions::get_current_request(), on every page as soon as Excluded Pages are configured.

This isn't a regression in 2.6.2: 2.6.1 shows the same notice on PHP 8.5.

Changes

• Use add_query_arg( [] ) instead. It returns the same request URI, without the null offset.

The bundled Guzzle's curl_close() deprecation on PHP 8.5 is left for a separate PR that updates Guzzle.

Testing

• Full test suite passes on PHP 8.5 and 8.3.
• Checked on a live site running PHP 8.5 with display_errors on:

	Page with a search form	Any page (Excluded Pages set)
2.6.1	notice	notice
develop	notice	notice
this branch	none	none

The search_source referrer still contains the current URL (including its query string), excluded pages are still excluded, and saving the settings works.

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ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Advanced

Run ID: 5ef88b22-08ac-405e-9b92-dbf24c5ae216

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 116d03e and f592a97.

📒 Files selected for processing (4)

• src/Client/lib/Lib/GuzzleHttp/Handler/CurlFactory.php
• src/Client/lib/Lib/GuzzleHttp/Handler/CurlMultiHandler.php
• src/InitOptions.php
• src/Integrations/Search.php

Included review availability: This review used your included allowance. Your plan provides up to 1 included review per hour; 0 remain after this review.

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The cURL handlers now call curl_close() only before PHP 8.0 in the affected cleanup paths. Two request URI calls now pass an empty array to add_query_arg() instead of two null arguments.

Changes

cURL handle cleanup

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Versioned cURL handle cleanup src/Client/lib/Lib/GuzzleHttp/Handler/CurlFactory.php, src/Client/lib/Lib/GuzzleHttp/Handler/CurlMultiHandler.php	The affected cleanup paths call curl_close() only before PHP 8.0. On PHP 8.0 and later, the handlers skip the explicit close.

Request URI calls

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Empty-array request URI calls src/InitOptions.php, src/Integrations/Search.php	get_current_request() and get_referrer() pass [] to add_query_arg() instead of two null arguments. The documentation notes the PHP 8.5 deprecation of the previous form.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Change: Bug fix

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 4cc39

The changes preserve request URI behavior and follow PHP-version-specific cURL cleanup; no material merge risk remains.

Security Architecture Review

Security architecture risk: 🔵 Low · up to f592a

The reviewed changes appear to preserve the existing page-exclusion, search-referrer, and request-cleanup flows without adding an exposed interface. Risk remains low rather than minimal because runtime equivalence has not been fully verified.

Retained concerns
No architecture-level concerns identified.

Security review details

Security Blast Radius

• inferred — The visible effects are bounded to current-request URI consumers and cURL handle cleanup in processes running the plugin; the inspected diff adds no caller authority or external service path.

Trust Boundaries and Controls

• observed — Excluded-page configuration and pattern matching still gate suppression of a pageview.
• observed — The search referrer remains escaped before it is placed in the hidden search_source attribute.

Resilience and Maintainability Implications

• inferred — On the inspected normal completion and cancellation paths, PHP 8+ cleanup continues to relinquish the handler's request references rather than retaining them through the removed explicit close call.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 60.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 5 functions across 4 files.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: fixing PHP 8.5 deprecation notices in the request URI handling and bundled Guzzle code.

• Fix all pre-merge checks with AI

✨ Finishing Touches 💡 1

📝 Generate docstrings 💡

• Commit to this branch
• Create a new PR

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Commit to this branch
• Create a new PR

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.

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