WordPress setup running on the top of Apache uses the .htaccess file. .htaccess on Apache server setup remains on FTP and works like the other Apache settings files. It mostly controls common matters like the URLs and access to a directory. .htaccess files degrade the performance of the Apache backend server. As the number of directories on a site gets larger, it impacts the crawl. Apache documents suggest “you should only use .htaccess files when you don’t have access to the main server configuration file” :
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https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/howto/htaccess.html#when |
By now, there are many WordPress sites running on Nginx web server. Nginx does not use .htaccess but WordPress works fine.
The PHP scripts written for PHP 7.4 and the future versions may not support .htaccess to the fullest. Itself .htaccess is an Apache configuration file, PHP is not directly related. There is various misleading information spreading all over the internet. In this situation, it is difficult to predict what Apache will do in future versions. Apache is not quite supportive of .htaccess file usage because it degrades the performance and slightly compromises the security of FTP. WordPress published a detailed article on WordPress and PHP 7.4. Regardless of the fact whether PHP and Apache will continue support of .htaccess file, normally for a cloud server or VPS or a dedicated server we should use most of the configurations inside the Apache settings file. PHP 7.4 is faster for the newest version of WordPress. The block editor is just superb to build a great homepage. Webmasters of older websites often remain in the older version of server operating system, PHP, and WordPress. It is an important time for them to have a working backup, test it elsewhere and test upgrade.
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