I guess this is Marinas area?, but I am putting it in the Integration component for lack of better issue place at the moment.

We should formalise the process for dealing with new versions of php which are released.

It would be something like:

1. Someone keeps track of php releases and initiates this process when a PHP rc is released
2. Issues are created to address compatibility problems based on the release notes, e.g. https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-31004
3. We run all automated tests against the latest release
4. We fix any idenitified issues
5. We wait for the proper .0 release and then run tests again
6. We then initiate the process of upgrading out 'highest supported version' php release on our infrastrucure (so nightly server etc runs against the latest release and we always have highest and lowest php versions tested)

Related forum thread: Is Moodle compatible with PHP 5.6?