compare version using PHP_VERSION_ID

| Q             | A
| ------------- | ---
| Bug fix?      | no
| New feature?  | no
| BC breaks?    | no
| Deprecations? | no
| Tests pass?   | yes
| Fixed tickets | 
| License       | MIT
| Doc PR        | 

This continues the work started in #12497 on the `2.3` branch.