Christopher Jones' Blog: PHP 5.2.5 RPMs with OCI8 and PDO_OCI are available
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Christopher Jones has a (very) quick announcement about the latest builds of the PHP RPMs for Enterprise linux installations:   PHP 5.2.5 RPMs for x86 Enterprise Linux (i.e. RHEL) 4.6 and 5.1 are on http://oss.oracle.com/projects/php/. These are supplied "as is".   The RPMs are part of a project to provide support for Oracle Enterprise Linux servers (as well as Red Hat installs) and provide a PHP command line, CGI interface and an Apache module quickly and easily. Check out the project page to find out more and to grab this latest build.
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Christopher Jones continues his previous update on the status of the new OCi8 functionality for PHP in a new post mentioning the bundling up of a recent version into a standalone package.   Antony Dovgal took a snapshot of the OCI8 extension that shipped with PHP 5.2.4 and bundled it up standalone in PECL as OCI8 1.2.4.  Windows binaries are here.    Fixes included in this packages DLL include:   statement caching LOB functionality error handling methods
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From Dotvoid.com, there's a new posting talking about the continued use of PHP4 by developers and hosting companies and how it's effecting the community as a whole.    It is true that the PHP 5 uptake has been slow. Many internet service providers as well as many developers are reluctant to switch. This is probably, as others have stated, a circular dependency.   As ISP:s are reluctant to upgrade the popular open source projects are hesitant to upgrade. I still think the wrong people are worried. Still PHP 5 is increasing it's share and finally the day will come when version 4 will be considered legacy. Hopefully before PHP 6 is here but not necessarily.    He continues on, talking about what PHP5 is really about (it's not just the objects!) and things that can help make it an easier sell to those still lagging in a PHP4 world - like the Zend Framework.
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According to this new post on DynamicWebPges.de and a message from Derick Rethans on the php.internals mailing list, there's an issue with PHP 4.4.5 where sessions are causing segfaults when register_globals is set to "On".   As per Derick:   Because of this I'd like to release a 4.4.6 soon with this fixes. As  there is also an upgrade to pcre 7.0 we'd need at least one RC, which I  plan to release on Thursday.   Users of the PHP 4.4.x series should keep watch for this new update to correct the issue quickly.
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Popular posts from PHPDeveloper.org for the past week:Sebastian Bergmann's Blog: Support for the Cancel Case Workflow PatternCommunity News: The PDO v2 ProposalSite News: Popular Posts for the Week of 01.25.2008ProPHP Podcast: PHP Newscast for 2008/01/24Developer Tutorials Blog: Why you should be using YAML for configJob Posting: InvestorGuide.com Seeks Web Developer (Fairfax, VA)Pierre-Alain Joye's Blog: Debugging symfony (or any php script) with vim and XdebugCIO.com: You Used PHP to Write WHAT?!Demian Turner's Blog: Seagull 0.6.4 Release (fixes Security Isse from 0.6.3)Developer Tutorials Blog: PHP Qualifications: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
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Jim Plush has posted an offifical release announcement about his latest contribution to the PHP community - a debugging tool combining PHP (through the myBIC framework) and the Firefox FireBug extension.   I put together a couple pieces of technology to give the PHP community a debugger/profiler that should make life easier in the "web2.0" world. Are you tired of echo'ing print statements in your ajax calls? Writing to log files? Firing up big ol debuggers just to see what the value of some array is? Well look no further than the new MyBic PHP Debugger.   The tool is a smaller part of his larger MyBIC framework and can do things like writing log files, echo information back out to the screen, and communicate information back out to the Firefox user. There is a standalone version of FireBug that will be posted for those that don't want to have to install an entire framework to use it.   Keep an eye out (here and on his blog) for the links to the release when it's posted. In the meantime, you can check out a screencast [mov] of the package in action or just the screenshots in the blog entry.
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Popular posts from PHPDeveloper.org for the past week:ProDevTips.com: Writing a CMS/Community with Smarty and the Zend Framework: Part 6Nessa's Blog: Using an .htaccess with PHP Compiled as CGIArnold Daniels' Blog: How I PHP: The Output Handler - ContinuedMartynas Jusevicius' Blog: PHP 5 features: Class autoloadingSean Coates' Blog: Actually Solving a Problem (believe it or not)The Northclick Blog: Message Queue Project: First working versionStefan Mischook's Blog: A Question about object properties in PHP ClassesJob Posting: G2 Technology Seeks PHP Developer (Memphis, TN)Rob Allen's Blog: Zend_View: Access the view from a view helperDavid Walsh's Blog: Using PHP Generic Objects To Organize Your Code
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Michael Kimsal has posted a formal prediction that a patch, created by someone in the community, will emerge making it simple to bridge the gap between PHP4 and PHP5 applications.   Given the high number of shared hosts still running PHP4, the backwards compatibility issues going from 4->5 (yes, there are some!) and the new PHP4 "end of life" date (8/8/8), someone will likely find a way to make these run together, and possibly even charge money for it.   He suggests that many hosts out there would happily pay a sum to get this kind of functionally for their customers. It would provide a solution to customers who just don't understand the force towards PHP5 and would make them (and their PHP4 applications) happier.
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Jacob Santos makes some of his own comments about the recent PHP5 adoption talk that's been going around in the PHP community (spurred on by comments made by Matt of the Wordpress project).   Matt brings up some good points. What might be limiting PHP 5 adoption, could just be the lack of interest in developers. [...] Up until reading his rant, I've lived in a box where everyone I've talked to, used and enjoyed PHP 5 and its vast extensions. Developing in PHP 5.0 was uneventfully, but you learn to appreciate PHP 5 with the core inclusion of PDO with PHP 5.1. PHP 5 is not without annoyances. In the core developers attempts to "better" the language, they made changes that broke code that previously worked.   He looks at a few of the items for debate surrounding the move from PHP4 to PHP5 including the extensions that come bundled with PHP5, solving the register_globals issue, and a brief mention of the Standard PHP Library.
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Popular posts from PHPDeveloper.org for the past week:The Bakery: Six New Articles/Tutorials PostedEvert Pot's Blog: PHP: Arrays vs. ObjectsDevArticles: Learning AJAXInternet Super Hero: PHP: mysqli_fetch_all()David Coallier's Blog: PHP Namespaces (Part 1: Basic usage & gotchas)I/O Reader: 15 Cool Things & 12 Things to Dislike About PHPProPHP Podcast: Newscast - August 16, 2007PHPBuilder.com: Dynamic XML with PHPSite News: Popular Posts for the Week of 08.17.2007PRADO Watch Blog: PRADO Watch: Interview With Timani Tunduwani - Why I Moved From CakePHP to PRADO
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Here's what was popular in the PHP community one year ago today:PHP-Tools Blog: New releases of patTemplate and patFormsPrism-Perfect.net: PHP Tag Cloud TutorialPHPit.net: Building a simple MVC system with PHP5Alan Knowles' Blog: Code Reviewing.Nefarious Designs: Object-Oriented PHP Part 1: DefinitionWaxJelly Blog: Using PHP to make a MySQL "abstraction layer"php|architect: Introduction to PHPUnitNefarious Designs: Object-Oriented PHP Part 2: RelationshipsJohn Mertic's Blog: PHP Windows Installer updated for PHP 5.2.0RC2 and moreDevShed: Reading, Writing and Creating Files in PHPPHPKitchen: Seagull 0.6.0 ReleasedThinkPHP Blog: Make the download of large files with PHP (and lighty) very easyPeter Goodman's Blog: Observers and DispatchersRyan Malesevich's Blog: WP Plugins: WP-ChunkPHP.net: PHP 5.1.6 Released
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Marco Tabini (of php|architect) has posted some thoughts to his blog about the PHP4 end-of-life announcement and its relations to the current push to go PHP5 - mainly how it relates to hosting providers.   I'm sure that a large number are owners of small hosting firms - which, by far, provide the vast majority of PHP-powered websites that Netcraft carefully tracks for us - that sell cheap shared hosting. [...] If you provide shared-hosting plans, it's likely that your servers are still running PHP 4. Upgrading to PHP 5 is a logistical nightmare for two reasons: first, you don't necessarily know that you'll be able to properly set up and secure your systems; second, you don't know that your customers' applications will keep on running.   Both reasons can cause very different kinds of hassles for the hoster, especially when it comes to their customers. As Marco puts it "hell hath no fury like a customer scorned". When things are going smoothly, everything's good, but the second that you try to explain that the update is what's good for them, all they see are things breaking and freak out.   He suggests only one real solution - make the move and tell the customers now that things are changing. Help them all you can (with information about updated software and resources) but ultimately it's up to them to make the change.
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In another quick note from Chris Shiflett, there's a summary of php|works and some of the comments made about it:
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In a new post on his blog today Ilia Alshanetsky asks the community the all-important question on everyone's lips - "why are you not using PHP 5?"   It would seem that despite a 300% growth (from 12%) in PHP 5.X usage in 2006, it still only commands about 12% of the entire PHP user base. [...] As a 5.X release master, I am very interested in hearing what's holding back 5.X adoption and what can we, as the developers do in 2007 to help speed of 5.X adoption.   He notes that a lot of the concerns (speed issues, stability problems, etc) have already been addressed and are working like a champ in the latest PHP5 versions releases.    So, do you have a reason why you're still using PHP 4? If you're not using it, you know someone who is. Take this as an opportunity to give them a friendly shove in the PHP 5 direction.
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Here's what was popular in the PHP community one year ago today:onPHP5.com: Clickable, Obfuscated Email AddressesJacob Santos' Blog: PHP BlackjackThe Bakery: RESTful Web Services With CakePHPDeveloper.com: Developing a Ajax-driven Shopping Cart with PHP and PrototypeGreg Beaver's Blog: Mac OS X ships with security hole-laden PEAR - how to upgrade immediatelyNexen.net: English Articles and a Single Distribution ResourceJob Posting: Red Ventures Seeks Several LAMP Developers (Charlotte, NC)The Bakery: Checking for duplicate records (unique record)DevShed: The Basics of Abstract Factory Classes in PHP 5NewsForge.com: A DIY calendar control in PHPDevGuide.net: Dynamic Bitmap Graphics with PHP and GDRichard Heyes' Blog: Browser DetectionInternational PHP Magazine: Poll Question: Which is the Most Important Feature of PHP 5?Builder.au: Dynamic XML document construction with the PHP DOMCommunity News: PEAR Version 1.5.0 Released
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A Tuesday deadline has been set in which several leading open-source PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) projects plan to stop supporting older versions of PHP in upcoming releases.The Go PHP 5 campaign, sponsored by several PHP proponents, is intended to move the PHP developer community fully onto the PHP version 5 platform. Among the projects backing the effort are Symfony, Typo3, phpMyAdmin, Drupal, Propel, and Doctrine. These vendors are committing to use PHP 5.2 in releases developed after Tuesday.Campaign advocates also have issued an invitation to other PHP projects to participate, and so far, about 150 software projects and about 200 Web hosters have committed.Most PHP Web applications run in PHP 4 and 5. PHP 4 was released in 2000, while PHP 5 became available in 2004."We think PHP is absolutely the platform going forward," said Mark de Visser, chief marketing officer at PHP tools vendor Zend Technologies, which is supporting the Go PHP5 effort.PHP 5 features object orientation, for enterprise application development, and Web services capabilities, de Visser said. But adoption has been slow because of issues like Web hosts that offer PHP 4 by default, Go PHP 5 said."No one's moving to PHP 5 because no one wants to be first," said Larry Garfield, a co-founder of the Go PHP 5 project.Hosts will not upgrade until projects do, but projects will not upgrade until hosts do, thus presenting a chicken-and-egg situation, according to Go PHP 5's July 2007 statement. Go PHP 5 hopes to give Web hosts incentive to upgrade servers to newer versions of PHP.Additionally, extensions to the PHP 4 platform are ceasing, according to Garfield. There will only be major security issues considered between now and August, and after that, PHP development stops, he said.PHP 6, meanwhile, is not due for more than a year, de Visser said. It will focus on internationalization, he said.
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Popular posts from PHPDeveloper.org for the past week:Ian Selby's Blog: Uploading Large Files With PHPONLamp.com: Quick and Clean PHP FormsDotVoid.com: Reordering nested sets using PHP and JavascriptRob Allen's Blog: Zend Framework Book Coming SoonCommunity News: php|works Daily Summaries (Day 2)Community News: Sara Golemon & Christopher Jones - First Day Summaries of php|worksJob Posting: University of Wisconsin, Department of Medicine Seeks Web Developer (Madison, WI)Zend Developer Zone: PHP Abstract Podcast Episode 19: Glue Frameworks vs. Full Stack FrameworksStefan Mischook's Blog: Installing PHP and MySQL on the Mac with MAMPSecurityReason: Three Advisories for PHP 5.2.4 (dl, iconv_substr & setlocale)