PHP 8.3: How the Community Helps PHP Evolve

The inclusion in PHP 8.3 of two enhancements by Seiden Group’s own Calvin Buckley* inspired me to write this post.

PHP is moved forward by its community. Each year there is a new major release with enhancements, each month a maintenance release. PHP 8.3 is another achievement in the steady cycle of improvements.

Here are some key resources for understanding how the PHP language is built and enhanced.

Where PHP’s source code is found

When I want to understand details of an error message or to settle an argument about how PHP behaves, I sometimes search the PHP source code. It’s not hard to read.

• PHP’s source code, bug fixes, and many discussions are available here:
  https://github.com/php/php-src
• PHP’s built-in extensions, such as curl, odbc, and pdo_odbc, have their source code and issue trackers here:
  https://github.com/php/php-src/tree/master/ext/

How the community manages PHP

Changes to PHP are proposed and voted on using a Request for Comments (RFC) process.

• Here is the overview of the current PHP RFCs, up through PHP 8.4 as of this writing:
  https://wiki.php.net/rfc
• Rules for voting on RFCs:
  https://wiki.php.net/rfc/voting
• Once a release is ready, the community follows this PHP release process:
  https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/master/docs/release-process.md
• For potential contributors who want to make PHP better, here is the contributor’s guide:
  https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md

How to get PHP 8.3 for IBM i

When PHP 8.3 becomes generally available (GA) on November 23, 2023, we will release it for IBM i as Seiden CP+ PHP 8.3.

*FYI, these are Calvin’s contributions to PHP 8.3:

• Note where a session was already started
• http_response_code should warn if headers already sent