#43980 [NEW]: Difficult to unserialize session data in user session save function

From: rhm31 at cam dot ac dot uk Operating system: Linux PHP version: 4.4.8 PHP Bug Type: Session related Bug description: Difficult to unserialize session data in user session save function Description: ------------ A custom session handler has a save function, which is given an opaque piece of session data. No functions are provided to modify this data, even though this can be useful in some cases. As a workaround, session_decode and session_encode can be used. However, there are some problems: 1. BUG:session_start() must be called in the save function; presumably because in the save handler the session is already closed. 2. HARD TO USE:The functions do not simply take a string and return an array or vise-versa; instead they work directly on the $_SESSION array. This means you cannot easily use them for generic purposes. A function that implements decode_session below could be added to the standard library, and the existing functions deprecated, since this function subsumes them. Also, a similar function for encode_session. Reproduce code: --------------- function decode_session($session_string) { $current_session=session_encode(); foreach($_SESSION as $key => $value) { unset($_SESSION[$key]); } session_decode($session_string); $restored_session = $_SESSION; foreach ($_SESSION as $key => $value){ unset($_SESSION[$key]); } session_decode($current_session); return $restored_session; } Expected result: ---------------- The session_string to be decoded and returned as an array. Actual result: -------------- An empty array is returned with no error message when above function is called from a session save handler. -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=43980&edit=1 -- Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 4.4): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=trysnapshot44 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 5.2): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=trysnapshot52 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 5.3): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=trysnapshot53 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 6.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=trysnapshot60 Fixed in CVS: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=fixedcvs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=globals PHP 3 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=php3 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=43980&r=mysqlcfg