Bug #49625 [Com]: spl_autoload and case sensitivity

From: Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 22:53:39 +0000
Subject: Bug #49625 [Com]: spl_autoload and case sensitivity
References: 1  Groups: php.bugs 
Request: Send a blank email to php-bugs+get-182684@lists.php.net to get a copy of this message
Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=49625&edit=1

 ID:                 49625
 Comment by:         moon at quantentunnel dot de
 Reported by:        jo at feuersee dot de
 Summary:            spl_autoload and case sensitivity
 Status:             Not a bug
 Type:               Bug
 Package:            SPL related
 Operating System:   Linux
 PHP Version:        5.3.0
 Block user comment: N
 Private report:     N

 New Comment:

After searching around a while I found a workaround without performance loss.

1. Slower but not working with camelcase class files (like "MyClass.php"):
spl_autoload_register(function($classname) { require_once(__DIR__ . '/' .
str_replace('\\', '/', $classname) . '.php'); });

2. Faster but not working with camelcase class files:
set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . __DIR__);
spl_autoload_extensions(".php");
spl_autoload_register();
spl_autoload_register( function($classname) {} );

3. Faster and working with camelcase class files:
set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . __DIR__);
spl_autoload_extensions(".php");
spl_autoload_register(function ($classname) { spl_autoload($classname); });


Previous Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2013-05-15 12:19:46] martijn at 51north dot nl

There's a few things I'd like to add (actually a lot but it's probably best if I keep
most of it to myself):

sjoerd@php.net: "it will break scripts which depend on spl_autoload being case
insensitive."
This suggest that right now spl_autoload is in fact case insensitive, which it is not. A case
insensitive system should find Core.php when asking for Core.php, just like a case sensitive system
would. The difference is that it would ALSO find core.php which would be fine by me. Now it fails to
find Core.php making it case destructive at best.

wim at asgc dot be: "In addition I would strongly suggest the __autoload function will not be
deprecated until this is fixed."
Thank god I love irony, however, this won't actually be a problem as you can still use custom
auto loaders. All you need to do is register it using spl_autoload_register().

And finally, when using namespaces it is quite easy to get around this problem using a short
autoloader function:

function SPL_autoload_suxx($class) {
    include \str_replace('\\', '/', $class) .'.php';
}
\spl_autoload_register(__NAMESPACE__ .'\SPL_autoload_suxx');

All you have to do is copy, paste and mop up the river that you've cried.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2013-03-22 17:45:26] abr28 at cam dot ac dot uk

Like so many others I also think this is a much too obvious bug, unexpected behaviour, etc ... you
name it. It's a poor implementation that needs to be fixed even if it means breaking
compatibility with PHP code that relyies on it, code + files which are poorly cased anyway (!).

However you can maintain compatibility by introducing a new function which alters a case sensitivity
flag. Just like you already have spl_autoload_extensions() to hint/restrict the extensions for
spl_autoload(), you can have a function spl_autoload_case() and call it once, e.g.:

spl_autoload_case(false); // for the broken lowercase spl_autoload()
spl_autoload_case(true);  // to respect case sensitivity

You'd call this before spl_autoload() gets called. You can even make the default to be
lowercase, like you so insist on having.

This way you don't break compatibility -- although you should(too many aspects of PHP encourage
bad coding already).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2013-03-19 12:49:14] james at jamestandy dot com

Also add my support to
FIX THIS BUG!!!

Just tried adding the Ebay Trading API to my existing site, which is using spl_autoload.

Because the ebay team (like it seems every other sensible dev on the entire planet) uses CamelCased
filenames, I now have 3 choices:

1:  Do not use spl_autoload  (Not an option because this would break our existing site).

2:  Do not use the Ebay Trading API, or write my own implementation of this from scratch. (Also not
an option for obvious reasons).

3: Rename over 1000 files, and replace every CamelCase instance in each and every file with lower
case names.

3 is looking to be my only option, which of course would need repeating each and every time Ebay
update their API, so is really NOT a viable option.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2013-01-30 09:41:30] jurchiks101 at gmail dot com

Bumping this bug, at least add a boolean parameter to it for case-sensitivity.
This should be literally a 5-minute job for the devs, why has nobody fixed it for 
3 years and counting? Have you no shame?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2013-01-09 10:00:35] wim at asgc dot be

Since I have an extensive codebase relying on classes defined with uppercase 
starting letter and I saw the 'tip' in the documentation (see below) , I wanted 
to switch. To my surprise I bumped into this issue with spl_autoload_register 
(needless to say that it works on a Windows box as a charm and breaks terribly 
on a Linux box).

It definitely is a bug which should be mentioned clearly in the documentation. 
In addition I would strongly suggest the __autoload function will not be 
deprecated until this is fixed.
--
From the documentation :
Tip
spl_autoload_register() provides a more flexible alternative for autoloading 
classes. For this reason, using __autoload() is discouraged and may be 
deprecated or removed in the future.
--

------------------------------------------------------------------------


The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view
the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at

    https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=49625


-- 
Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=49625&edit=1


Thread (23 messages)

« previous php.bugs (#182684) next »