Bug #68475 [Asn]: call_user_func($a) not equivalent to $a()

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=68475&edit=1 ID: 68475 Updated by: dmitry@php.net Reported by: nicolas dot grekas+php at gmail dot com Summary: call_user_func($a) not equivalent to $a() Status: Assigned Type: Bug Package: Scripting Engine problem PHP Version: 5.6.3 Assigned To: jpauli Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: This behavior was never supported in PHP5, so it's not a bug but a feature request. I think, such change may be accepted in PHP7 (no way for php-5.6). The real "fast" path (when OP2_TYPE == IS_CONST) must not be affected. The implementation is not a problem (I can take care about it), but such change should be approved. I'm not sure if this needs RFC or not (probably better to follow the standard RFC procedure). Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-12-01 07:10:34] nicolas dot grekas+php at gmail dot com This check for double double colons is implemented for the callable type hint. This means that the performance argument is not relevant (since a type hint is checked as often if not more often than a callable is effectivelly called). More importantly, it means that the type hint is useless in the general case, since it gives no guarantee whatsoever when the $callable() syntax is used instead of the call_user_func($callable) one. Last but not least, making $callable() not an equivalent for call_user_func($callable) just because of this case is a blocker for deprecating the former, since there will always be a valid use case for it. Especially since most of the code out there uses call_user_func($callable), because of history. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-12-01 03:39:17] laruence@php.net for the record, they are never guaranteed to be act the same. and, there is voice to deprecated call_user_** at all. so I don't think the fix is worthy to do (slowdown the fast path) .. thanks ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-12-01 03:39:16] laruence@php.net for the record, they are never guaranteed to be act the same. and, there is voice to deprecated call_user_** at all. so I don't think the fix is worthy to do (slowdown the fast path) .. thanks ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-11-29 12:51:50] jpauli@php.net Started a work at https://github.com/jpauli/php-src/compare/fix-68475 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-11-21 19:48:11] nicolas dot grekas+php at gmail dot com Description: ------------ Since php5.4, call_user_func($a) is almost equivalent to $a() $a() works with all callables BUT ONE. A "foo::bar" string is OK for call_user_func(), but KO for pure syntax. This make the new (and more performant) syntax useless in generic code that want to accept any callable. Test script: --------------- <?php class foo{static function bar(){}} $a = 'foo::bar'; echo is_callable($a),"\n"; call_user_func($a); $a(); Expected result: ---------------- 1 Actual result: -------------- 1 Fatal error: Call to undefined function foo::bar() in ... on line 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=68475&edit=1