Re: cvs: php4 /ext/midgard config.m4

At 00:29 20/3/2001, david@guerizec.net wrote:

Midgard is not exactly a layer above PHP, it's an extension to PHP, exactly like the session extension, or the gd extension. Here is my own point of view (far from objective, cause I'm from the Midgard team ;): Midgard is a CMS, like MySQL is a DBMS. MySQL has it's own module in php4/ext, as well as pgsql, oracle, etc... That gives users the choice of what DBMS they can use with PHP. I don't mind *at all* if Zope, or Websphere or whatever other CMS has its own module in php4/ext (in fact, that would give users more choice, thus that'd be better).

Not quite :) The main difference is that, unlike most other extensions, this extension isn't a 'glue' layer that connects PHP to some external resource. In this case, we're including the resource itself. It's more similar to including the source code of MySQL or PostgreSQL inside PHP, not a module that connects to them... There were a few exceptions to the rule over the years (mostly in PHP 4.0) - PCRE, XML being the most notable ones, and the MySQL client library being another type of exception, made due to the huge popularity of the PHP/MySQL combination. There are a few open issues here, which should help us understand whether or not this module belongs inside PHP: - Is it mutually exclusive to other alternatives? The problem Colin raised does exist, there are quite a few content management applications for PHP out there, and it's a bit unfair to them to bundle a specific one inside PHP. - The license issue - does the inclusion of midgard effect the overall license restrictions of PHP or not? - Is the midgard group willing and interested in playing by the php-dev rules? In particular, "Thou shalt never break the CVS build" is one of the 'higher laws' around here :) Zeev