Re: Re: cvs: php4 /ext/standard basic_functions.c incomplete_class.c php_incomplete_class.h var.c /ext/wddx wddx.c

From: Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 15:24:46 +0000
Subject: Re: Re: cvs: php4 /ext/standard basic_functions.c incomplete_class.c php_incomplete_class.h var.c /ext/wddx wddx.c
References: 1 2 3 4 5  Groups: php.dev 
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See my letter to Andrei.

I've yet to see an ISP that (knowingly) allows users to load extensions, and wouldn't agree to add them to the php.ini file.

This isn't a case of me saying "users don't need X" or "95.6% of the scripts out there don't need Y".  This is me saying that dl() is *bad*, even if people got used to using it, which is why it should be deprecated.  Again, notice that it has been deprecated for a long while in thread-safe mode, which means people who develop under Windows (a huge share) don't have it for over a year.

dl() is bad in pretty much every sense, including the new sense you mentioned in your letter - dl()'ing extensions in a shared environment.  Forcing the ISP to admit any extensions into the php.ini file before it gets loaded to the server is a good thing.

If dl() is one of PEAR's foundations, it's time to dig it up and replace it with something more sound and stable :)  Using php.ini for loading extensions should be the way to go.

Zeev

At 18:18 06/08/2001, Stig Sæther Bakken wrote:

[Zeev Suraski <zeev@zend.com>]

Please don't just say it's useful, please say why :)
dl() has absolutely nothing over loading in php.ini, and has many drawbacks.

Please allow me to coin a new term: "Zeev-ism".  Zeev-isms are of the
form "users don't need X" or "95.6% of the scripts out there don't
need Y". ;-)

The fact is that a lot of people (typically ISP users) don't have
access to php.ini or .htaccess.  If these people need a third party
extension, or one that was not built in their ISP's version of PHP,
they either have to get their ISP to include it (and if the ISP is big
enough and the client small enough, they won't care), or use dl().  If
their ISP hasn't disabled that function, in which case they're screwed
anyway of course.

I do get kinda worried when you pop out a statement like "we're
probably going to deprecate dl() anyway", being able to load
extensions at run-time sort of is one of PEAR's foundations.

Let's try to fix these problems rather than cripping PHP.

 - Stig

--
  Stig Sæther Bakken <ssb@alltheweb.com>
  Fast Search & Transfer ASA, Trondheim, Norway


--
Zeev Suraski <zeev@zend.com>
CTO &  co-founder, Zend Technologies Ltd. http://www.zend.com/

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