Re: the dl() issue

At 01:08 AM 3/16/2002 +0100, Stig S. Bakken wrote:

On Wed, 2002-03-13 at 22:08, Zeev Suraski wrote: At 21:36 13/03/2002, Shane Caraveo wrote:

I thought we weren't wasting any more time with this? :)

Yeah, I'm getting realy tired of having to argue for something that should be a base part of the language.

Kodus on the tactics :) I understand Shane's point of view very well here. PHP _needs_ a way of loading modules at runtime, not some half-solution like preloading from php.ini or directories where everything is preloaded. I had given up on this one until Shane popped out of the woodwork.

Stig, It doesn't *need* a way of loading modules at run-time. I completely disagree with that as I believe that the ability to load shared objects at server startup is more than enough. Except for you guys thinking it's cool I don't think it's something which is desperately needed. Personally even if PHP had the ability of dynamically loading at run-time I wouldn't use it. I always prefer setting up my environment in a deterministic way.

What I don't understand is your insisting on that dynamically loading extensions at runtime in PHP is not possible, when it is possible in for example Perl running as a MT server plugin. It just doesn't make sense. If you don't have enough interest in runtime loading to find time to implement it, that's fine, but please say so instead of fighting the whole idea. Both Shane and I have enough interst to make an effort.

Everything is possible but the way PHP works right now it's extremely difficult. I think you guys often exaggerate on the desperate need of stuff. There is a reason why hundreds of thousands of PHP users haven't begged for it. Most people don't miss it... Also I think the never ending comparison of people to Perl & Python in lots of aspects not only dynamic loading is getting a bit old. Certain developers here say stuff like "Well Perl & Python have it and PHP will stink unless it does the same". Maybe it's time to start using Perl & Python for those people :) I think PHP gives the users lots of stuff those other two languages don't give. Anyway, I'm not trying to be argumentative but let's try and be a bit more realistic here Andi