Re: PHP 4.2.0 Release Announcement

You need to post to php.announce... :D "Derick Rethans" <derick@php.net> wrote in message news:Pine.LNX.4.44.0204222214540.11385-100000@jdi.jdimedia.nl... > > The PHP Group is happy to announce the immediate > availability of PHP 4.2.0, the latest version of the widely-used, > general-purpose scripting language that is especially well-suited for Web > development. > > This latest release contains over one hundred changes, bug fixes and > improvements over the previous release, PHP 4.1.2. Among the highlights > are experimental support for Apache 2, cleanups in variable handling and > overhauls of various PHP components, including the domxml, posix, sockets > and iconv extensions. For more information, see below: > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > External variables > > The biggest change in PHP 4.2.0 concerns variable handling. External > variables (from the environment, the HTTP request, cookies or the web > server) are no longer registered in the global scope by default. The > preferred method of accessing these external variables is by using the new > Superglobal arrays, introduced in PHP 4.1.0. More information about this > change: > > * PHP Manual: Predefined variables > > http://www.php.net/manual/en/html/language.variables.predefined.html > > * The PHP 4.1.0 release announcement > http://www.php.net/release_4_1_0.php > > * Thomas Oertli's article on secure programming in PHP > http://www.zend.com/zend/art/art-oertli.php > > Compatibility > > The Apache Software Foundation recently released their first General > Availability version of Apache 2. PHP 4.2.0 will have EXPERIMENTAL support > for this version. You can build a DSO module for Apache 2 with > --with-apxs2. We do not recommend that you use this in a production > environment. > > PHP 4.2.0 still lacks certain key features on Mac OS X and Darwin, and > isn't officially supported by the PHP Group on these platforms. > Specifically, building PHP as a dynamically loaded Apache module isn't > supported at this time. PHP 4.3.0, due to be released in August, 2002, > will be the first PHP release to officially support Mac OS X. It, along > with future Mac OS X and Apache releases, will enable full feature parity > with other PHP platforms. > Improvements > > PHP 4.2.0 includes several improvements: > > * External variables (from the environment, the HTTP request, cookies > or the web server) are no longer registered as global variables > * Overhaul of the sockets extension > * Highly improved performance with file uploads > * The satellite and mailparse extensions were moved to PECL and are no > longer bundled with the official PHP release > * The posix extension has been cleaned up > * iconv handling has been improved > * Output buffering support, which was introduced in PHP 4.1.0 has been > stabilized > * Improved performance and stability of the domxml extension > * New multibyte regular expression support > * LOTS of fixes and new functions > > For a full list of changes in PHP 4.2.0, see the NEWS file > (http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-4.php). > > > > > regards, > > Derick Rethans > derick@php.net > > > > >