The current PHP Manual has had a number of PHP 4-specific things already
removed entirely, as we've discussed. While a current snapshot would
create a clear line in the sand, it's missing chunks that I think people
will be looking for. I'd prefer that we take the time to provide a
useful archive by, for example, re-instating the removed extensions
Or maybe just determine old enough revision? I have no idea when were they removed, so I don't know if such revision has correct markup we are using today. It's just an idea.
(e.g. domxml). Not that anyone has suggested this, but I don't think we
can realistically remove everything PHP 5-related to leave a PHP 4
manual (or, can we?).
It's rather diffictult and I see two ways here:
- trying to remove as many things unrelated to PHP 4 as we can - it's very hard to do, if we don't want dead links for example
- make a snapshot without further changes - very easy for us and PHP 4 users will get manual no worse than now.
I'm undecided here. On the one hand, it would be nice to see the "full"
history of a function or feature ("Yo dawg, that function has been
around since, like, forever!"). On the other hand, who cares? So long
as we can see things that might be relevant to the version(s) of PHP
that I'm using. If we're going to go to the trouble of creating a
snapshot/archive, can we just nuke PHP 4 entirely from the "current" manual?
I fully understand your nostalgia, but without that we will end in a place where we are now. It has to be done sooner or later. Similarly we don't have changelog entries for PHP 3. Yes, I know they were created long time after last PHP 3.x release, but our manual doesn't contain pieces of informations related to 3.x at all and noone cares. PHP 4 *is* historical now. On the other hand, we don't leave our PHP 4 users completely, they still be able to download appropriate version.
I'm not sure that having a version string at the top of the page say
"(PHP 5)" then having a changelog entry saying "PHP 4.0.1: Function
xyz() was added." makes a whole heap of sense. Half of me is saying,
"get rid of PHP 4 entirely". The other half is nostalgic for those good
old PHP 4 days. Yet another half (yes, three halves) wants there to be
somewhere, anywhere, *in the PHP Manual* which tells me when a
function/feature was introduced, even if it was in PHP 4.
I probably just answered it above. However, it is only my opinion, obviously.
* The current structure/layout was created with PHP 3 in mind,
with minor updates along the way. This might explain why the
appendix has grown out of control, why advanced features can
be hidden (not kept in mind when writing related docs), and
so on. Rethink our structure? Also, too much PECL clutter?
- One day yes, not right now ;)
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, maybe off-list. :)
I'm also very interested in your ideas on that :) Maybe create another topic discussing it?
I think that much we can all agree on. A remaining question is, what
sort of archive will be "good enough"?
For me, remaining question is: how many informations do we agree to get rid off? Changelog entries? versions.xml? Both of them should stay?
Kind regards,
Maciej.