RE: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] PCRE2 migration

Hi Jakub, > -----Original Message----- > From: jakub.php@gmail.com [mailto:jakub.php@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Jakub > Zelenka > Sent: Monday, October 23, 2017 10:43 PM > To: Anatol Belski <ab@php.net> > Cc: internals@lists.php.net > Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] PCRE2 migration > > Hey > > > On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 9:17 AM, Anatol Belski <ab@php.net > <mailto:ab@php.net> > wrote: > > > Hi, > > I would like hereby to put the RFC about the PCRE2 migration for the > core https://wiki.php.net/rfc/pcre2-migration > <https://wiki.php.net/rfc/pcre2-migration> under > discussion. A basic > port is available here > https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/2857 > <https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/2857> for a > review. > > > > > Sorry if that's a stupid question and I'm missing something important but why do > we need to still bundle PCRE2? > I ask such questions just for the fun of it all the time, that makes sense to my character 😊 The point of the RFC is the max BC. Currently PCRE is bundled. Otherwise, the lib is essential for the core and thus needs to be always available. For older distro versions like for example Debian Jessie or other OSes not yet providing PCRE2 from the package management, that would be the only way to get a newer PHP version, even if compiled by hand. Except maybe when libpcre2 were provided by a third party repo, or a PPA in the Debian terminology. Another point on that is, even if a package is available on the target platform - the bundled version is what is tested and highly recommended. Builders can decide otherwise, but what we provide makes the point. Lately, for example - the valgrind support is also essential, as a release version supplied by a distro likely wouldn't be built with valgrind support but it's required to debug PHP issues. Otherwise, there's no need for bundling. This dependency is currently not patched in the way it would be the only one to be required bundled. It is simply handy to have it bundled for the development and compatibility. Any distribution can decide, whether they would use it bundled or external. Regards Anatol