Re: [RFC] [Discussion] Release cycle update

On 10-11-2023 17:51, Jakub Zelenka wrote:

Hello, I would like to propose a new process RFC for updates to PHP release cycle: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/release_cycle_update This has been discussed between release managers to make sure that all are happy as some of the points impact release managers (e.g. longer security support). I also opened a PR to my new personal repo for RFC's if anyone has got any suggestion for better wording or notices any typo: https://github.com/bukka/php-rfc/pull/1

Thank you Jakub for putting this together. A lot of this makes sense to me, but the shortening of the feature freeze period from effectively 18 weeks (with some exceptions) to 8 weeks concerns me. While this is not a concern for applications in a controlled environment, this is a concern for open source projects which don't have control over the environment the software is being run on and therefore generally "have to be" (try to be) deprecation-free "early", especially packages which are used in the CI/QA chain of open source applications (think: Composer, PHPUnit, Mockery, Pest etc) and frameworks which are widely extended, where the extensions can't really verify their own readiness until the framework is deprecation-free (think: WordPress and its plugin system). Taking that into account, I would like suggest the following: * Yes, 4 RCs, but instead of 2 weeks between each, have 3 weeks between each. That way the RC period remains the same, allowing the open source world to get ready in time, while still lessening the workload. * Regarding moving the feature freeze to the first RC: I can see the benefits of small features still being allowed in, but deprecations going in late is a different matter. While PHP 8.3 was "light" in regards to the impact of deprecations, PHP 8.1 and 8.2 were a whole different kettle of fish. With that in mind, I'd like to suggest deprecations/removals to only be allowed in up to beta 1, with new RFC features and other small changes being allowed in until RC1. I hope you'll consider these suggestions. Smile, Juliette