Re: [RFC] Drop support for 32bit builds

On Fri, 20 Jun 2025 at 09:15, Marc Bennewitz <marc@mabe.berlin> wrote: > > > On 19.06.25 18:08, Calvin Buckley wrote: > > I think the biggest arguments against this would be: > > - embedded systems; think of PHP in use for i.e. router web UIs. While I > suspect a lot of these are going to be i.e. AArch64/RV64 in the future, > there might be a long tail of existing systems. Of course, how many > would upgrade to PHP 9? > > While new deployments trend toward 64-bit (e.g. AArch64), there's definitely a long list > of devices — particularly in legacy environments — still running 32-bit systems. But > realistically, how many of these will ever upgrade to PHP 9? Probably very few. These systems often > stay locked to whatever version was originally shipped, and their vendors are unlikely to invest in > major version bumps. > > - WebAssembly; I don't know how widespread the Memory64 proposal is yet. > We're using WebAssembly in the docs pages for runnable examples. > > I don't know either. ChatGPT tells : > > > The Memory64 proposal was formally standardized (Phase 4) in November 2024, backed by > > strong votes and endorsement from the WASM Community Group. > > > > It's enabled by default in Firefox 134 and Chrome 133+, with Safari still working on > > implementation. > > > > Major runtimes like V8, Wasmtime, Wasmer, WASM2C support Memory64 > > > > Toolchains including LLVM, Emscripten, Binaryen, WABT support it; WASI‑SDK has patches > > in progress > > > And some niche cases like i.e. iSH (which emulates x86-32 on iOS). > > This seems to be for very niche projects in itself already and running PHP within such is even > more niche - if present at all (outside of "because I can" reasons). > > The other options include making zend_long always 64-bit and accept the > performance penalty for 32-bit, or making 32-bit best-effort rather than > providing any guarantees. > > Is int64_t (size of long long 8) available on all systems (like WebAssembly)? > > The downside here, please correct me if I'm wrong, is that this increases complexity > instead of reducing it for how much value? >This seems to be for very niche projects in itself already and running PHP within such is even >more niche - if present at all (outside of "because I can" reasons). 3v4l.org use 32bit WASM php in production, see it for yourself at https://3v4l.org/