Re: Re: [RFC][Discussion] Policy release process update

On Sun, Oct 12, 2025, at 9:02 AM, Jakub Zelenka wrote: > On Fri, May 9, 2025 at 12:47 PM Jakub Zelenka <bukka@php.net> wrote: >> Hello, >> >> I'd like to start discussion for some release process updates defined in the following >> RFC / linked PR: >> >> RFC: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/policy-release-process-update >> Policy PR: https://github.com/php/policies/pull/19 >> > > The pull request incorporated some other additions and there are no > further open review requests. I just updated the RFC with the summary > of all changes. I plan to open voting early next month so if you have > any comments, please send them here or to the PR. > > Kind regards, > > Jakub My only pushback is not specific to this PR, but more that this PR would be a good time to address this existing gap: Under Major Version releases > - Significant userland API backward compatibility breaks SHOULD be preceded by the deprecation phase in the previous major version. Right now, that deprecation phase could be as little as 15 months, or as long as 5-6 years (and counting). And when deprecating something, we have no idea how long it's going to be deprecated before it's removed. That's decided well after the fact, whenever it's decided (by whatever means) that PHP.next will be a major this time. This is hostile for users, who do not know, and cannot know, how long they have to address deprecations. Things deprecated in 8.5 (of which there were many) could be removed as soon as November of 2026. Things deprecated in 8.1, however, have been deprecated for ~4-5 years now, and also could be removed in November of 2026. I would very much like us to put more structure around deprecations, when they happen, and the release cycle to support that. Fixing the number of years between Majors would be ideal, as then everyone can plan better around deprecations. (Eg, we can say "no deprecations in the last minor of a series", to ensure all deprecations have at least a 2 year window to address.) As is, it's still largely guesswork for everyone. --Larry Garfield