Re: Proposal for 2 new magic constants

On Sat, May 23, 2026, at 12:21 PM, Jordi Kroon wrote: > On 23/05/2026 6:38 pm, php@s22.us wrote: > >> I would like to propose two new magic constants to PHP: __HOME__ and >> __USER__ > > I strongly oppose this idea. > > This kind of information is environment-specific and does not really > belong as a language-level magic constant. Existing magic constants > describe source context (__FILE__, > __DIR__, etc.), not host or user > environment details. > > For CLI usage, this information is usually already available through > environment variables such as HOME and > USER, which is the more > appropriate place for this kind of information. > > In isolated environments such as containers or chroots, exposing user or > home-directory information is also something we generally should avoid. > > More importantly, I think we should discourage PHP web applications from > reaching into other parts of the system and instead encourage them to > stay within their application/web directories. > >> P.S.  Hopefully I'm posting this to the correct list.  If not, please >> point me to where I need to be. > > This is the correct list. Often before starting an official RFC an > e-mail is sent to this mailing list to see if a certain topic/idea has > interest. > > -- > Regards, > > Jordi Kroon I am also -1 here, for the reasons Jordi lists. In cases where quick access to that information is relevant or useful, there are better alternatives to magic constants. --Larry Garfield