Re: Reference handling change and PHP 4.4.0

Rasmus Lerdorf wrote:

Well, that is the point, it didn't actually work. Code similar to this caused memory corruption. So while you may not have seen an instant crash, over time and in certain conditions you would get unexplained crashes. In order to fix this bug we needed to check for this sort of code and in doing so we were able to fix it and also enhance the warning levels to let people detect this sort of potentially bogus code. -Rasmus

You don't seem to understand. I'll let you in on a secret. We don't care about the php engine and how it works. What we care about is the PHP code and whether that works. Like it or not you set a precedent. You allowed us to write code that worked. Maybe it didn't work 100% and occasionally caused a crash, but that doesn't change the fact it worked. It must of worked otherwise people wouldn't of written it that way. The fact that there was some memory corruption occuring occasionally is a bug in *your* system. We don't care why it happens, or what is causing it. All we do care about is that it gets fixed. You have now demonstrated to us that the PHP developers can't be bothered trying to find a real solution so you decided to pass the buck and make us, your users, fix it for you. That is why we are angry. How do we know this won't happen again? What happens next time you find a bug that is just too hard? Will we have to change our code on every version release? How much is that going to cost us in time and money, and why should we bother?