Re: PHP 5 RC1

> To be honest, I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. Basically, the > engine is done. I think the XML extensions and SQLite are pretty mature, I know Shane was working on some major improvements to simplexml that I don't know if he's finished yet. Sterling didn't seem to have any interest in really finishing the code he did write from our conversations. > I'd really like to see PHP 5 get out soon because it's really a waste that > we don't give PHP users the chance to use the new functionality. I think It'd also be a waste to release PHP 5.0, only to have 5.1 be the version with all the non-OO new features just for the sake of it. It's widely understood throughout the community that PHP 5 will be a *major* release for PHP, and everyone expects to see things like MySQLi, PDO, SimpleXML/XML, etc. > I also don't think we should be waiting for new extensions like PDO. It is > impossible to synchronize with every extension out there. PDO sounds like > it'll be something really useful, and when it's ready and useful enough > it'll probably be part of PHP whether that is 5.0.0. or 5.6.4. If it's > ready in time, then great. If not, it might be in 5.0.1 which is likely to > follow 1-2 months after 5.0.0. Is this really a discussion about every extension? We are talking about PHP5 specific extensions that are designed to be major steps forward in XML and database manipulation.. > What I suggest is the following. An immediate feature freeze and try and > get the RC out of the door. If it takes 2 months and not 2 weeks that's > fine with me, but I'd like it to converge. I'd like people who have > outstanding issues/bugs they need to fix, to go ahead and fix them. Same > goes for critical engine problems (aka me). Reasons not to RC yet: 1) The changes between B1 -> B2 were very substaincial 2) B2 has only been out for around 10 days 3) There are a lot of valuable PHP 5-focused extensions that a lot of people expect to see in PHP 5 (anyone who has been attending this year's conferences knows this), that people *are* working on -- they just aren't finalized yet. Considering there was absolutely no warning about an RC or feature freeze, I suggest an alternative -- Set a firm date for a B3 release (end of year), allow people who are actually working on PHP 5 related ext stuff to get their code committed and finalized, and then release B3 in the wild for a month. If it all floats then roll the RC. John