RE: [PHP-DEV] RIP: NSAPI SAPI Plugin (unfortunately -> thanks Oracle)

Hi Anatol, > > you may know that I am the maintainer of the NSAPI SAPI module. I > > spent a lot of time in improving it. The next update would have been > > to change it to the PHP 7 threading model, but based on recent > > experience with Oracle, I will stop maintaining the plugin. We should > > not remove it from PHP 5, but it should no longer be available for PHP7. > > > > The reason for this decision is: > > > > - Oracle seems to no longer have any interest in maintaining any > > public accessible developer downloads, you can now only "order" the > > product and download installation files (and therefore header files) > > through their paywall. All references to the OTN (Oracle Technology > > Network, means developer licenses) downloads were removed completely > > from their web pages. This happened after I asked a question on their > > support forums (which was moderated away), where the OTN downloads > for > > the latest version including TLS 1.2 support are located now. This > > lead to the fact that they disabled the download page completely (and > > my post was moderated away, which is a really bad behavior, sorry I > > have to say this!). Somebody there should have known that I am the > > person who worked closely together with the people working on the > > iPlanet/Sun Webserver at Sun Microsystems times. This is annoying. > > > > - I am also phasing out use of this webserver privately, because the > > new conditions are unacceptable. In my opinion, this webserver was a > > great piece of nice and fast software, including - next to PHP - Java > > web application support inside the webserver, so there was no need to > > have stuff like reverse proxies needed (the usual Tomcat behind a > > reverse proxy Apache), because the Java code was running inside the > > web server (and this made it very fast). Of course, PHP support (when > > used through the NSAPI > > plugin) was great, too, because there was no overhead (although some > > PHP extensions were not compatible, because this webserver runs in a > > multithreaded way). > > > > People that still want to stay on iPlanet webserver can fallback to > > using FastCGI, which has some pitfalls, but generally works. The NSAPI > > plugin allowed to do much more like binding PHP script to directory > > (allowing to make custom PHP-based directory listings), or error > > pages. This is impossible using FastCGI as far as I know. > > > > I am sorry, I have to stop supporting it, because Oracle killed the > > last piece of good software :-( > > > > If there needs to be some decision about removing this plugin through > > an RFC, I can trigger one, but to me the above changes in Licensing > > make it impossible to longer support this piece of software. > > Uwe > > > Thanks for the information. It's of course sad. I personally was hoping to be > able to work and debug with one more real multi-threaded SAPI besides > Apache. But so is the life. > > We've already had the NSAPI SAPI in the RFC suggesting removals > > https://wiki.php.net/rfc/removal_of_dead_sapis_and_exts#sapinsapi . > As > preparations I was building and testing every item in that RFC I could get my > hands on. But for sapi/nsapi I couldn't get the environment already at that > time, so I wasn't able to test it. > > It's senseless to guess how this item would have been voted. But with the > addition of the knowing you shared today it looks pretty much that we > should not carry it with PHP7. If one even cannot get the dependency library, > except one has to buy it, it's a blocker. Well, except one wants to buy it :) > > Now, as that was the RFC I was working on, here are the steps I would > suggest. > > Maybe there were a chance to ask for an exception for PHP project, you > personally or whatever (if you're still interested)? As I described in my post before, I am a little bit annoyed becaue of Oracle's behaviour. I was just asking for a more up-to-date developer download on their forum around iPlanet web server. The reaction to that was: - initially the post was "automoderated" (review) - that's just fine - after a few days (when I came back to the forum), the web interface notified me that my post was blocked by a moderator. - in parallel to that, the download to the older version (v7.0.15) was removed! To me this looks like (this is just some: - Oracle wasn't aware that there was still a download to the older version (it was also hidden on their web page, you had to know what to enter into Google). - My forum request triggered a review of their web page -> they removed the downloads - By post was blocked to hide that fact, that it was available in earlier times (and they maybe did not know). - All other questions from other people about where to download the newer version were answered with an "Oracle patch ID #foobar" and a link to the paywall (those questions were without reference to free OTN downloads, so they were not blocked by moderator). Because of this really "bad behavior", I am a bit annoyed. Maybe they can fix this, but I would like to have a reaction from their side. I would then try to look into this and help you with updating to new TLS API. This was one reason why I did this request to their forum, to get up-to-date Windows and Linux downloads. > Else, I would do the last call for someone with the access to iPlanet libraries > who is ready to port maintain sapi/nsapi in PHP7. > If there is one, we're all fine. Someone? I still have access to the iPlanet libraries and I also have a download of version 7.0.15 for Linux - I can share the download (but this could be illegal, not sure). But I have no Windows version anymore, sorry. > Else I would suggest to remove sapi/nsapi from the PHP7 branch by gathering > a simple consent here on the lists. > If any objections are raised, then the RFC way needs to be hit. It makes > probably little sense to leave something not ported after so many cleanups > was already done. OK, this looks fine. Maybe we should involve Oracle people. Unfortunately, I have no direct contact regarding iPlanet. I have good contacts to the Oracle Quality Assurance team in Ireland, but that is regarding Java. But those people are not responsible to this issue. Uwe