SSB>> Convenience, modularity, ease of administration (or lack thereof for
SSB>> people using shared hosting environments).  With dl() you can
SSB>> install an extension from PECL and use it immediately even in a
SSB>> shared hosting environment.  If I hosted by stuff in such an

If you are managing shared hosting environment and allow users to install 
binary modules at their will - you obviously don't care for that 
environment too much. I wonder what hoster really does that and what 
uptime does he have after the users actually start doing it. Let alone 
what to do if two users start installing two different versions of the 
same module.

SSB>> On top of that, many of PHP's extensions have additional options
SSB>> where you can enable or disable features, and having the colo admin
SSB>> change an extension could take even longer than having it installed
SSB>> in the first place.

You have lost me here. What extensions have options that are managed by 
using dl()? 

SSB>> Without dl(), using PECL will be limited to those in control of their
SSB>> php.ini.  Technically, there is really no reason for such a limitation. 

There is allright - those who aren't in control of php.ini aren't supposed 
to be in control for much more intimate details of the server - it's 
actual binary code. That's like not giving someone shell access but 
providing him a web tool allowing him to reinstall the kernel and replace 
any file on the system. Very weird security concept, I would say.

SSB>> As Shane says, it is the current design of dl() that's broken.  Let's
SSB>> try coming up with a new design and reimplement it for 5.x instead of
SSB>> making it Someone Elses Problem.

That's what I was saying, but Pierre instead refers me to python, which, 
with all due respect, I don't intend to learn just for that.

SSB>> One idea could be to "ghost" extensions in requests where they should
SSB>> not be available.  Instead of unloading the extension, its
SSB>> functions/methods could be tagged as "disabled" (for example using a bit
SSB>> in zend_function_entry.flags).  The same trick could work for constants
SSB>> and classes too.

I fail to follow you about what goal you are trying to acheive. If you
want to develop new dl(), let's start from the start - write a functional
spec of what this new dl() should do. Then, after there would be some
agreement about what it should do and if we really want to do it - we can
get to how it could be done.

SSB>>       * Pro: persistent resources would work
SSB>>       * Con: extra check (although just one or two assembly
SSB>>         instructions) per function/method call and class/constant lookup

One if per _each_ access to these tables. 
-- 
Stanislav Malyshev, Zend Products Engineer   
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://www.zend.com/ +972-3-6139665 ext.109

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