Aloha,
Since Johannes has been stumped (and therefore not as visible as he
would have hoped) with work and 5.3 CVS is already filled brim with
awesome new features, I have been approached by several people
wondering how we can speed up the process. I have always said I am
available to play the secretary to the RM, but in order to ensure that
developers have a greater chance of having an RM to talk to, Johannes
agreed to move me to co-RM status.
I hope we do not have to have a fundamental discussion about the
merits of 2 RMs. Having 2 RMs should hopefully help speed up the 5.3
release cycle. Of course it will be the job of the two RMs to ensure
that we are sufficiently in sync with each other. But I guess we are
hopeful that adding an RM is not made unfeasible by this additional
communication between the RMs.
Anyways, I have updated the 5.3 todo page [1] with all the todo items
I have seen flying over the list and IRC. Other people have also added
their todo items after my recent request [2]. The purpose of the todo
list in the current stage is to show what people are working on and
are hoping to get into 5.3. It is now the job of the RMs to figure out
if indeed we can align all of these features towards a sensible date
for 5.3. Also we need to figure out if the items are still of
relevance and if the names behind the items are valid and when the
relevant developers expect to be able to finish.
Given all of this we see several items on the list as the key features
of this release:
1) namespaces
Here we need to make sure that the current state is now in a coherent
state. I think Derick still has some issues [3] with the recent change
by Greg [4], but even his criticism did not sound all to loud. So I
think we are in a good state here?
2) late static binding
Etienne had some questions recently [5], which were met by criticism
by Stas [6]. However all others agreed with the change. So I guess we
are solid here too?
3) re2c
Rui recently came to the list with notes on the ZE MB feature [7].
@Scott/Marcus: Is this enough for you guys to get this working?
@Rui: Is there any chance you can get more people in the japanese (or
asian in general) community involved here?
4) windows support
Ever since Edin disappeared it has become clear that we have a bus
factor issue with windows support. The windows team is working to
rectify this situation. We need to make sure that the infrastructure
to deliver windows binaries for PHP 5.3 as well as PECL extension is
in place before we can release 5.3.
@Elizabeth/Pierre/Rob: How are things on this front?
5) BC issues
Well this is a bit of an "anti-feature" in the sense its not a task
anyone is dedicated to. The point is that we need to make sure that we
understand any BC issues we currently have, so that we can either
correct them or document them.
@Philipp: Since you are the god of documentation .. How are things
looking on the scratchpad [8] you started?
These are the 5 areas we the RMs would hope that people focus on.
Thats actually 3 focus areas too many for my taste, but goes to show
that we might want to release more often (given that the list for 5.4
is already cramming up [9]).
On top of this we also have a few other changes that are of quite some
importance, but that to me will not stop a release if they do not make
it (for the extensions we feel that they will be available via PECL
for those who really need them now in the worst case). But these are
big features non the less that could warrant a new minor release on
their own alone if it would be for even bigger stuff:
1) intl extension
Last discussion ended without a decision on the class naming [10]. I
specifically remember Derick taking issue with intl ext "invading" the
date ext namespace. Stas however arguing that the intl ext is supposed
to bring some forwards compatibility to PHP 6 and therefore naturally
will need to span the namespaces of other extensions, that are planned
to be expanded for PHP 6.
2) phar extension
I guess we are pretty solid here?
3) E_DEPRECATED
Here we just need to make sure that we actually mark only the things
as deprecated that we actually want to deprecate [11]. This ties in a
bit with the BC issues point above.
4) __callStatic
5) Garbage Collection
So is anything missing? Please everybody take time to review the todo
list, make sure that all items are on the list, make sure that the
information is as up to date as possible. Finally anyone who's name is
on this list (or who will add himself) should get in contact with
Johannes and myself within 1 week (thats July 9th) to explain the
state of the todo item and when he can finish the item and what the
general impact the feature has on the release. Also please bring up
any issues, especially for the above 6 points, to the list and try to
focus on solving the issues in a timely manner. We RMs will try to
moderate as much as possible, but understand that at some point we
will have to have to go with one approach (or in the worst case we
might have to push a feature to 5.4).
After July 9th, we will then publish a tentative release plan within 3
days afterwards. Again ideally people will be available for short
feedback loops during this period. If you are unable to follow
internals@ during this period, please make sure we have some way to
contact you (email, IM, phone whatever). If you are not available
please also just let us know. Its not about forcing developers to call
the RMs if they want to go out to the movies. It just makes our work a
bit easier, but in the end its about finding the right balance in
timing, features and stability, so as this is PHP so common sense
always rules any dates (or the nerves of the RMs).
The tentative schedule will probably try to move us quickly towards a
feature freeze together with a first alpha. Depending on our
discoveries we will schedule beta and RC releases (obviously subject
to continued review).
Summary:
Everybody review [1] and make sure all items you care about are on the
list and your name only appears next to stuff you are actually able to
complete in a timely manner.
regards,
Lukas and Johannes
[1] http://wiki.php.net/todo/php53
[2] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=121438504121772&w=2
[3] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=121446594113602&w=2
[4] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=121397701404954&w=2
[5] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=121397858807587&w=2
[6] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=121400956517854&w=2
[7] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=121474666513126&w=2
[8] http://wiki.php.net/doc/scratchpad
[9] http://wiki.php.net/todo/php53#future_php_releases
[10] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=120719875404217&w=2
[11] http://marc.info/?l=php-internals&m=121390431523970&w=2
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