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Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2018 23:40:27 +0100
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Subject: memcache, without a d, as in Venezuela
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Collins)

Hi all,

(Cross-posting to PECL and Internals lists, because I'm not sure which 
will reach the best audience.)


As you may be aware, PECL contains two extensions for connecting to 
memcache: one called "memcache", and one called "memcached". This has 
always been a great source of confusion, particularly because their 
introductions in the manual [1][2], don't even acknowledge the existence 
of the other, let alone explain why you'd choose one or the other.

However, it seems that the package without a d is actually abandoned. 
The official PECL package was last released more than 5 years ago [3], 
and the bug asking for PHP 7 compatibility is still open [4]. An 
unofficial fork apparently supports PHP 7 [5] but it in turn hasn't had 
a commit in 11 months, and has an open bug for 7.2 compatibility [6].

The package with a d, on the other hand, appears at a glance to be 
actively maintained, and would seem to be the right choice for any user 
writing new code.


How can we make this more useful?

- Is there any difference, other than API design, between the two 
packages, which would merit seeking a new maintainer for memcache 
(without a d)?
- If not, should the package be officially marked "abandoned" or 
"deprecated" in PECL, and in the PHP manual?
- Either way, should the manual for memcache (without a d) direct users 
to use memcached (with a d) for all new code? If not, what advice should 
it give?

Thank you for any pointers or opinions!


References:
[1]: http://php.net/manual/en/intro.memcache.php
[2]: http://php.net/manual/en/intro.memcached.php
[3]: https://pecl.php.net/package/memcache
[4]: https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=72887
[5]: https://github.com/websupport-sk/pecl-memcache
[6]: https://github.com/websupport-sk/pecl-memcache/issues/28
[For those who don't get the joke in the subject line: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_and_Thompson]

Regards,

-- 
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]