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Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2022 16:00:51 +0300
Cc: David Rodrigues <david.proweb@gmail.com>,
 PHP Internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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 <c16a2c22-01b9-53c7-909f-3cf07aaf3bfa@gmx.de>
To: "Christoph M. Becker" <cmbecker69@gmx.de>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Experimental features
From: autaut03@gmail.com (Alex Wells)



> On 6 Oct 2022, at 15:26, Christoph M. Becker <cmbecker69@gmx.de> =
wrote:
>=20
> On 04.10.2022 at 22:42, David Rodrigues wrote:
>=20
>> I wanted to suggest the possibility of introducing experimental =
features to
>> PHP.
>>=20
>> This is an old thread I guess, but I think it's good to reevaluate =
the
>> situation from time to time, as other languages already do this to =
some
>> extent and PHP doesn't. Some platforms/languages (Node, Kotlin) and
>> libraries (React) bring features natively in an experimental way.
>>=20
>> I wanted to propose that we bring this idea into PHP, so we wouldn't =
have
>> to wait for new major/minor versions (eg. 9.0 or 8.2, 8.3) to try out =
these
>> new features, and so when these versions arrive, they'll already be =
quite
>> polished, avoiding patches sometime later due to wider usage of =
users.
>=20
> Do the other platforms introduce experimental features in revisions?  =
I
> doubt that, and I'm pretty sure that is (at least currently) no option
> for PHP.  We have several months of bi-weekly pre-releases for new
> minor/major versions, and are barely able to stabilize new features; =
not
> only wrt. to the feature itself, but also wrt. unforeseen side =
effects.
>=20
> The current release cycle[1] still mostly makes sense to me, and that
> says for revisions:
>=20
> * Bugfixes only (with a room for exceptions on a case by case basis =
and
> only for small self contained features additions)
>=20
> I wouldn't want to sacrifice stability in favor of shipping new =
features
> every month =E2=80=93 including having more discussions about which =
feature may
> be introduced in a revision.
>=20
> [1] <https://wiki.php.net/rfc/releaseprocess#releases_cycle>
>=20
> --
> Christoph M. Becker
>=20
> --
> PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List
> To unsubscribe, visit: https://www.php.net/unsub.php
>=20

Speaking of Kotlin, there are no rules regarding experimental features. =
This is because they extensively use their "opt-in" API, which allows =
them to mark even a single function/method as experimental. It doesn't =
make sense to wait a minor release for a year to introduce a single new =
function.

Of course, any medium-large size features are kept to minor/major =
releases.=