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Date: Fri, 09 May 2025 09:32:17 +0200
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Subject: [PHP-DEV] Disallow dynamic calls to assert()?
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From: tim@bastelstu.be (=?UTF-8?Q?Tim_D=C3=BCsterhus?=)

Hi

I noticed that dynamic calls to the `assert()` function do not take the 
`zend.assertions` into account, since for static calls `zend.assertions` 
is checked inside the compiler to completely bypass the call to 
`assert()` including the evaluation of all arguments. I created a PR to 
fix that, making dynamic calls to assert always return true just like 
static calls:

https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/18521

However these dynamic calls still evaluate their arguments, which makes 
for a behavioral difference that might be confusing. Niels rightfully 
pointed out that it is possible to forbid dynamic calls to a given 
function, this is already used for things like `compact()` or 
`func_get_args()`. Disallowing dynamic calls to `assert()` would 
completely bypass this problem.

Does anyone have an opinion either way? Please comment on the GitHub 
issue if you do so: 
https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/18521#pullrequestreview-2825782965

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus