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Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:55:14 +0200
Message-ID: <CAJmy8YHtUXNPLvmmncSjtgNGT4d+e0DfoZgRziih09zfZ5ABdg@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Drop support for 32bit builds
To: Ben Ramsey <ramsey@php.net>
Cc: php internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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From: divinity76@gmail.com (Hans Henrik Bergan)

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On Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 18:24 Ben Ramsey <ramsey@php.net> wrote:

> > On Jun 19, 2025, at 11:08, Calvin Buckley <calvin@cmpct.info> wrote:
> >
> > On Jun 19, 2025, at 11:08=E2=80=AFAM, Marc Bennewitz <marc@mabe.berlin>=
 wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> During the discussion about the year 2038 issue it turned out that
> maybe it's time to drop support for 32-bit of PHP completely.
> >>
> >> Based on that I have created an RFC to deprecate 32-bit build in 8.nex=
t
> and drop support for it in 9.
> >>
> >> RFC: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/drop_32bit_support
> >
> > I think the biggest arguments against this would be:
> >
> > - embedded systems; think of PHP in use for i.e. router web UIs. While =
I
> > suspect a lot of these are going to be i.e. AArch64/RV64 in the future,
> > there might be a long tail of existing systems. Of course, how many
> > would upgrade to PHP 9?
> >
> > - WebAssembly; I don't know how widespread the Memory64 proposal is yet=
.
> > We're using WebAssembly in the docs pages for runnable examples.
> >
> > And some niche cases like i.e. iSH (which emulates x86-32 on iOS).
> >
> > The other options include making zend_long always 64-bit and accept the
> > performance penalty for 32-bit, or making 32-bit best-effort rather tha=
n
> > providing any guarantees.
>
>
> Last night, I was giving some thought to reviving Andrea=E2=80=99s Big In=
teger
> RFC[^1]. This is something I=E2=80=99ve wanted for a long time (especiall=
y for my
> ramsey/uuid library, among other things).
>
> Andrea had a work-in-progress PR[^2]. I=E2=80=99m not sure the current st=
ate of
> it. It=E2=80=99s from 2014 and was originally written for phpng. I had pl=
anned to
> start teasing out bits of it into a new branch based on the current maste=
r
> branch to see how far I could get with it. I wouldn=E2=80=99t mind some h=
elp with
> that, if anyone=E2=80=99s interested. :-)
>
> If we are able to finish what Andrea started, then we would not need to
> drop support for 32bit builds.
>
> Cheers,
> Ben
>
>
> [^1]: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/bigint
> [^2]: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/876




Smallest ramnode.com VPS has 512MB ram. I would run 32bit PHP on a 512mb
ram VPS. I'm not longer a ramnode customer, but I used to be.
I for one would be sad to see 32bit PHP go.

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<div dir=3D"auto"><div><p dir=3D"ltr">On Thu, Jun 19, 2025, 18:24 Ben Ramse=
y &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:ramsey@php.net" target=3D"_blank" rel=3D"noreferrer=
">ramsey@php.net</a>&gt; wrote:</p><div class=3D"gmail_quote"><blockquote c=
lass=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;=
padding-left:1ex">&gt; On Jun 19, 2025, at 11:08, Calvin Buckley &lt;<a hre=
f=3D"mailto:calvin@cmpct.info" rel=3D"noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_bla=
nk">calvin@cmpct.info</a>&gt; wrote:<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; On Jun 19, 2025, at 11:08=E2=80=AFAM, Marc Bennewitz &lt;marc@mabe.ber=
lin&gt; wrote:<br>
&gt;&gt; <br>
&gt;&gt; Hi,<br>
&gt;&gt; <br>
&gt;&gt; During the discussion about the year 2038 issue it turned out that=
 maybe it&#39;s time to drop support for 32-bit of PHP completely.<br>
&gt;&gt; <br>
&gt;&gt; Based on that I have created an RFC to deprecate 32-bit build in 8=
.next and drop support for it in 9.<br>
&gt;&gt; <br>
&gt;&gt; RFC: <a href=3D"https://wiki.php.net/rfc/drop_32bit_support" rel=
=3D"noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://wiki.php.ne=
t/rfc/drop_32bit_support</a><br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; I think the biggest arguments against this would be:<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; - embedded systems; think of PHP in use for i.e. router web UIs. While=
 I<br>
&gt; suspect a lot of these are going to be i.e. AArch64/RV64 in the future=
,<br>
&gt; there might be a long tail of existing systems. Of course, how many<br=
>
&gt; would upgrade to PHP 9?<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; - WebAssembly; I don&#39;t know how widespread the Memory64 proposal i=
s yet.<br>
&gt; We&#39;re using WebAssembly in the docs pages for runnable examples.<b=
r>
&gt; <br>
&gt; And some niche cases like i.e. iSH (which emulates x86-32 on iOS).<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; The other options include making zend_long always 64-bit and accept th=
e<br>
&gt; performance penalty for 32-bit, or making 32-bit best-effort rather th=
an<br>
&gt; providing any guarantees.<br>
<br>
<br>
Last night, I was giving some thought to reviving Andrea=E2=80=99s Big Inte=
ger RFC[^1]. This is something I=E2=80=99ve wanted for a long time (especia=
lly for my ramsey/uuid library, among other things).<br>
<br>
Andrea had a work-in-progress PR[^2]. I=E2=80=99m not sure the current stat=
e of it. It=E2=80=99s from 2014 and was originally written for phpng. I had=
 planned to start teasing out bits of it into a new branch based on the cur=
rent master branch to see how far I could get with it. I wouldn=E2=80=99t m=
ind some help with that, if anyone=E2=80=99s interested. :-)<br>
<br>
If we are able to finish what Andrea started, then we would not need to dro=
p support for 32bit builds.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Ben<br>
<br>
<br>
[^1]: <a href=3D"https://wiki.php.net/rfc/bigint" rel=3D"noreferrer norefer=
rer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://wiki.php.net/rfc/bigint</a><br>
[^2]: <a href=3D"https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/876" rel=3D"noreferrer=
 noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://github.com/php/php-src/pu=
ll/876</a></blockquote></div></div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"=
auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Smallest <a h=
ref=3D"http://ramnode.com">ramnode.com</a> VPS has 512MB ram. I would run 3=
2bit PHP on a 512mb ram VPS. I&#39;m not longer a ramnode customer, but I u=
sed to be.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto">I for one would be sad to see 32bit=
 PHP go.</div></div>

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