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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2025 07:01:44 +0200
Message-ID: <CAMW7n8Axo2jwrNq=owWUUVeu_nGZUNe5RMCUFd4qqXDKanL1=Q@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC][Discussion] use construct (Block Scoping)
To: Seifeddine Gmati <azjezz@carthage.software>
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
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From: edmond.ht@gmail.com (Edmond Dantes)

Hello!

```php
function addStudentLessons(DatabaseTransaction $transaction) {
     try {
          $transaction->execute(...);
     } catch(\Exception $e) {
         Logger::log($e);
         throw $e;
     }
}

// Application Code:
function do_work(DatabasePool $pool): void {
  using (
    $connection =3D $pool->getConnection(),
  ) {
    using ($transaction =3D $connection->beingTransaction()) {
      $transaction->execute('...');
      sleep(10); // more work.
      $transaction->execute('...');
    }

    sleep(10); // more work
  }

  sleep(10); // more work
} // <=3D=3D broken!
```

Logger::log($e); <=3D=3D reason!

In this example, the `Logger` service holds the exception `$e`,
which completely breaks the code because the transaction will no
longer complete correctly, and it=E2=80=99s unclear when the resources will=
 be
released.
This is even more true for stateful applications, where the Logger
processes stored exceptions later rather than immediately.

Note that I didn=E2=80=99t even use circular references. I=E2=80=99m sure t=
hat 90% of
PHP developers who see this code won=E2=80=99t even understand what the
problem is.
And in practice, it will work for about 50% of them and fail for the other =
50%.

At the same time, as a programmer, I didn=E2=80=99t do anything particularl=
y
wrong or make any obvious mistake in this code. It=E2=80=99s just that the
logging service holds the exception object for a while.

RC-managed objects were designed to create code where the destruction
time of an object cannot be determined statically (only at runtime).
Automatic memory management is not a primary feature of RC objects,
since it can be implemented without reference counting.

However, the code in the example pursues the opposite goals: it must
guarantee the exact moment a function is called. In other words, the
RAII concept is not suitable here.
And this situation is typical for PHP stateful applications, where
resource control is not managed through RAII.

---
Best Regards, Ed