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Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2026 22:37:21 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Prevent instantiation and cloning of
 __PHP_Incomplete_Class
To: Jordi Kroon <jordikroon@me.com>,
 PHP Internals List <internals@lists.php.net>
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From: tim@bastelstu.be (=?UTF-8?Q?Tim_D=C3=BCsterhus?=)

Hi

On 3/3/26 19:02, Jordi Kroon wrote:
> I would like to propose a new RFC titled “Prevent instantiation and cloning of __PHP_Incomplete_Class”.
> 
> RFC: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/deprecate-incomplete-class-instantiation
> Implementation PR: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/21325
> 
> This RFC proposes to disallow direct instantiation and cloning of the internal class __PHP_Incomplete_Class.

I don't find the motivation particularly compelling. Yes, manually 
instantiating the class is not particularly useful, but it's also not 
harmful. Similarly for cloning: If the cloning operation works correctly 
(i.e. it returning a new object with the same state), then it is just 
behaving according to expectations.

On the contrary, I would like to see fewer behavioral differences 
between internal classes and userland classes. A class that can only be 
instantiated by the engine without there being a good engine-related 
reason is yet another special case that users need to learn about.

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus

PS: Unserialization for unknown classes should just throw an Exception.