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Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:35:45 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Display Function Arguments in Errors
To: Calvin Buckley <calvin@cmpct.info>,
 PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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From: tim@bastelstu.be (=?UTF-8?Q?Tim_D=C3=BCsterhus?=)

Hi

On 3/11/26 16:55, Calvin Buckley wrote:
> Based on the feedback I had from my proposal for function arguments in
> errors last week, I'd like to introduce an RFC for it. Please let me
> know what you think and please raise any possible issues.
> 
> https://wiki.php.net/rfc/display_error_function_args

Thank you for the RFC. I have the following comments:

1.

I believe there is almost never “No Impact” to the ecosystem. In fact 
the RFC partly acknowledges it in the “Backward Incompatible Changes” 
section. Even if the corresponding sub-vote to default to 1 doesn't 
pass, code needs to be prepared for someone to set it to 1 themselves. 
This includes off-the-shelf software (such as WordPress, or Drupal, or 
whatever).

I have the following two suggestions (that follow pretty naturally, but 
are nevertheless an impact that should be spelled out):

a) Custom error handlers (set_error_handlers()) need to be prepared for 
the error message format to change. Even though we don't make any 
guarantees about error messages themselves, the existing format with 
“function name first” is reasonably structured for automated parsing 
(e.g. using a regular expression). This also includes error tracking 
tools that try to group error messages by function or similar.

b) System administrators have one more INI setting to deal with and need 
to make a decision. Previous versions of the RFC template had an 
explicit “INI setting” section, but given it's so rare we add new INI 
settings these days, it has been removed from the template. For the few 
that still add one, properly discussing the consequences still is valuable.

2.

As for the naming of the bikeshed, I suggest `error_ignore_args` for 
consistency with `zend.exception_ignore_args`.

3.

For the voting options: You need to define a tie-breaker for the 
secondary votes.

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus