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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:59:57 +0200
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Pre-RFC discussion about adding friendship to PHP
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From: rob@bottled.codes ("Rob Landers")

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On Wed, Apr 29, 2026, at 19:30, Daniel Scherzer wrote:
> Hi internals,
>=20
> I'd like to add support for friendship in PHP. I don't mean friendship=
 in the PSR-8 huggable way, but rather in the C++ way of allowing access=
 to non-public parts of a class without needing to use Reflection.
>=20
> I haven't started work on implementing this yet, but there is a big qu=
estion about how to indicate friendship that I wanted to get some feedba=
ck on. Specifically, should it be added with a new keyword, or with an a=
ttribute?
>=20
> Keyword
> * matches C++
> * suggests that friends are aspects of the class, like properties and =
constants and methods
> * but would look a bit ugly if we added support for friends that are j=
ust for specific properties/methods/constants
>=20
> Attribute
> * matches how other metadata is added to classes
> * would make it look cleaner if subsequently support was added for fri=
endship being applied to specific properties/methods/constants
> * would differ from the current builtin attributes in that it doesn't =
just add/remove warnings, but changes some functionality
>=20
> For a more in-depth explanation of the inspiration and these two poten=
tial approaches, see https://scherzer.dev/Blog/20260309-php-friends. To =
be clear, I have not yet written an implementation, much less the RFC, b=
ut I wanted to get some initial feedback on if people would prefer a new=
 keyword, or an attribute, for declaring friends.
>=20
> -Daniel

Hi Daniel,

We saw some friendship discussions in my nested class RFC, where nested =
classes implicitly became friends of the outer class. I'd recommend chec=
king those threads for feedback about friendship and scope.

=E2=80=94 Rob
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<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title></title></head><body><div><br></div><d=
iv><br></div><div>On Wed, Apr 29, 2026, at 19:30, Daniel Scherzer wrote:=
</div><blockquote type=3D"cite" id=3D"qt" style=3D""><div dir=3D"ltr"><d=
iv>Hi internals,</div><div><br></div><div>I'd like to add support for fr=
iendship in PHP. I don't mean friendship in the PSR-8 huggable way, but =
rather in the C++ way of allowing access to non-public parts of a class =
without needing to use Reflection.</div><div><br></div><div>I haven't st=
arted work on implementing this yet, but there is a big question about h=
ow to indicate friendship that I wanted to get some feedback on. Specifi=
cally, should it be added with a new keyword, or with an attribute?</div=
><div><br></div><div>Keyword</div><div>* matches C++</div><div>* suggest=
s that friends are aspects of the class, like properties and constants a=
nd methods</div><div>* but would look a bit ugly if we added support for=
 friends that are just for specific properties/methods/constants</div><d=
iv><br></div><div>Attribute</div><div>* matches how other metadata is ad=
ded to classes</div><div>* would make it look cleaner if subsequently su=
pport was added for friendship being applied to specific properties/meth=
ods/constants</div><div>* would differ from the current builtin attribut=
es in that it doesn't just add/remove warnings, but changes some functio=
nality</div><div><br></div><div>For a more in-depth explanation of the i=
nspiration and these two potential approaches, see <a href=3D"https://sc=
herzer.dev/Blog/20260309-php-friends">https://scherzer.dev/Blog/20260309=
-php-friends</a>. To be clear, I have not yet written an implementation,=
 much less the RFC, but I wanted to get some initial feedback on if peop=
le would prefer a new keyword, or an attribute, for declaring friends.</=
div><div><br></div><div>-Daniel</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><=
div id=3D"sig121229152">Hi Daniel,</div><div id=3D"sig121229152"><br></d=
iv><div id=3D"sig121229152">We saw some friendship discussions in my nes=
ted class RFC, where nested classes implicitly became friends of the out=
er class. I'd recommend checking those threads for feedback about friend=
ship and scope.<br></div><div id=3D"sig121229152"><br></div><div id=3D"s=
ig121229152">=E2=80=94 Rob</div></body></html>
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