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Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 18:37:01 -0500
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To: Marcus Boerger <helly@php.net>
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
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Subject: Re: [RFC] E_STRICT
From: cellog@php.net (Greg Beaver)

Marcus Boerger wrote:
> Hello internals,
> 
>   right now the fate of E_STRICT error messages is uncertain. A few
> people think those should change to fatal after a reasonable amount of
> time, is two years (e.g. 5.0.0) reasonable. A few even think a minor
> version like 5.1 to 5.2 is enough but the majortiy (at least i guess
> so) wants the change only on a major version change like 5.0 to 6.0.
> 
> Currently the manual says:
> <manual>
> 2048 E_STRICT (integer)  Run-time notices. Enable to have PHP suggest
> changes to your code which will ensure the best interoperability and
> forward compatibility of your code.  since PHP 5
> </manual>
> 
> So the RFC goes: Extend the manual to specify that issues reported by
> E_STRICT messages are most likely to become fatal errors in the next
> major version.

I recommend at least 1.5 years notice of exactly which E_STRICT will
become E_FATAL, and document it as a front-page item at php.net

Anything less could be a real problem.  Currently, I think it is fair to
say that downloads of PEAR approximately reflect the state of affairs of
the average PHP developer on the cutting edge.  Yesterday, we had ~8000
downloads of PEAR packages by people using PHP 4, as opposed to ~20000
downloads of PEAR packages by people using PHP 5 and above (the majority
being PHP 5.1 by a large margin).  In other words, almost a third of our
most active users are still stuck in PHP 4.  The number of these users
is rapidly declining.  When I began keeping track in early December
2005, almost half the downloads were PHP version 4 including a
significant minority of PHP 4.2 users (down to about 1 per day now).

At this rate, I would say it is safe to introduce some E_FATAL in about
1.5-2 years, and people will still upgrade to 6.0.

Greg