[RFC] Allow calls to global functions in constant expressions

5 years ago by tyson andre — view source

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Hi internals,

https://wiki.php.net/rfc/calls_in_constant_expressions has been updated and moved to
"Under Discussion".

This proposes allowing function calls in constant declarations, static property defaults,
static variables, and parameter defaults.
It includes a secondary voting option to allow any function calls,
and not just a small set of whitelisted core functions.
Other expression types would continue to be forbidden in constant expressions (variables, method calls, etc)

Let me know if you have any comments on the RFC or implementation.

Earlier discussion can be found in https://externals.io/message/108343
("Planning an RFC to allow calls to global functions in constant expressions")

I made some updates to the RFC, implementation and the proposed whitelist of functions.
(in response to https://externals.io/message/108343#108427)

As you've already realized, the main problem here is the behavior for
functions that have side-effects or state. Currently we mostly get away
with the illusion that it doesn't matter when exactly constexpr
initializers are evaluated. Apart from the error location and (admittedly
quite a few) other details, you ostensibly can't distinguish whether the
expression is going to evaluated on declaration, on first access or on each
access.

Good point - If PHP ends up supporting an option where any global function can get called,
It'd make sense to evaluate any expression with a function call
every time for instance properties and parameter defaults
(e.g. public $id = generate_unique_int_id()).
(the optimizer can later optimize any functions where it won't be noticeable).

I think that would require updates to my PR for caching,
since immutable returned zvals (including false/true) get cached permanently.

I've completed the updates to parameter defaults.
Parameter defaults containing calls now don't get cached:
They always get evaluated every time the parameter isn't passed in.

I also excluded support for calls in instance property defaults from the RFC.
I'd want that feature, but the changes to PHP's internal representation of classes expand
the scope of this RFC too much for me.

PHP currently evaluates all the property defaults and permanently caches them
the first time a property gets accessed or an object gets instantiated.
I'd probably have to change the internal class representation as well to fix that,
and I don't know how many or what types of bugs/issues that would cause.

That reminds me:
I forgot about functions such as compact(), extract() and get_defined_vars().
(and func_num_args()/func_get_args()/func_get_arg()).
It looks like all of them check zend_forbid_dynamic_call() to throw,
but I need to add tests and possibly flag the call as dynamic.

Update: The implementation already properly throws an Error.

Thanks,

Tyson

5 years ago by Mike Schinkel — view source

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https://wiki.php.net/rfc/calls_in_constant_expressions has been updated and moved to
"Under Discussion".

This proposes allowing function calls in constant declarations, static property defaults,
static variables, and parameter defaults.
It includes a secondary voting option to allow any function calls,
and not just a small set of whitelisted core functions.
Other expression types would continue to be forbidden in constant expressions (variables, method calls, etc)

Let me know if you have any comments on the RFC or implementation.

Why again are MyClass::methodName() not considered for the non-whitelist vote?

Seems to me a developer would be more inclined to implement the expressions that define the class constant's value in a method of the class than in an external function.

Do we really want to add a standard library function 53 characters long?

Can we not come up with a more concise name than get_defined_functions_allowed_in_constant_expressions(), like maybe get_const_expr_funcs() or get_const_expressions()?

-Mike

5 years ago by tyson andre — view source

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Why again are MyClass::methodName() not considered for the non-whitelist vote?

Seems to me a developer would be more inclined to implement the expressions that define the class constant's value in a method of the class than in an external function.

My reasons for doing this were to keep the scope small and easy to implement,
and work on an RFC for methods immediately after if the vote for allowing arbitrary functions passed.

The other concern was the edge case static::method_name() in class constants,
but call_user_func(['static', 'method_name']) or array_map('static::method_name', VALS)
causes the same issues.

This leads me to a blocker I've discovered with this implementation calling without a whitelist:
The way PHP resolves the scope is to look for the closest closure or user-defined function,
then to extract the class of that function. (in zend_get_executed_scope).
I thought the scope would work because const X = self::Y works,
but it turns out ZEND_AST_CLASS_CONST is special cased in AST evaluation.
My current ideas for fixing this (for class constants and property defaults):
(Parameter defaults, static variables, and global constants should already have reasonable scopes)

Wrap all of the calls the engine is making in a byte copy of call_user_func, but with the property zend_class_entry *scope set, so that zend_get_executed_scope will see that frame's scope and use it instead of the caller's scope.
Add a fake stack frame that acts as if an extra closure (bound to the declaring class's scope) was being evaluated.
Add a brand new function.

If I don't do that, then constant/property evaluation uses the scope of the caller, not the class

class MyClass {
    public static function example() {}
    const X = call_user_func('self::example');
}
// this throws in the current implementation
// due to no active class scope, and that's a bug
echo MyClass::X;

If I (or anyone else) can't figure out how to implement the fix, or the fix has issues,
I might remove the secondary vote from the RFC and just vote on the whitelist,
which excluded functions accepting callables.
If anyone comes up with a working implementation for a fix (including exception handling),
I'd like to know.

Do we really want to add a standard library function 53 characters long?

Can we not come up with a more concise name than get_defined_functions_allowed_in_constant_expressions(), like maybe get_const_expr_funcs() or get_const_expressions()?

I was planning to change it if I thought of a better name.
For get_const_expr_funcs(), I'd think it would be important to be consistent about
naming in the standard library.
get_const_expr_functions() would work, though.

5 years ago by Mike Schinkel — view source

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Why again are MyClass::methodName() not considered for the non-whitelist vote?

Seems to me a developer would be more inclined to implement the expressions that define the class constant's value in a method of the class than in an external function.

My reasons for doing this were to keep the scope small and easy to implement,
and work on an RFC for methods immediately after if the vote for allowing arbitrary functions passed.

The other concern was the edge case static::method_name() in class constants,
but call_user_func(['static', 'method_name']) or array_map('static::method_name', VALS)
causes the same issues.

This leads me to a blocker I've discovered with this implementation calling without a whitelist:
The way PHP resolves the scope is to look for the closest closure or user-defined function,
then to extract the class of that function. (in zend_get_executed_scope).
I thought the scope would work because const X = self::Y works,
but it turns out ZEND_AST_CLASS_CONST is special cased in AST evaluation.
My current ideas for fixing this (for class constants and property defaults):
(Parameter defaults, static variables, and global constants should already have reasonable scopes)

Wrap all of the calls the engine is making in a byte copy of call_user_func, but with the property zend_class_entry *scope set, so that zend_get_executed_scope will see that frame's scope and use it instead of the caller's scope.

Add a fake stack frame that acts as if an extra closure (bound to the declaring class's scope) was being evaluated.

Add a brand new function.

If I don't do that, then constant/property evaluation uses the scope of the caller, not the class
class MyClass {
   public static function example() {}
   const X = call_user_func('self::example');
}
// this throws in the current implementation
// due to no active class scope, and that's a bug
echo MyClass::X; 
If I (or anyone else) can't figure out how to implement the fix, or the fix has issues,
I might remove the secondary vote from the RFC and just vote on the whitelist,
which excluded functions accepting callables.
If anyone comes up with a working implementation for a fix (including exception handling),
I'd like to know.

Thanks for the reply.

Do we really want to add a standard library function 53 characters long?

Can we not come up with a more concise name than get_defined_functions_allowed_in_constant_expressions(), like maybe get_const_expr_funcs() or get_const_expressions()?

I was planning to change it if I thought of a better name.
For get_const_expr_funcs(), I'd think it would be important to be consistent about
naming in the standard library.
get_const_expr_functions() would work, though.

Oh, okay. But don't you think the 'consistent naming in PHP' ship sailed eons ago?!?

(Sorry, I just could not resist! :-)

-Mike

5 years ago by Marco Pivetta — view source

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Do we really want to add a standard library function 53 characters
long?

Can we not come up with a more concise name than
get_defined_functions_allowed_in_constant_expressions(), like maybe
get_const_expr_funcs() or get_const_expressions()?

For once, we would have a function with a self-describing, clear name:
let's not butcher it with abbreviations please :-)

CTRL+SPACE is your friend.

Marco Pivetta

http://twitter.com/Ocramius

http://ocramius.github.com/

5 years ago by tyson andre — view source

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Hi internals,

https://wiki.php.net/rfc/calls_in_constant_expressions has hit some roadblocks in the implementation shortly after the last email.
I've been blocked on how to resolve them in the implementation in a way I'm certain would work.
I had assumed the calling scope wouldn't have the below issues when I started working on this RFC, but was mistaken.

- The helper method the C code uses, zend_call_function(), will always act as though strict_types=0. I'd consider this a blocker for declare(strict_types=1); const X = intdiv("123", 2);. (Internally, zend_call_function adds a fake call frame without a function, similar to what __get, invocations of error handlers, etc do, and that call frame makes the parameter parsing helper macros of the invoked function treat it like strict_types=0)

It may also be desirable to specify calls in constants always work like strict_types=1, to avoid issues such as `strpos($float, '.')` being locale-dependent)

Getting the class scope of the constant declaration to work properly with callable (e.g. public $x = array_map('self::helperMethod', VALUES);).
This isn't an issue with only a whitelist.
Solving the above two issues while continuing to throw for func_get_args(), get_defined_vars(), etc.
get_defined_vars() would throw for dynamic calls, but the above approaches would act like

Currently, my best ideas to fix some of the 3 issues were:

Create a fake zend_function placeholder in C with a placeholder name and add it to the internal stack of calls (EG(current_execute_data)).
Currently, though, it's only possible to set strict_types=1 for user-defined functions.
Create an actual closure when compiling the code, which would be evaluated the same way as public $x = (static function() { return array_map('self::helperMethod', VALUES); })()
(i.e. a closure without any use variables. The )

This would solve it, but the performance would be unexpectedly worse than expected, and that would interfere with optimizations.
Create an alternative to zend_call_function, but that would duplicate code and be error prone.
I'm not familiar enough with XDebug, NewRelic, uopz, and other replacements of zend_vm_execute to know if those would be able to support that,
or if there would be even more issues I haven't thought up yet that would prevent .

Second, I realize it doesn't make much sense to restrain the constant expressions for parameter defaults and class constants in the same way.
The RFC was coherent proposing allowing any function call in 5 places, but less coherent proposing a whitelist of functions, even where those restrictions weren't necessary.

It may be desirable to support many extra expression types in parameter defaults and static property defaults
(function myFunc(object $x = new DefaultObject()) {})
but still limit class constants to the proposed whitelist of functions.

Third, I was considering a straw poll for this,
but don't know what's required to set one up.
It also didn't make sense to me without a solution to the roadblocks.

Desired expressions in param defaults (No change/Whitelisted functions/Any function/Any method + new X()+others)
... in static property defaults
... in static variable defaults
... in class constant values
... in const X = ...

Thanks,

Tyson

5 years ago by tyson andre — view source

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Solving the above two issues while continuing to throw for func_get_args(), get_defined_vars(), etc.
get_defined_vars() would throw for dynamic calls

Then again, it's already possible to get function parameters through debug_backtrace(), so implicitly creating a closure and call with 0 bind vars wrapping the function calls might be an acceptable tradeoff.

Possibly leave that closure out for calls known to not be dynamic internal calls
It might make sense to blacklist known function names such as func_get_args(), get_defined_vars(), etc to prevent writing that type of buggy code, e.g. in parameter default expressions

Thoughts?