# Breaking APIs for no good reason is a bad thing. (tm)

- Thread: https://externals.io/message/46373
- Original archive: https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/46373
- Started by Sara Golemon on 2009-12-09T18:37:04+00:00
- Messages: 2
- Reply by email to internals@lists.php.net
- More for agents: search with https://externals.io/search.md?q={query} · JSON API at https://externals.io/api · documentation at https://externals.io/llms.txt

---

## #46373 — Sara Golemon — 2009-12-09T18:37:04+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/46373#46373

Now, I'll take some blame here for not being involved over the past
couple years and having not noticed this inanity sooner, but could
someone explain this cluster-f?

http://svn.php.net/viewvc/php/php-src/branches/PHP_5_3/Zend/zend_API.h?r1=268281&r2=269153

This breaks the existing module API because any rational extension
developer has been putting 'static' in front of
ZEND_BEGIN_ARG_INFO_EX() _where appropriate_ for the better part of a
decade and it does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING more than the very /minor/
optimization of cleaning up the symbol space of poorly written
modules.  Worse, it breaks the ability of extension developers to keep
arg_info structures next to the functions they belong to while still
keeping those functions in separate files.

Someone give me a good reason not to revert this.

-Sara

---

## #46383 — Jani Taskinen — 2009-12-09T20:39:25+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/46373#46383 · In reply to: #46373

> Now, I'll take some blame here for not being involved over the past
> couple years and having not noticed this inanity sooner, but could
> someone explain this cluster-f?

It's also bad thing to abandon code like some people tend to do.
And to ignore bug reports assigned to them. Need I go on?

> http://svn.php.net/viewvc/php/php-src/branches/PHP_5_3/Zend/zend_API.h?r1=268281&r2=269153
[snip rant]
> Someone give me a good reason not to revert this.

It's too late now.

--Jani