On Sat, May 23, 2026, at 12:21 PM, Jordi Kroon wrote: > On 23/05/2026 6:38 pm, [email protected] wrote: > >> I would like to propose two new magic constants to PHP: __HOME__ and >> __USER__ > > I strongly oppose this idea. > > This kind of information is environment-specific and does not really > belong as a language-level magic constant. Existing magic constants > describe source context (`__FILE__`, `__DIR__`, etc.), not host or user > environment details. > > For CLI usage, this information is usually already available through > environment variables such as `HOME` and `USER`, which is the more > appropriate place for this kind of information. > > In isolated environments such as containers or chroots, exposing user or > home-directory information is also something we generally should avoid. > > More importantly, I think we should discourage PHP web applications from > reaching into other parts of the system and instead encourage them to > stay within their application/web directories. > >> P.S. Hopefully I'm posting this to the correct list. If not, please >> point me to where I need to be. > > This is the correct list. Often before starting an official RFC an > e-mail is sent to this mailing list to see if a certain topic/idea has > interest. > > -- > Regards, > > Jordi Kroon
I am also -1 here, for the reasons Jordi lists. In cases where quick access to that information is relevant or useful, there are better alternatives to magic constants. --Larry Garfield
