On 6/19/07, Rasmus Lerdorf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Pierre wrote:
> On 6/19/07, Rasmus Lerdorf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> But this is no different from writing code that will work on both PHP 5
>> and PHP 6. The only difference is that instead of checking for PHP 5
>> you will be checking for Unicode. Like I said, we don't want the
>> Unicode decision to be synonymous with PHP 5 vs. PHP 6 because then the
>> non-Unicode folks will never get the benefits of the non-Unicode
>> improvements in PHP 6 and we would be forced to support PHP 5 for a lot
>> longer. We really stretch our already thing resources in order to
>> support multiple branches, so anything we can do to get as many people
>> as possible onto the same codebase helps us a lot.
>
> Just as a last (hopefully) comment, even if nothing seemed to have an
> influence, no matter how many we are to prefer a unicode only mode (so
> far only you are in favour of it, maybe Andree too but I don't
> remember his opinion on this topic :).
Uh, this was agreed upon by everyone involved in the design of the
Unicode support. So saying I am the only one is extremely misleading.
I may be the only one explaining why the decision was reached, but I am
certainly not the only one in favour of it.
Sorry, I did not know that there was many "externals" people involved
in the unicode design Who was involved? Almost all "core" developers
I asked are against (anyone having a different view, please step in).
> The gain we hope to have by keeping a non unicode mode is about having
> more users moving to PHP6. I would like to know why it will work
> better than with php5, any thoughts?
By not providing it, we ensure that a large number of people will not
move to PHP 6. At least by providing it we give ourselves a chance. I
think if we drop it we are basically giving up and we will be
maintaining 2 code bases for the next 10 years. Do we really want that?
We maintain three branches since a couple of years, having only two is
a real progress. PHP4's one is dying, it was about time. I can live
with two branches and code base for php-src, I have to maintain three
or more branches in many pecl extensions anyway :)
> And let forget that maintaining (and develop/implement) these two
> modes will obviously take more time.
More time than maintaining separate Unicode and non-Unicode code bases
in difference branches?
Yes, code base is cleaner when the two are in two separate branches,
it is easier to merge too. That's a feeling only, I never timed each
merge or change :)
--Pierre
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