On Mon, Jul 09, 2001 at 09:27:17PM +0300, Zeev Suraski wrote:
> I consider it obvious why it makes no sense to abstract the
> scanner input
> of the engine, and I guess this is not very good - since some of you may
> not understand what it is about.
>
> The reason it makes no sense is very simple. The scanner Sascha wrote
> doesn't behave in a different way than the current scanner. Nor does it
> have any drawbacks when compared to the flex scanner. It's a replacement,
> that performs better and is more compatible than the C++ based flex scanner.
>
> Now, let's imagine someone sent us a new implementation of the DOM-XML
> module, which has an identical API to the last bit (perhaps with some
> additions), performs faster, and is more compatible. Would we add
> DOM-XML-NG, and let people choose? Of course not, because it's a plain
> dumb thing to do. The old DOM-XML extension will be removed and the new
> one would take its place.
>
> The scanner case is similar, except it's a much more fundamental component,
> which makes even *less* sense to abstract. Abstracting it gives *nothing*
> from a technical point of view. The single reason Sascha did that, was
> because he is not happy with the Zend Engine license, and doesn't want to
> submit it the way it is, to make a point.
>
> I've been discussing the Zend Engine license with the 'leaders' of the
> German PHP community on Thursday, and with members of the community and the
> PHP Group on Friday. As mentioned there, the Zend Engine license is being
> reviewed, and may change in the next few months. Especially in the light
> of this, I see Sascha's changes as making even less sense than what they
> would have made before, and that wasn't too much to begin
> with. Abstracting the scanner buys you *nothing* from a technical point of
> view.
technical i agree (kinda) - so what should he do:
- not work on it?
- not even think about digging into the ZendEngine and look
for possible improvements (and leave all that up to you and
andi)?
- put his changes under your QPL?
as long as the (perception of the) Zend License stopps him
from submitting it to the ZendEngine he has no other choice
than to put it somewhere where he feels comfortable with it.
besides that i can actually think of one or two usages for
a scanner in PHP which is not QPL. for exacle that reason the
your DOMXML sample is void - if we had a better DOMXML under
the same license we would use the better one.
licenses do matter (and yes, i have heard what you said about
the future - and so has sascha -and- he has expressed his
opinion about this issue)
tc
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