ID: 34551 User updated by: truth at proposaltech dot com Reported By: truth at proposaltech dot com Status: Bogus Bug Type: Scripting Engine problem Operating System: SuSE w/ rebuilt php & deps PHP Version: 4.4.0 New Comment:
According to http://www.php.net/release_4_4_0.php... It states, "The increased middle digit was required because the fix that corrected the problem with references changed PHP's internal API, breaking binary compatibility with the PHP 4.3.* series." Please note the middle digit change regarded an _internal_ API, not an API visible to the user. It also states, "... will now throw an E_NOTICE when references are incorrectly used in the script. This is intended to alert developers to minor errors in their approach, and does not affect the script's performance in any other way." Not disconnecting a variable from previous reference assignments when using an "=&" does indeed affect a script's performance in a way beyond throwing notices. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2005-09-19 18:29:44] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php Release announcement is pretty clear about this, this is why the release is 4.4.0 and not 4.3.12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2005-09-19 18:15:03] truth at proposaltech dot com Description: ------------ Based on the discussion on internals that led to the creation of php 4.4 (and based on the release notes for php 4.4), I would expect the only difference in running the following code under 4.3 and 4.4 to be the generation of a notice under 4.4. The code is bad, but it does not rely on corrupting memory. (BTW, this actually doesn't affect me personally because I immediately cleaned up our company's code for every 4.4 notice. I'm just helping isolate the BC break that frustrated a recent internals poster. Unless they are relying on memory corruption, users should be able to hide the notices and get the same behavior with 4.4 as 4.3. (There were posts from Zeev among others supporting this position.)) I hope this is easy to fix. The concept is easy. Whenever the code attempts to set a variable by reference, the variable should be unset as a first step. In the example, $y should be disconnected from $x because of the "$y =& ...". Yes, the reference shouldn't actually work, but that doesn't change the fact that the code clearly indicates that the connection between $y and $x should be broken. If I sound defensive, it's because Derick has already posted on internals that the new behavior is "correct". Please check with other engine gurus before jumping to any conclusions of bogusness. I think a fix to this BC break will save many hours for many, many php developers. (The example is silly, but you can get subtle cases of that problem in loops that are a nightmare to find.) Thanks! - Todd Reproduce code: --------------- <?php function f() { return 3; } $x = 5; $y =& $x; $y =& f(); var_dump($x); ?> Expected result: ---------------- $x should end up 5 because the "$y=&..." should disconnect $y from $x even though the new connection can't be made. Actual result: -------------- Under 4.3, $x ends up 5, but under 4.4, $x ends up 3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=34551&edit=1
