PHP-DEV Depreciating ext/mysql'

List:       php-internals
Subject:    [PHP-DEV] deprecating ext/mysql
From:       Philip Olson <philip () roshambo ! org>
Date:       2011-07-10 17:03:36
Message-ID: 9F1FA580-FD3F-4C3F-9E26-51A095CF6EE9 () roshambo ! org
[Download message RAW]

Greetings PHP geeks,

Don't panic! This is not a proposal to add errors or remove this popular extension. \
Not yet anyway, because it's too popular to do that now.

The documentation team is discussing the database security situation, and educating \
users to move away from the commonly used ext/mysql extension is part of this.

This proposal only deals with education, and requests permission to officially \
convince people to stop using this old extension. This means:

 - Add notes that refer to it as deprecated
 - Recommend and link alternatives
 - Include examples of alternatives

There are two alternative extensions: pdo_mysql and mysqli, with PDO being the PHP \
way and main focus of future endeavors. Right? Please don't digress into the PDO v2 \
fiasco here.

What this means to ext/mysql:

 - Softly deprecate ext/mysql with education (docs) starting today
 - Not adding E_DEPRECATED errors in 5.4, but revisit for 5.5/6.0
 - Add pdo_mysql examples within the ext/mysql docs that mimic the current 
   examples, but occasionally introduce features like prepared statements
 - Focus energy on cleaning up the pdo_mysql and mysqli documentation
 - Create a general "The MySQL situation" document that explains the situation

The PHP community has been recommending alternatives for several years now, so \
hopefully this won't be a new concept or shock to most users.

Regards,
Philip


-- 
PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php