[TYPO3-dev] Requirement for 4.2 core set to PHP 5.2.x

[Johnny Peck]

Aloha devs,

++1.  We should follow the advances of the language rather than any 
platform.  If we keep holding an entire community in the dark ages 
because some are simply still in the dark ages then we are making an 
obvious mistake.  RHEL can easily be updated for the latest PHP version, 
including 6.x.  Red Hat may not *officially* support this but they 
certainly do provide plenty of help, support, and information to do so. 
  There is much more to RHEL than PHP.

If some shared hosting company won't update then that is a problem we 
cannot, in any logical way, support.  In fact, TYPO3 on any shared 
hosting becomes a nightmare if you are actually trying to use T3 for any 
reasonable purpose or nearly at all for that matter.  Using TYPO3 for a 
basic website is overkill anyhow.

How about this.  Media Temple has a service offering called the Grid 
Server.  It is different from shared hosting in many ways but costs, in 
most instances, less or at most the same amount you would spend on any 
SS situation (if there even is a good SS solution!).  I recommend MT 
Grid Server to all my clients and if they decide to go with another, sub 
par provider they have to sign a waiver of support along with paying for 
the setup, which is free if your on MT.  One of the nicer features is a 
simple interface to select, for each registered domain on the server, 
PHP4 or the latest PHP5 version with PHP6 well on the way.  Most of the 
hosting industry already knows that MT is way ahead of the game.  Best 
of breed should survive and if T3 continues to support old technology 
with its new releases we will lose out.  The reason I am telling this 
part about adequate hosting, is that I used Franz Holzingers work on 
tt_products for a client on the Grid Server and at one point, 5.2 caused 
havoc but 5.1.6 did not at the time.  What did I do.  Well, with MT I am 
able to set any particular domain to use any version, ANY VERSION of PHP 
that had been previously available simply via the command line.  What 
did Franz do?  He changed a few lines of code and became 5.2 compatible 
in a very short time and I then changed the PHP version for the site in 
less than 2 minutes to move forward and compliant!  If some integrator, 
developer, or hopeful user with TYPO3 is not familiar with the command 
line they probably should be consulting a real dev anyhow.  If they 
don't have access to the command line they should probably not be using 
TYPO3, install EZ or Wordpress otherwise, or at least find a better 
hosting company.

TYPO3 should rule the space of frameworks but these simple issues 
continue to hold everyone behind.  If your hosting cant support 5.2+ 
then find new hosting or don't upgrade.  With lib/div we support both 4 
and 5 and include a check that can change the behavior.  We honestly 
should not need that at all but it seems to be important for now as 
lib/div is for T3 4.1.x.  I don't want to have to navigate a crap load 
of 'are you up to date' junk all over the place in 4.2, not that there 
is any junk in lib/div and it is rather well done.  I also don't think 
it is a good investment on the part of the Association to spend money on 
core development that is not forward thinking due to some small issues 
as hosting availability or otherwise.  Move forward and remember that T3 
is not for the faint of heart.  We always see that stated as mantra to 
new comers because it is a hugely capable framework with so many options 
and possibilities.  What we fail to recognize is that we are losing the 
game because we hold too many hands and new frameworks are kicking our 
asses because they don't.  Check out CakePHP or the ZEND framework. 
They expect users to be up on what is going on or miss out on new 
features.  I don't want to leave TYPO3 behind because we we keep 
supporting mom and pop developer shops, or give an impression that we do 
which really is not the case.  Let mom and pop use wordpress or keep an 
older version of T3, let the real players create and grow with TYPO3.

Anyhow,  please move as forward as possible. This is a rather sticky 
issue I suppose but we need to consider the future now because every 
other framework certainly is already and we will find ourselves with a 
rather dead project.  I used CakePHP for a project earlier this year and 
nearly forgot about TYPO3.  By fostering old ideas we decide to stay old 
and will go the way of old software... forgotten.  The consumers rely on 
developers and developers that wish to do well will not hold themselves 
back.  TYPO3 5 will move very far forward in this arena and I hope it 
keeps it up.  Real dev shops don't want to deal with script kiddies and 
neither should we.  T3 is already a monster which any beginner should 
probably set aside until they have some experience hence the reason the 
simple, point and click, 20 lines of copied typoscript for your website 
is no longer an honest reality.

+++1 for moving forward.  Sorry for the winded remarks but as a 
developer trying to create innovative applications, holding myself back 
is not a realistic option.  I have business to run and I need to make 
immense impressions or get lost in the crowd.  Do we want TYPO3 to 
become lost in the crowd?  I don't want to leave T3 as my first choice 
after so many years of working with it but how can I refuse better 
options when they are becoming so plentiful?  5.2+ should be a minimum 
and then some.  Thanks for reading.

Johnny




Franz Holzinger wrote:
> Steffen Kamper a écrit :
> 
>> I see the problem with the packages, but i think it don't take such a long 
>> time until they update the packages and all is fine - may be there are some 
>> "unofficial" packages for 5.2.x arround.
> 
> 171 days left http://gophp5.org/ .
> 
> <quote>
> The PHP developer community has decided that it is indeed now time to
> move forward, together. Therefore, the listed software projects have all
> agreed that effective February 5th, 2008, any new feature releases will
> have a minimum version requirement of at least PHP 5.2.0.
> </quote>
> 
> This decision has been made already.
> 
> - Franz
>