On 7 Jun 2006, at 12:27, Hans L wrote:

I was wondering whether there is any interest in a PHP 5.1-only
version of this software. I would be very willing to help port the
software to PHP5, using exceptions, PDO, etc., since I will most
probably be doing an in-depth code review anyway. Is there any
interest in a PHP5-only branch? From a developer perspective, I
think it makes for a significantly more debuggable & maintainable
(and, in some ways, secure) codebase, but I understand there also
are (a lot) of folks still running PHP4. (Not sure if many
roundcube users are also running PHP4?)

I'd be interested in a PHP5.1 branch -- and if we sign the CLA, this
could also be an excellent opportunity to contribute to both
RoundCube and the emerging Zend Framework. I could contribute maybe 2
or 3 hours a week to the project which isn't a lot but every little
helps, right?

At the moment the Xeriom servers run PHP5.0, but we've got a test
environment for 5.1 which needs using so this could give us an
application to play with. :)

Yours, Craig -- Craig Webster | t: +44 (0)131 516 8595 | e: craig@xeriom.net Xeriom.NET | f: +44 (0)131 661 0689 | w: http://xeriom.net

Hi -

...

Hi -

I'm very impressed with roundcube and would like to suggest it as our
replacement webbmail platform at work.  Great project!

I was wondering whether there is any interest in a PHP 5.1-only

version of this software. I would be very willing to help port the software to PHP5, using exceptions, PDO, etc., since I will most probably be doing an in-depth code review anyway. Is there any interest in a PHP5-only branch? From a developer perspective, I think it makes for a significantly more debuggable & maintainable (and, in some ways, secure) codebase, but I understand there also are (a lot) of folks still running PHP4. (Not sure if many roundcube users are also running PHP4?)

Regards -
Hans

It's already PHP 5 ready... look at the source code. You've got the PHP5 OO class layout with __construct and such. The only thing it doesn't have is the "public" or "private" spaces for functions and variables.

I am running it on PHP 5.1, so I know that it is PHP5-ready. What I'm suggesting is to change the architecture to make use of advanced PHP5 object model, PHP5 error handling, the new PDO db abstraction layer (instead of DB or MDB2), and other things that are improved in PHP 5.1.

Also, since PHP5 is such a waste (as PHP6 will come out soon enough in like '07-ish) there's no need to do it. RC is much better to be as compatible as possible (which it is now) with most versions of PHP rather than funneling down to only one version, and having two separate code bases for the same project.

I disagree that PHP5 is a "waste", as it provides huge improvements in OO over PHP4, but I can certainly see the point that RC needs to be compatible w/ PHP4 + PHP5 for maximum market.

What you're asking just isn't feasible. I'm sure that if you wanted to make your own installation PHP5 only, that's fine, but for RC distribution purposes, it should be 4/5 compatible and not one or the other. But that's just my opinion.

Yes, obviously this would need to be something that RC team wanted to do. If you represent that team, then I understand the answer to be "no" :)

My perspective is that RC is a super-slick webmail interface, the likes of which just doesn't exist in the PHP world. My dream would be to find a webmail application that has a frontend that is slick like RC's and a an backend that uses PHP5's advanced OO to make for a more extensible & maintainable application. There are a number of excellent OO frameworks for PHP[5], and the language improvements in PHP5 make it possible to prevent the side-effects of return-based error handling, prevent assign-by-ref bugs, improve resource cleanup, etc. Not to mention the code reduction, performance benefit, improved security, etc. of using PDO instead of DB/MDB2.

I guess when I spell it out, it's clear that what I'm proposing is more of a fork than a branch :)

Hans

Hi Hans,

This is an interesting point and I can see the advantages to make use of the PHP5 specific functions. If we decide to make a php5 branch this will become the main branch one day php4 is really off. Currently I'm not sure what consequences a separate branch will have for the ongoing development. All new functions will have to be added to the trunk AND the php5 branch, right?

In general I agree to have this branch if somebody (you?) will take care of it.

Regards, Thomas

Hans L wrote:

Hi -

I'm very impressed with roundcube and would like to suggest it as our replacement webbmail platform at work. Great project!

I was wondering whether there is any interest in a PHP 5.1-only version of this software. I would be very willing to help port the software to PHP5, using exceptions, PDO, etc., since I will most probably be doing an in-depth code review anyway. Is there any interest in a PHP5-only branch? From a developer perspective, I think it makes for a significantly more debuggable & maintainable (and, in some ways, secure) codebase, but I understand there also are (a lot) of folks still running PHP4. (Not sure if many roundcube users are also running PHP4?)

Regards - Hans

Hi,

I think Eric's point is good. Once a 1.0 exists, then it probably makes most sense to branch off. I was thinking to propose some design changes that would have been more radical, anyway. In truth I don't have the time to maintain it, as I have a few oss projects that I'm currently maintaining.

Hopefully when RC is ready for a PHP5 branch, I'll also have the time to think about & propose some backend architecture suggestions. (I'm working a lot right now with frameworks that are design to return JS and XML, and it seems like RC could really benefit from some of these approaches.)

Cheers, Hans

Eric Stadtherr wrote:

Thomas/Hans,

The biggest problem with branching is the one that you, Thomas, touched on: once a branch is created (using svn to copy the base directory to something like a "/svn/branches/PHP5/roundcubemail" location), that branch needs to be _manually_ updated with changes that are committed to the trunk. This is relatively straightforward with svn's merge utility, but it's a manual process nonetheless. Also, once the branch diverges far enough from trunk, the new features and fixes will have to be redesigned to fit the branched version of the code.

I can certainly see the advantage of PHP5, but for the sanity of the branch maintainer I would suggest waiting to branch until something resembling a "1.0 stable" release exists.

Just my 2¢..

-Eric

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 08:42:55 +0200, Thomas Bruederli wrote:

Hi Hans,

This is an interesting point and I can see the advantages to make use of
the PHP5 specific functions. If we decide to make a php5 branch this
will become the main branch one day php4 is really off. Currently I'm
not sure what consequences a separate branch will have for the ongoing
development. All new functions will have to be added to the trunk AND
the php5 branch, right?

In general I agree to have this branch if somebody (you?) will take care
of it.

Regards,
Thomas


Hans L wrote:
> Hi -
>
> I'm very impressed with roundcube and would like to suggest it as our
> replacement webbmail platform at work.  Great project!
>
> I was wondering whether there is any interest in a PHP 5.1-only version
> of this software.  I would be very willing to help port the software to
> PHP5, using exceptions, PDO, etc., since I will most probably be doing
> an in-depth code review anyway.  Is there any interest in a PHP5-only
> branch?  From a developer perspective, I think it makes for a
> significantly more debuggable & maintainable (and, in some ways, secure)
> codebase, but I understand there also are (a lot) of folks still running
> PHP4.  (Not sure if many roundcube users are also running PHP4?)
>
> Regards -
> Hans
>>