UPGRADING.INTERNALS

PHP 7.4 INTERNALS UPGRADE NOTES

1. Internal API changes
  a. php_sys_symlink() and php_sys_link()
  b. zend_lookup_class_ex() and zend_fetch_class_by_name()
  c. Function/property/class flags
  d. Removed zend_check_private()

2. Build system changes
  a. Unix build system changes
  b. Windows build system changes

3. Module changes
  a. ext/xml

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1. Internal API changes
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 a. php_sys_symlink() and php_sys_link() portability macros have been
    added, which behave like POSIX's symlink() and link(), respectively, on
    POSIX compliant systems and on Windows.

 b. zend_lookup_class_ex() and zend_fetch_class_by_name() prototypes were
    changed to accept optional lower-case class name as zend_string*,
    instead of zval*.

 c. Function/property/class flags changes
    - ZEND_ACC_CTOR and ZEND_ACC_DTOR are removed. It's possible to check if
      method is a constructor/destructor using the following condition
      (func->commpon.scope->constructor == func).
    - ZEND_ACC_IMPLEMENTED_ABSTRACT is removed (it was used only internally
      during inheritance).
    - ZEND_ACC_IMPLICIT_PUBLIC is removed (it was used only for reflection)
    - ZEND_ACC_SHADOW property flag is removed. Instead of creating shadow
      clone, now we use the same private property_info, and should also
      check property_info->ce (in the same way as with methods).
    - ZEND_ACC_ANON_BOUND is replaced with ZEND_ACC_LINKED. This flag is set
      not only during anonymous classes declaration, but also during any
      run-time or compile-time class declaration.
    - ZEND_ACC_... flags are re-numbered.

  d. zend_check_private() is removed. Use (func->common.scope == scope) instead.

  e. Pointers returned by php_win32_error_to_msg() have to be freed using
     php_win32_error_msg_free(). Same regarding php_win_err() vs.
     php_win_err_free().

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2. Build system changes
========================

  a. Unix build system changes
    - configure --help now also outputs --program-suffix and --program-prefix
      information by using the Autoconf AC_ARG_PROGRAM macro.
    - Obsolescent macros AC_FUNC_VPRINTF and AC_FUNC_UTIME_NULL have been
      removed. Symbols HAVE_VPRINTF and HAVE_UTIME_NULL are no longer defined
      since they are not needed on the current systems.

  b. Windows build system changes

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3. Module changes
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  a. ext/xml
    - The public (internal) API of the ext/xml extension has been removed. All
      functions and structures are private to the extension now.