phpwebsite-developers

[Phpwebsite-developers] PHPLIB guru's opinion wanted

[W.D.Sumilang <wa...@on...>]

Don't know what's going on with PHPLIB and (not ripe)PEAR...
but with DB abstraction, session mgmt. including session and user variable
registration and authentication... this would seem like an xcellent candidate
for integration with phpWS...
Any thoughts from anyone that's done lots more than just read the manual?
Like someone who's used it prior to php4 and now using it with php4 native
sessions?

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RE: [Phpwebsite-developers] PHPLIB guru's opinion wanted

[Geoff S. <Ge...@Ho...>]

I'm not a phpLib guru. But, I have used phpLib because I experimented with
phpSlash before going to phpNuke and now to phpWebSite. I have some general
observations that apply to phpLib as well as other addon libraries.

One of the problems with addons like phpLib is that it complicates the
installation process because you have to install phpLib before you can
install the application software. And, once you have your application
running, if there are problems, it can be very difficult to determine
whether it is a phpLib problem or an application software problem. Then,
when a new version of phpLib comes out, what if it breaks our code? What do
we say to someone who asks, "Your program requires phpLib version X and this
other application requires the newer phpLib version Y, what do I do now?"

There are very few things that are more frustrating then an application that
only works with particular versions of addon libraries, especially if they
are not the most recent versions.

I've actually used the php4 session functions for a few simple projects.
php4 Session Management seems to work fine.

But, here's the bigger question: Do we want phpWebsite to be dependent on
addon libraries that we don't control?

My preference would be to take best advantage of PHP. As PHP adds additional
functionality to future releases of the language, we can migrate phpWebsite
and add new features based on PHP language functionality.

In other words: Let's create a really great product that isn't reliant on a
bunch of extraneous stuff.

PHP4 is certainly stable enough to make PHP4 a minimum requirement for
phpWebsite.

There's nothing wrong with having a stable and functionally "frozen" PHP3
version of phpWebsite that is available to anyone who has php3 and can't
upgrade to php4.

When it comes to time to move to php5, there's nothing wrong with having a
stable and functionally "frozen" PHP4 version of phpWebsite that is
available to anyone who has php4 and can't upgrade to php5.

It is a mistake to try and make everything backwardly compatible to php3.
Let's make sure that the current version works well for php3, freeze it, and
move on.

NOW, if it turns out that there is a requirement that cannot be met without
using a third party library such as phpLIB, we need to seriously consider if
it is a REAL requirement or just something that would be nice. Is it
something that can wait until PHP has native support. Is it something we can
write for ourselves and integrate into phpWebsite? Can we "steal" the
functionality from phpLib and integrate it into phpWebsite?

Geoff

-----Original Message-----
From: php...@li...
[mailto:php...@li...]On Behalf Of
W.D.Sumilang
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 6:47 AM
To: php...@li...
Subject: [Phpwebsite-developers] PHPLIB guru's opinion wanted


Don't know what's going on with PHPLIB and (not ripe)PEAR...
but with DB abstraction, session mgmt. including session and user variable
registration and authentication... this would seem like an xcellent
candidate
for integration with phpWS...
Any thoughts from anyone that's done lots more than just read the manual?
Like someone who's used it prior to php4 and now using it with php4 native
sessions?

__________________________________________________
FREE voicemail, email, and fax...all in one place.
Sign Up Now! http://www.onebox.com


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Re: [Phpwebsite-developers] PHPLIB guru's opinion wanted

[Karsten D. <k.d...@tu...>]

On Sat, Mar 24, 2001 at 12:14:07PM -0600, Geoff Staples wrote:

> One of the problems with addons like phpLib is that it complicates the
> installation process because you have to install phpLib before you can
> install the application software. And, once you have your application

You don't have to install a seperate version. Patrick Renaghan's (sp?!)
bookmarker is an excellent example for that, and it seems to be widely used.
You can bundle phplib with your application, phplib being packed in a
subdirectory. You can then take the "include approach" instead of the
"auto_prepend" approach. This way you can simplify installation, be sure of
a working setup and have the ability to coexist with other phplib-aware
tools on the same server.

> But, here's the bigger question: Do we want phpWebsite to be dependent on
> addon libraries that we don't control?

It is OpenSource, you can take care of the code yourself, if need be. Plus
the ability to use a "come along" version as laid out above, there is
nothing "out of control".

> something that can wait until PHP has native support. Is it something we can
> write for ourselves and integrate into phpWebsite? Can we "steal" the
> functionality from phpLib and integrate it into phpWebsite?

I would consider this "duplicating coding efforts" - which is carp, IMHO. We
can rely on phplib, and if need be - tehy are giving CVS access to anyone
who seem to be able to contribute useful code. As it seems at the moment,
the PEAR merge will take place, but there will be at least a 7.2d bugfix
release and there might be a 8.0 release with PHP4 sessions and all that
stuf natively built in. Notice that PHP4 sessions for phplib are available,
although I haven't used them yet.

Anyway, see the attached message from Kristian Köhntopp (one of the main
phplib developers) for an explanation how he avoids using phplib nowadays.

As to toss a vote on the phplib vs. ADODB thing: If we use phplib at all, we
should use it's DB layer. If not, I don't care too much. ADODB seems to have
a sensible interface, as far as I looked at it. I didn't look under the
hood, though.

Regards,
Karsten
-- 
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Because we use emacs, son. They use vi.
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