Log in to watch this talk
You need to be logged in to access this video. If you don't have an account, purchase a virtual pass for the latest php[tek] conference to get access to the full video library.
Semantic Versioning and the PHP Ecosystem: A Reality Check
Daniel Scherzer
Every *minor* release of PHP comes with a limited number of changes that are technically considered breaking changes or backwards incompatible. These include new classes or functions, changing the behavior of existing functions in edge cases, and the addition of new errors. New minor releases of PHP libraries also frequently contain breaking changes, though unintentionally; adding a new class to a library might conflict with an existing class in user code. In this talk, Daniel will explore how to identify potentially breaking changes, review the unwieldy ways to reduce breakage, and end with a presentation of a semver-adjacent versioning policy that reflects semver practices while accounting for the realities of PHP as a language and its ecosystem. You'll leave with a clearer understanding of compatibility pitfalls in PHP, how PHP redefines breaking changes, and how to version your own packages more responsibly.
