php-src/UPGRADING.INTERNALS

$Id$

PHP 7.0 INTERNALS UPGRADE NOTES

1. Internal API changes
  e. New data types
  f. zend_parse_parameters() specs
  g. sprintf() formats
  h. HashTable API
  i. New portable macros for large file support
  j. New portable macros for integers

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


========================
1. Internal API changes
========================

  a. zend_set_memory_limit() now takes the TSRMLS_CC macro as its last argument
  e. New data types

     String

        Besides the old way of accepting the strings with 's', the new 'S' ZPP spec
	was introduced. It expects an argument of the type zend_string *. String lengths
	in it are bound to the size_t datatype.

     Integer types

	Integers do no more depend on the firm 'long' type. Instead a platform
	dependent integer type is used, it is called zend_long. That datatype is
	defined dynamically to guarantee the consistent 64 bit support. The zval 
	field representing user land integer it bound to zend_long.

	Signed integer is defined as zend_long, unsigned integer as zend_ulong
	inside Zend. 

     Other datatypes

	zend_off_t  - portable off_t analogue
	zend_stat_t - portable 'struct stat' analogue

	These datatypes are declared to be portable across platforms. Thus, direct
	usage of the functions like fseek, stat, etc. as well as direct usage of
	off_t and struct stat is strongly not recommended. Instead the portable
	macros should be used.

	zend_fseek - portable fseek equivalent
	zend_ftell - portable ftell equivalent
	zend_lseek - portable lseek equivalent
	zend_fstat - portable fstat equivalent
	zend_stat  - portable stat equivalent

  f. zend_parse_parameters() specs

       The new spec 'S' introduced, which expects an argument of type zend_string *.
       The 'l' spec expects a parameter of the type zend_long, not long anymore.
       The 's' spec expects parameters of the type char * and size_t, no int anymore.

  g. sprintf() formats

       New printf modifier 'p' was implemented to platform independently output zend_long,
       zend_ulong and php_size_t datatypes. That modifier can be used with'd', 'u', 'x' and 'o'
       printf format specs with spprintf, snprintf and the wrapping printf implementations.
       %pu is sufficient for both zend_ulong and php_size_t. the code using %p spec to output
       pointer address might need to be enclosed into #ifdef when it unlickily followed by 'd',
       'u', 'x' or 'o'.

       The only exceptions are the snprintf and zend_sprintf functions yet, because in some cases
       they can use the implemenations available on the system, not the PHP one. Fro snprintf the
       the macros ZEND_INT_FMT ZEND_UINT_FMT should be used.

  h. HashTable API

       Datatype for array indexes was changed to zend_ulong, for string keys to zend_string *.

  i. New portable macros for large file support

      Function(s)       Alias           Comment
      stat, _stat64     zend_stat   for use with zend_stat_t
      fstat, _fstat64   zend_fstat  for use with zend_stat_t
      lseek, _lseeki64  zend_lseek  for use with zend_off_t
      ftell, _ftelli64  zend_ftell  for use with zend_off_t
      fseek, _fseeki64  zend_fseek  for use with zend_off_t

  j. New portable macros for integers

      Function(s)                                         Alias             Comment
      snprintf with "%ld" or "%lld", _ltoa_s, _i64toa_s   ZEND_LTOA         for use with zend_long
      atol, atoll, _atoi64                                ZEND_ATOL         for use with zend_long
      strtol, strtoll, _strtoi64                          ZEND_STRTOL       for use with zend_long
      strtoul, strtoull, _strtoui64                       ZEND_STRTOUL      for use with zend_long
      abs, llabs, _abs64                                  ZEND_ABS          for use with zend_long
      -                                                   ZEND_LONG_MAX     replaces LONG_MAX where appropriate
      -                                                   ZEND_LONG_MIN     replaces LONG_MIN where appropriate
      -                                                   ZEND_ULONG_MAX    replaces ULONG_MAX where appropriate
      -                                                   SIZEOF_ZEND_LONG  reworked SIZEOF_ZEND_LONG representing the size of zend_long datatype
      -                                                   ZEND_SIZE_MAX     Max value of size_t

  k. The get_class_entry object handler is no longer available. Instead
     zend_object.ce is always used.

  l. The get_class_name object handler is now only used for displaying class
     names in debugging functions like var_dump(). It is no longer used in
     get_class(), get_parent_class() or similar.

     The handler is now obligatory, no longer accepts a `parent` argument and
     must return a non-NULL zend_string*, which will be released by the caller.

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

  a. Unix build system changes

  b. Windows build system changes

     - Besides Visual Studio, building with Clang or Intel Composer is now
       possible. To enable an alternative toolset, add the option
       --with-toolset=[vs,clang,icc] to the configure line. The default
       toolset is vs. Still clang or icc need the correct environment
       which involves many tools from the vs toolset.

       AWARENESS The only recommended and supported toolset to produce production
       ready binaries is Visual Studio. Still other compilers can be used now for
       testing and analyzing purposes.