Other significant changes involve:
- The deprecation of terminating case statements with a semicolon instead of a colon.
- The backtick operator being deprecated as an alias for `shell_exec()`.
- Deprecation of functions across components such as `curl_close()`, `finfo_close()`, `imagedestroy()`, and the "uri:" DSN scheme in PDO due to security issues.
Several bugs have been fixed, including issues within the DOM and OpenSSL extensions. The internal error mechanism of the Intl component has been modernized for improved clarity.
This beta version also includes multiple deprecations in the Reflection component, such as the `setAccessible()` methods, which are no longer effective. Furthermore, the SPL component has seen changes in autoloader management and method deprecations.
The release aims to streamline PHP's functionality and enhance security while providing developers with an opportunity to test and adapt to the upcoming changes.
In addition to the changes listed, PHP 8.5.0 is expected to improve performance and security features, addressing ongoing concerns in web development. Developers are encouraged to test this beta version in their environments and report any issues, contributing to the refinement of the final release. This proactive approach ensures that the PHP community can provide feedback and help shape the future of the language ahead of its stable release
PHP 8.5.0 Beta 1 released
Volker Dusch has released the beta version of PHP 8.5.0 for testing. The changes include deprecating non-canonical cast names, the $exclude_disabled parameter of the get_defined_functions() function, terminating case statements with a semicolon instead of a colon, and the backtick operator as an alias for shell_exec(). The DOM has fixed bugs GH-18877, DOM has fixed bug GH-18877, FileInfo has deprecated functions finfo_close() and finfo_buffer(), GD has deprecated the imagedestroy() function, Intl's internal error mechanism has been modernized, MySQLi has deprecated the mysqli_execute() alias function, OpenSSL has fixed bug GH-19369, and PDO has deprecated the "uri:" DSN scheme due to security concerns. Reflection has fixed bug GH-17927, and the setAccessible() methods of various Reflection objects have been deprecated. The standard has deprecated the socket_set_timeout() alias function, and the xml_parser_free() function has been deprecated.
