Greetings PHP geeks,
Don't panic! This is not a proposal to add errors or remove this popular extension. Not yet
anyway, because it's too popular to do that now.
The documentation team is discussing the database security situation, and educating users to move
away from the commonly used ext/mysql extension is part of this.
This proposal only deals with education, and requests permission to officially convince people to
stop using this old extension. This means:
- Add notes that refer to it as deprecated
- Recommend and link alternatives
- Include examples of alternatives
There are two alternative extensions: pdo_mysql and mysqli, with PDO being the PHP way and main
focus of future endeavors. Right? Please don't digress into the PDO v2 fiasco here.
What this means to ext/mysql:
- Softly deprecate ext/mysql with education (docs) starting today
- Not adding E_DEPRECATED errors in 5.4, but revisit for 5.5/6.0
- Add pdo_mysql examples within the ext/mysql docs that mimic the current
examples, but occasionally introduce features like prepared statements
- Focus energy on cleaning up the pdo_mysql and mysqli documentation
- Create a general "The MySQL situation" document that explains the situation
The PHP community has been recommending alternatives for several years now, so hopefully this
won't be a new concept or shock to most users.
Regards,
Philip