Is Apache 2.0 Worth the Switch for PHP?

An anonymous reader writes "It seems like some of the members of the Apache Software Foundation are a little angry with the PHP Community because they don't recommend using Apache 2.0 with PHP. Since PHP is installed on half of all Apache servers this is a major issue for them. A number of high-profile PHP community members such as John Coggeshall and Chris Shiflett have blogged about this decision in light of a recent posting by Apache Software Foundation Member Rich Bowen which called PHP's anti-Apache2 stance FUD. Is there any real reason for the PHP community to start recommending Apache 2.0, especially when the 1.3.x series of Apache is rock solid and proven? Note Rich did later commend PHP for being a great product, so it's not all flames."

Comments

Who needs PHP anyway?

[KlomDark]

I know it's widely used, but it's a pretty bullshit little language anyway. Kind of the beginner language for web coding.

Make a list sometimes. Of websites that go down completely (return some kind of an error) instead of just slowing down during a slashdotting, most of them are PHP issues. Almost every site dead from load is one spouting some "PHP process..." message.

Re:It's a threading issue

[Dysan2k]

Do you have a reference for setting locks around non-thread safe libraries. Code examples work decently, but I'm interested in both the conceptual and applied methods.

I know a fair number of the libraries that PHP links against are thread safe, and personally I've never run into a problem running Apache 2 + PHP4, but I also only utilize a handful of modules, so I simply have not run into the case of a problem from the threading.

I can see where linking against commercial libs could be problematic (Sybase, Oracle, Informix) where there is NO chance of ever getting past the API, but I think a lot of people use MySQL and PostGRESQL (those poor, poor bastards) with PHP, not so much with the high-end commercial apps (though they would have to exist.) I'd personally like to see the PHP Foundation go ahead and state "Unless you are using X, Y, or Z; threading should/is safe and Apache 2.x is supported." I use a fair number of SuEXEC and mod_rewrite rules, so I require the added features in 2.x. 1.x is no longer an option, so I stick with what works better.