Issue #4
24 March 2026
"This issue is a reminder that communities grow stronger when they question, rethink, and build in public."
— Stefan & Sebastian
blog.daniil.it
Daniil Gentili, maintainer of Psalm, proposes an official rolling community release that would give developers early access to experimental PHP features. He argues that this might help the PHP community evolve the language even faster.
Picked by Sebastian Bergmann and Stefan Priebsch – "An interesting idea, albeit a controversial one. Discussing proposals like this is what PHP moves forward."
ilia.ws
How do persistent database connections in PHP work, and why can they boost performance? Ilia Alshanetsky, PHP core contributor and former release manager, revisits why they were considered problematic in the days of shared hosting and explains why those concerns are often manageable in modern PHP deployments.
Picked by Sebastian Bergmann – "Seeing Ilia, one of the most experienced voices in the PHP community, blogging again is a real pleasure. We'd like to think that PHP Reads helped inspire his return."
afilina.com
A new project aims to give the PHP community a community-run alternative to YouTube, focused on discovery, openness, and creator control rather than algorithms, ads, and platform lock-in. Built on PeerTube and inspired by the federated model behind phpc.social, it is intended as a more sustainable home for PHP video content and community exchange.
Picked by Stefan Priebsch – "Communities become stronger when they create the platforms and spaces they want to belong to."