[Php-devel] Requesting php-mbstring for PHP 5.3.3

Wed Jan 5 17:01:02 PST 2011

Hi Eduardo,

To confirm what we discussed on the phone, it would be better to find
out what Apple is doing with PHP before making a recommendation.  If
they are using RUEI, they should follow RUEI's instructions.  If they
are using PHP for other important projects, they could consider using
Zend Server.  See
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/php/zend-server-096314.html
(which has been updated with VirtualBox information since we spoke).

Regards,

Chris

On 01/05/2011 10:11 AM, Christopher Jones wrote:
>
> Hi Eduardo,
>
> I was more interested in Apple's general PHP use - what DB they use it
> with, how much load they get, is the system "mission-critical" etc?
> My work focuses on the PHP OCI8 extension so any issues they have or
> things they like with it are of interest to me.
>
> I read the RUEI instructions as requiring PHP 5.1.6, not PHP 5.3.
> Mbstring is available on EL for PHP 5.1.6.
>
> The oss.oracle.com PHP RPMS are for tire kicking only.  Now that Zend
> Server has RPMs my recommendation is to use that product for anything
> that requires a supported PHP infrastructure with recent PHP versions.
> Zend is an Oracle partner.
>
> Give me a call if you want to chat about it.
>
> Chris
>
>
> On 01/05/2011 09:42 AM, Eduardo Silva wrote:
>> Hi Christopher,
>>
>> i just got feedback from the customer about why they requires php-mbstring for PHP 5.3.3:
>>
>> ---
>> Per your request to explain WHY I need php-mbstring functionality for PHP 5.3.3, let me refer you first, to your own instruction page,http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14269_01/em.451/e12487/requirements.htm entitled "Oracle® Real User Experience Insight
>> Installation Guide
>> Release 5.0 for Linux x86-64"
>> in which it is stated " Issue the following command to install all prerequisites for the Apache Web server and PHP:
>>
>> rpm -Uhv httpd-2.2.3-22.0.1.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> apr-1.2.7-11.x86_64.rpm \
>> apr-util-1.2.7-7.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> php-5.1.6-23.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> mod_ssl-2.2.3-22.0.1.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> distcache-1.4.5-14.1.x86_64.rpm \
>> php-common-5.1.6-23.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> php-cli-5.1.6-23.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> php-mbstring-5.1.6-23.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> php-gd-5.1.6-23.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> php-ldap-5.1.6-23.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> gmp-4.1.4-10.el5.x86_64.rpm \
>> postgresql-libs-8.1.11-1.el5_1.1.x86_64.rpm..... "
>>
>> This page explains the install procedure at the time of PHP 5.1.6, hence, that is the vintage of the mbstring package at the time. You have not updated it since, even though you provide PHP 5.3.3 as an RPM. This stated, it appears the words "prerequisite"
>> negate the statement that the packages are "not supported". How can an unsupported package be a 'prerequisite'? Secondly, as the why I actually need mbstring support and what it provides...
>>
>> While there are many languages in which every necessary character can be represented by a one-to-one mapping to an 8-bit value, there are also several languages which require so many characters for written communication that they cannot be contained within
>> the range a mere byte can code (A byte is made up of eight bits. Each bit can contain only two distinct values, one or zero. Because of this, a byte can only represent 256 unique values (two to the power of eight)). Multibyte character encoding schemes
>> were developed to express more than 256 characters in the regular bytewise coding system.
>>
>> When you manipulate (trim, split, splice, etc.) strings encoded in a multibyte encoding, you need to use special functions since two or more consecutive bytes may represent a single character in such encoding schemes. Otherwise, if you apply a
>> non-multibyte-aware string function to the string, it probably fails to detect the beginning or ending of the multibyte character and ends up with a corrupted garbage string that most likely loses its original meaning.
>>
>> mbstring provides multibyte specific string functions that help you deal with multibyte encodings in PHP. In addition to that, mbstring handles character encoding conversion between the possible encoding pairs. mbstring is designed to handle Unicode-based
>> encodings such as UTF-8 and UCS-2 and many single-byte encodings for convenience (listed below).
>>
>> another reference. http://php.net/manual/en/mbstring.configuration.php
>>
>> We need to support every language in the modern world on our website. This is why.
>> ---
>>
>> The current scenario is:
>>
>> - Customer is using unsupported packages provided by Oracle (PHP 5.3.3)
>> - Customer is not able to use older PHP 5.1.6
>> - Customer requires php-mbstring for PHP 5.3.3 to fill the Oracle SW requirements
>>
>> any help is appreciated,
>>
>> best regards,
>>
>> Eduardo Silva
>> Oracle Linux Support
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 2011-01-04 at 13:00 -0800, Christopher Jones wrote:
>>> Hi Eduardo,
>>>
>>> Can you tell me the customer name and what you know about their PHP use?  (This really
>>> helps us prioritize work on PHP).
>>>
>>> Regarding mbstring
>>>
>>> 1. You could suggest the customer usehttp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/php/zend-server-096314.html
>>>       Remind them that the oss.oracle PHP RPMs are not supported in any way.
>>>
>>> 2. They could get the PHP source rpm from oss.oracle; this will build the mbstring extension
>>>
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> On 01/04/2011 12:48 PM, Eduardo Silva wrote:
>>>>   Hi All,
>>>>
>>>>   My name is Eduardo and i am from Oracle Linux Support.
>>>>
>>>>   We have a customer which is currently using the PHP version available in the OSS PHP site which is PHP 5.3.3, but now the customer is requiring the package php-mbstring (for PHP 5.3.3, old packages are not an option). Is possible to request to build this
>>>>   package for OEL 5.5 ?, if so, what's the procedure to follow ?
>>>>
>>>>   any help is appreciated, thanks in advance,
>>>>
>>>>   Eduardo Silva
>>>>   Oracle Linux Support
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>   _______________________________________________
>>>>   Php-devel mailing list
>>>>   Php-devel at oss.oracle.com<mailto:Php-devel at oss.oracle.com>
>>>>   http://oss.oracle.com/mailman/listinfo/php-devel
>>>
>>
>

-- 
Email: christopher.jones at oracle.com
Tel:  +1 650 506 8630
Blog:  http://blogs.oracle.com/opal/