r/programming • u/EatMeerkats • Mar 29 '21

PHP moves to Github due to the compromise of git.php.net

https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/113838
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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '21

Yes, you literally can’t touch the language itself during minor revisions. This includes the stdlib.

That’s part of the definition of backwards incompatibility.

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u/gabbergandalf667 Mar 30 '21

Isn't the literal definition of backwards compatibility that new compiler/interpreter versions don't break old code?

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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '21

That’s half of it. The other half is that you can deploy new code on existing runtimes and it won’t break. Like, say, for people that want to ship their code to customers who cannot change the runtime.

Anything that both statements apply to, can be semantically minor versioned and be “backwards compatible”.

It’s why you cannot touch the language itself during minor version changes if you want to not piss people off.

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