I was reading the November PHP meeting minutes recently. Several changes are being made which will greatly benefit the PHP community, but could seriously trip up inexperienced developers and poorly written applications.

There are a great many changes, but the most imperative ones for all to get their heads around are the removal of three php.ini settings that if existent in a php.ini will disallow startup of the application. They are being removed, and are effectively being set to the equivalent of “off”. This is good news, as they should be that way now. Many people wrongly use these settings. Check your applications now and make sure they are not using these. If they are, buy a copy of the book “Essential PHP Security” by Chris Shiflett to find out how to re-write your code for safety and security. Not only is it a good idea, but it will be mandatory if your host upgrades to the version with these changes (looks now to be PHP 6.0)

MOST NOTABLE _FULL_ DEPRECATIONS:
register_globals
magic_quotes
safe_mode