Support bundled php/gd with configurable JPEG and FreeType support

[andr2k]

Would maintainers welcome a PR to enable the bundled php/gd package, with configurable JPEG and FreeType support? I am opening this discussion before making PIE code changes, as requested by the contribution guide.

Context

We use official PHP Docker images and currently build GD using docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-freetype --with-jpeg followed by docker-php-ext-install gd. We would like to evaluate using PIE for this too, while preserving those capabilities.

• The answer in discussion #630 points to php/gd.
• However, GD is commented out in PIE 1.5.2 and the current development branch, with ft2build.h: No such file or directory recorded as the reason.
• The original review thread in #275 notes that the failure occurred even with the system dependencies installed. The general bundled-extension issue Make core bundled extensions available (PDO, curl, intl, etc.) #133 is closed.

Current reproduction

PIE 1.5.2, PHP 8.5.12 NTS, Debian 12 (bookworm), Linux arm64. Using the official release PHAR in php:8.5.12-fpm-bookworm, with libtool, unzip, libpng-dev, libjpeg-dev, and libfreetype-dev installed:

docker run --rm --entrypoint sh php:8.5.12-fpm-bookworm -c '
  set -eu
  apt-get update
  apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends libtool unzip libpng-dev libjpeg-dev libfreetype-dev
  curl -fsSL https://github.com/php/pie/releases/download/1.5.2/pie.phar -o /tmp/pie.phar
  php /tmp/pie.phar show -v
  php /tmp/pie.phar install php/gd --force --no-interaction -vv
'

The installation fails during package resolution, before compilation. Using --force does not make the package available.

Complete PIE output from the reproduction

pie show -v:

🥧 PHP Installer for Extensions (PIE) 1.5.2, from The PHP Foundation
You are running PHP 8.5.12
Target PHP installation: 8.5.12 nts, on Linux/OSX/etc arm64 (from /usr/local/bin/php)
Using pie.json: /root/.pie/php8.5_daf413ac2c6373732eaa89ffb4a8bf81/pie.json
Using pie.json: /root/.pie/php8.5_daf413ac2c6373732eaa89ffb4a8bf81/pie.json
Tip: to include extensions in this list that PIE does not manage, use the --all flag.

Loaded PIE extensions:
(none)

pie install php/gd --force --no-interaction -vv:

Box Requirements Checker
========================

> Using PHP 8.5.12
> PHP is not using any php.ini file.

> Checking Box requirements:
  ...........

                                                                                
 [OK] Your system is ready to run the application.                              
                                                                                

🥧 PHP Installer for Extensions (PIE) 1.5.2, from The PHP Foundation
You are running PHP 8.5.12
Target PHP installation: 8.5.12 nts, on Linux/OSX/etc arm64 (from /usr/local/bin/php)
Using pie.json: /root/.pie/php8.5_daf413ac2c6373732eaa89ffb4a8bf81/pie.json
Checking if all build tools are installed.
Build tool cc/gcc is installed.
Build tool make is installed.
Build tool autoconf is installed.
Build tool pkg-config is installed.
Build tool libtoolize/glibtoolize is installed.
Build tool unzip is installed.
Build tool phpize is installed.
All build tools found.
Checking system dependencies are present for extension php/gd
Skipping system dependency pre-scan due to exception: Unable to find an installable package php/gd for the latest compatible version, with minimum stability dev.

Could not install package: php/gd
Unable to find an installable package php/gd for the latest compatible version, with minimum stability dev.
Tried searching for "php/gd", but nothing was found.

Preliminary build checks

Separately, I built ext/gd from the PHP php-8.5.12 GitHub source archive in a Debian bookworm/arm64 container with the development libraries installed, using phpize, ./configure --with-php-config=/usr/local/bin/php-config, and make:

• The default build succeeded and passed a PNG encode/decode round trip, but reported JPEG and FreeType support disabled.
• Adding --with-jpeg --with-freetype succeeded, reported both capabilities enabled, and passed PNG and JPEG encode/decode round trips. Font rendering has not been tested.

These were standalone GD build checks, not successful PIE installations. I have not reproduced or established the cause of the original CI header failure, and have made no PIE implementation changes.

Proposed scope, subject to maintainer feedback

• Enable php/gd while preserving PIE's existing --force requirement for bundled extensions.
• Expose GD's optional JPEG and FreeType configure flags through package metadata.
• Add tests for the package metadata and for the default and configured builds, including functional image checks across the supported bundled-extension test matrix.

Is this direction welcome, and is there existing work or another issue to coordinate with? I will wait for feedback before starting implementation or opening a PR. If accepted, please advise whether this should target 1.6.x as new support or 1.5.x as a fix.

[asgrim]

I have seen this, just haven't had a time to look into it properly yet, last couple days have been very hectic, but I will try look into this next week 👍