github.com/phpenv/phpenv abandoned?

[glensc]

current state of "dev" branch does not work on initial setup, neither does "master" (looks like it expects php-src to be checked out manually because cd php-src is before init() call. etc)

last commit to "dev" branch is ~1y ago, commit to "master" branch ~2y ago
8 open pull requests, 15 open issues

is https://github.com/phpenv/phpenv abandoned?

perhaps write to README.md what is this project and it's state and what is relation to the "other" project: https://github.com/CHH/phpenv

[gmorel]

👍

[sshymko]

+1

I wonder how can Travis CI use the project if it's in such a broken and abandoned state?
Or do they use CHH/phpenv?

[augustohp]

Or do they use CHH/phpenv?

Yes, As seen in their doc.

[outrunthewolf]

What a mess

[madumlao]

I'm a former contributor to phpenv and regular user of the upstream rbenv. I'm looking into whose fork is currently most active, but if I can't find anyone, I'm thinking of requesting to step up as the maintainer.

[bweston92]

@madumlao well I believe we need someone too.

[japboy]

👍

[tylercollier]

+1 to @madumlao

[madumlao]

I did my due diligence to send an email to nickl I think a couple months ago. I didn't get a reply and I'm not sure the email is still active.

I'm going to update my fork (https://github.com/madumlao/phpenv) to be buildable around the halloween season... should take me a few days, so would appreciate any help with the coffees and pizzas! (bountysource plug)

[bweston92]

@madumlao how can we trust you to maintain it for years :p

[madumlao]

@bweston92, I'm taking it one step at a time. my current concern is getting phpenv building again as I'm working on some php projects (whenever I make an API middleware, I do it in php).

As for maintaining it in the long term, my primary dev languages are ruby and php and I cannot live without rbenv. So I will always want an equivalent in other languages. Currently I am also a contributor in nenv (nodejs) and surprisingly jenv (java), which started from / are based on the same codebase. So this is one of my personal itches.

[tylercollier]

Alright @madumlao , I contributed to the bounty.

[madumlao]

I appreciate the gesture, @tylercollier :)

[rogeriopradoj]

Hello, guys.

Always remember that "original ;-)" phpenv, from CHH, still working very well together with php-build.

My current and working way of installing new php versions in my OS is with
https://github.com/php-build/php-build/wiki/phpenv-tools (phpenv install, phpenv update and phpenv common deps install are very life saver to me).

I think you could take a look there!

See ya!

[rogeriopradoj]

And I'm just kidding about original phpenv, ok? Please, no hard feelings ;-) .

As @augustohp told me once, the original in fact was created by @HumanDev, right?

[tylercollier]

This phpenv project is different from CHH's in 2 important ways, IMHO:

1. It's based on rbenv, which is a great stable project, that I am also familiar with.
2. It is much better documented. It even has instructions for working with Apache.

So no hard feelings here either, but I mention these things because I would love for others to join me in encouraging madumlao in taking over this project. You can do that with this bountysource link and contributing some money!

[outrunthewolf]

👍

[rogeriopradoj]

😉

[madumlao]

Aight, thanks for the support! For a moment I thought you'd prefer to run the CHH version instead, but since this one has quite some love, I'll push on. Worry not, I'm still doing it even if we're under the target goal.

I'm running a few dev cycles this week to update phpenv to rbenv semantics and get it building. I'll update here as it gets finished.

[madumlao]

I looked over the php-build plugin (https://github.com/php-build/php-build) which is currently active, closer to upstream, and well-maintained. An initial test shows that it's trivial to remove the phpenv-specific php-install and delegate building to php-build.

My first maintenance commit (madumlao@9503ceb) removes php-install functionality from inside of phpenv, so that you can integrate it with php-build. I know this removes features, but on the other hand, it gets phpenv building again.

I'm going to look into the removed features and figure out ways of re-adding them, either using the plugin, a fork, or some convenience config within phpenv.

[madumlao]

So heads up, as of the moment, https://github.com/madumlao/phpenv is currently building (with help from https://github.com/php-build/php-build)

[rogeriopradoj]

@madumlao awesome! In fact I'm one of the contributors there (https://github.com/orgs/php-build/people).

Please, let us know if we can work better together, right?

And again, very cool!

[tylercollier]

Awesome, thanks @madumlao! I starred your repository.

[madumlao]

thanks!

@rogeriopradoj im going to review the install features added by phpenv and possibly make pull requests to php-build to add them in if missing.

possibly the biggest one users would look for is the way to specify custom compile options so you can add/disable php extensions, with the apache extension probably wanted most.

php-build #295 is probably related.

atm, phpenv will suggest the use of php-fpm instead of mod_php instead. docs have already been changed to reflect that.

[debo]

@madumlao first of all thanks a lot for your help and contribution to this amazing project. Just so you know I tried to reach @nickl- on Linkedin hoping he is going to pass the lead to you. He appears to not be that active on the various social channels so let's hope for the best.

[mfdj]

The Github organization is owned by @humanshell — perhaps they can help transfer ownership to @madumlao or update the reamde.md to direct folks to the maintained fork. This repo has SEO visibility and quite a few github stars so I think it would be helpful to the community.

[debo]

Hi @mfdj I wish that was the case but unfortunately it's not like that. @humanshell is the only visible user and it's kind of honorary member, @nickl- is the actual owner.
I reached him out and we both contacted GitHub to get to move this forward but following is the response we got:

Organisations are designed so that repositories are not owned by one individual, each organisation typically has many owners so that - in your example - if one individual were to go AWOL, the project is not abandoned as there would be other owners with the necessary permissions to continue.

Unfortunately the phpenv organisation was not set up this way. Our user security policy is very strict on not making changes to user's accounts. This policy ensures that the work our users trust us with is protected but can also leave us in unpleasant situations such as this. I won't be able to change the ownership of the phpenv organisation or the repository, as much as I'd love to help here, as this is only something the existing owner can do.

I believe the best solution here would be to either pick the most active fork, or even create a new organisation - owned by several members of the community - and fork it there, and ask us to detach it. That would then start a new repository network and over time people would adjust their links to point to the right place.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful here, as the core issue is granting someone access to another user's account - it's really not something we're able to compromise on.

And all this time along they have been adamant despite @humanshell even has his name in the phpenv's copyright. I am really disappointed with GitHub behaviour on this matter because, although I perfectly understand where they are coming from they shouldn't treat a case like this, which clearly requires some deeper human understanding (@nickl- has been offline from any known media for the past 3 years at least and yes I'm sorry I'm inferring something bad happened) and not the application of an "automatic" protocol/policy. Not even the fact I'm the phansible lead mainteiner seemed to be enough to give me trust.

In the meantime I did create the phpenv organisation on GitLab and I would be more than happy to collaborate with @madumlao and move the development over there if that could be a path we would like to pursue. In a way, so far, GitLab demonstrated to be way more opensource friendly than GitHub. @humanshell in the meantime suggested to create a new org project called phpem: The PHP Environment Manager. Thoughts?

[tylercollier]

If @madumlao continues with his fork, that should eventually be enough. This happens from time to time. It happened with ryanb, the guy from Railscasts, who was I believe how I got into rbenv (and what this version of phpenv is based on). Ryan created the cancan project, then abandoned it, and eventually cancancan got enough steam that it's the new home. It's totally a bummer that it has to work this way, but I want @madumlao to be encouraged that his time and effort will be worth it: eventually people will know to use his fork.

It would be more work, but if he or someone monitors this repo for issues and explains the situation and encourages issue posters to post their issue on the new fork, people will see the pattern on this repo's issues list.

[debo]

@tylercollier indeed the annoying bit is that we can't even redirect from here to @madumlao's fork so at least people know where to go for things and spread the voice around.
I'm thankful for his work and I hope he doesn't give up.

[madumlao]

Okay, I've had a pass at most of the issues in the issue tracker. Pretty much everything was related to phpenv being out of date, so I've had to close most of them. Some issues / questions are still relevant and I've left them open.

So here's a call for any complaints on the latest production phpenv before I can consider this closed. Please raise any issues discovered with the latest set of updates in this thread before I can consider it shipped.

It's also been a loong time since this has been updated, and I now realize that there has been some money sitting on the bountysource tracker (https://www.bountysource.com/issues/5756856-github-com-phpenv-phpenv-abandoned) that was put in waaay back for my fork, but hasn't been claimed (as technically the issue hasn't closed). I've pledged @debo the amount for keeping the domain up, but just in case anyone wants to buy me a pizza or two for the effort, please check out the bountysource tracker here: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/5756856-github-com-phpenv-phpenv-abandoned

I'll look into setting up something on Patreon and/or bountysource or other channels to support future development if there's more love to be had.

[debo]

@madumlao great work man, keep the spam coming, and if you need any help with some of the tickets please shout and I'll help.