PHP 8.4: new features and release date

Table of contents:

• Introduction
• When will PHP 8.4 be released?
• Install and test PHP 8.4 on macOS
• What’s new in PHP 8.4
  • PHP 8.4 comes with an increased bcrypt cost by default
  • PHP 8.4 can parse large XML documents more reliably

Introduction

PHP is an open-source project. Knowing what’s going on for PHP 8.4 only takes a minute of research. For instance, this page lists all the accepted RFCs for different versions of PHP, including PHP 8.4.

When will PHP 8.4 be released?

PHP 8.4 will be released on November 21, 2024, according to the preparation tasks list. It will be tested through three alpha releases, three betas, and six release candidates.

Install and test PHP 8.4 on macOS

1. Install the Homebrew package manager if it’s not done already.
2. Run brew update to make sure Homebrew and the formulae are up to date.
3. Add a new tap (basically a GitHub repository) for PHP 8.4’s formula: brew tap shivammathur/php.
4. Install the pre-compiled binary for PHP 8.4 (also called “a bottle” in Homebrew’s context). This will make the install so much faster. brew install php@8.4.
5. Link it to make sure that the php alias targets the right binary: brew link --overwrite --force php@8.4.

If you want to learn more about how to install PHP on your Mac, I wrote something for you: PHP for Mac: get started fast using Laravel Valet

What’s new in PHP 8.4

PHP 8.4 comes with an increased bcrypt cost by default

In PHP 8.4, the default cost of bcrypt has been increased to 12. What does that even mean?

Bcrypt is the password hashing function that PHP uses. It acts as a shield against hackers who would want to crack passwords.

The strength of this shield can be adjusted. The higher the setting or the “cost”, the stronger the shield because bcrypt is an adaptive function: “over time, the iteration count can be increased to make it slower, so it remains resistant to brute-force search attacks even with increasing computation power.”

And why is it such a big deal? Because increasing the cost of bcrypt makes password hashing a few milliseconds slower.

Learn more: PHP RFC: Increasing the default BCrypt cost

PHP 8.4 can parse large XML documents more reliably

This change resolved a potential issue in the ext/xml PHP extension involving its handling of large XML document parsing.

Conflicting modifications in libxml2 version 2.7.0 unintentionally disrupted large document parsing when using xml_parse() and xml_parse_into_struct() functions, resulting in a parsing error.

PHP 8.4 introduced a new parser option to properly handle these large XML documents and prevent the parsing error, making it possible for developers to parse large XML documents effectively, without needing complex workarounds.

Learn more: PHP RFC: XML_OPTION_PARSE_HUGE