PHP 8.1 Alpha Release Highlights and Upcoming Schedule
PHP 8.1 has entered Alpha, introducing enums, fsync/fdatasync, Fibers, expanded resource-to-object conversion, macOS process renaming, new hashing algorithms, enhanced Sodium encryption, inheritance cache, and performance tweaks, with a release schedule leading to a GA version expected by November 2021.
PHP 8.1 has entered the Alpha stage, representing a major update following PHP 8.
The main changes include:
Implementation of enumerations (Enums) – see the RFC for details.
Addition of fsync() function to ensure data and metadata are flushed to storage, and a similar fdatasync() function for data‑only synchronization.
Support for Fibers to improve asynchronous mechanisms; Fibers allow PHP functions to be interrupted without polluting the call stack and enable transparent non‑blocking I/O.
More PHP resources can now be converted into objects.
PHP‑FPM can rename processes on macOS.
Hashing interface now supports MurmurHash V3 and xxHash.
PHP Sodium adds XChaCha20 stream‑encryption function and Ristretto255.
PHP OPcache includes an inheritance cache.
Ongoing performance optimizations.
…
PHP 8.1 Alpha 2 has been released, with Alpha 3 scheduled for July 8 2021. After that the project will enter Feature Freeze, followed by three Beta releases in mid‑August and multiple release candidates starting in September, with the final GA expected by the end of November 2021.
Security updates have also been issued for the three older branches: PHP 7.4.21, PHP 8.0.8, and PHP 7.3.29.
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