Typical usage issues

When you start experimenting with KPHP, you'll definitely encounter some obscure errors.

Consult this page whenever you find yourself thinking “What’s going on?”

I wrote incorrect code, but KPHP feels OK

Your code is probably not reachable. It is never called, and therefore not visible to KPHP.
Please refer to What PHP code exactly would be compiled?

I get some strange unreadable error and "Make failed"
  0% [total jobs 22] [left jobs 22] [running jobs 0] [waiting jobs 5]
In file included from /home/me/kphp/php_functions.h:9:0:
/home/me/kphp/runtime/array_functions.h:1203:42: error: no matching function for call to 'f$floatval(const std::tuple<long int, string>&)'
     return f$floatval(h1) > f$floatval(h2);
...

Compilation error [gen by /home/me/kphp/compiler/make/make.cpp at 399]
In stage = [Make]:
  [file = unknown]
  [function = unknown function:0]
  Make failed

The … error above is from g++ (not from KPHP). C++ errors are always cumbersome :)

This means that you have written incorrect code (like using some strange operations, e.g. sorting tuples), but KPHP didn't detect this on the codegeneration phase. It's an error from g++ while compiling C++ code.
This is most likely a bug, as KPHP should have noticed it earlier and printed a more friendly error.

Solution. Usually, the root of the error is somewhere in the beginning, like .../o_25/demoFunction.cpp:46:13: required from here, followed by comprehensive g++ errors. Investigate the changes you made, especially in the mentioned functions. There would be something simple, but hard to find.

You're welcome to write down a minimal example and submit it as an issue.

I get an error "change_user_group: can't find the user kitten to switch to"

When launching the server from root, KPHP switches to the user kitten, as working from root is bad practice.
The error means that you don't have the user kitten in your system.

Solution. You can either create the user kitten: useradd -ms /bin/bash kitten, or explicitly allow root ./server -u root

I call standard_php_function(), but get an error "Unknown function"

This means that KPHP does not have this function implemented yet. As stated before, KPHP supports many PHP functions, but not all of them.

Solution. Write and call a function in PHP that does what you need. Optionally, you can create a relevant issue on GitHub.

I get an error "Using Unknown type"

This can occur in two cases.

  1. You use undefined variables: 
    function demo() {
  echo $asdf;  // it was never assigned, it can't be inferred and has Unknown type
}
  2. You get an element from an always empty array 
    function demo($options = []) {     // if demo() is ALWAYS called with an empty array,
  if ($options['use_wrapper']) {}  // then $options is Unknown[]
}

    Use PHPDoc to declare array type (@param bool[] $options for example).

KPHP shows something about Error type
TYPE INFERENCE ERROR:
Expected type:  array< Unknown >
Actual type:    Error

STACKTRACE:
...

The Error type comes up when KPHP can't mix two types fitting the type system. Some examples:

  • You mix different classes in the same variable, and they don't have a common ancestor.
  • You pass tuples with different sizes to the same function argument.
  • You declare @return array, but return a shape.

Solution. Follow the stacktrace, as it usually points backward an Error type occurred.

I get "!==, ===, is_array or similar may differ from PHP"

This happens when you read from typed arrays: reading from array<T> at non-existing element returns T, not null, that's why ===null and similar would work differently.

Solution. Use not_null() when getting from an array, for details consider this article.

I pass a string, but KPHP infers mixed
function demo(int $x) {}
demo('asdf');

This leads to an error “Actual type: mixed”, while you might be expecting “Actual type: string”.

This is because given int works as apriori information, saying “$x is at least int”. When a string is passed, int and string together bring out mixed.

All in all, when there are no compilation errors, types fully coincide with those manually specified. When there are errors, actual types combine with manually specified, which may be a bit confusing.

I want to pass different objects to a function, but get "mix classes" error
function printIdOf($object) { echo $object->id; }
printIdOf(new A);
printIdOf(new B);

This leads to Error with the message “mix classes A and B”, because type of $object can't be inferred. The same occurs when placing different classes into a single array: [new A, new B] — this is array<Error>.

Solutions.

  1. Implement a common interface, so that demo() would accept this interface as a parameter
  2. Use generic functions
I specify PHP 7 class type hint, but KPHP doesn't prevent from passing null

Currently, KPHP doesn't track nullability. If you declare function f(A $a), you can pass a nullable A, which will trigger a fatal error in PHP. In KPHP, instances can store null values at runtime.

Solution. Use ?A instead of A or use @param instead of type hint.

KPHP shows only one type of mismatch error, I want to see all of them

When invoking kphp, use --show-all-type-errors option or KPHP_SHOW_ALL_TYPE_ERRORS=1 env variable.

One source of error can often trigger mismatches as a chain reaction, that's why this is set to false by default.

Are mixed[] and array the same or not?

They are different: array means an array of anything (what would be automatically inferred, such as int[], or SomeClass[], or mixed[]), but mixed[] is an array of mixed.

When you use array type hint, specifying @param T[] above is good practice.

See the explanation about any type here.

json_encode($object) doesn't compile, as well as serialize($object)

Yes, json_encode(), var_dump(), print_r(), etc. accept mixed, so instances can't be passed there.

Solution. Read about JSON manipulation and serializing instances.

function ... use(&$by_reference) doesn't compile

References in use are not supported.
References are supported in two cases only:

  • function argument as a reference
  • foreach by reference

Solution. Rewrite your code without use-references or create a wrapper instance and capture it in a closure.

Any solutions to call a function by name?

Generally, there's nothing better than switch-case that can done in compiled languages.

For complex scenarios, consider codegenerating switch-case from a schema. Continue reading here.

KPHP doesn't understand trigger_error()

Yes, this function doesn't exist in KPHP.

Solution. Use warning($message) instead (it is polyfilled with trigger_error() in plain PHP).

ini_set('memory_limit') compiles, but fails executing

It makes no sense to KPHP: like many other ini_set() arguments, ‘memory_limit' is unknown.

Solution. Surround this call with #ifndef to make it invisible (explanation):

#ifndef KPHP
ini_set('memory_limit', '512M');
#endif
I face behavior differences between PHP and KPHP

KPHP pretends to behave exactly the same as PHP, but you may encounter misbehavior. This usually occurs in very strange or rare usage cases, which are not covered by tests.

Solution. Rewrite that piece of code with different branches for PHP and KPHP — using #ifndef or if(kphp). A submitted issue with steps to reproduce will be appreciated.