KPHP internals — stage 4: vkext

vkext KPHP stage exposes the network layer and TL/RPC as a PHP extension for development.

Technically, vkext is not a part of the KPHP compiler: it's a PHP extension. Without vkext, PHP code can still be compiled and run, but using TL would be unavailable in plain PHP. Other KPHP functions (apart from network-related) don't require vkext, they are just polyfilled.

vkext is written in C and C++. Its code is placed in the vkext/ folder and, like any other Zend-related code, it is full of macros and is hard to read unless you have had some experience with Zend internals.

Some words about writing PHP extensions

The main problem is a lack of documentation about Zend API used in PHP 7. Functions and parameters naming is often unobvious. What are the main resources of PHP extensions?

• phpinternalsbook.com, but many sections are just empty
• the book about PHP 5 internals is urgent if PHP 7 changes are not significant; by the way, it's a worthwhile book, covering PHP lifecycle and other topics
• the blog by nikic about PHP 7 core
• consult actual PHP sources on GitHub

While writing PHP extensions, you are constantly dealing with memory leaks: it's always unclear, whether arguments passed to Zend functions are copied or not.

• be very careful about refcounters; for instance, the function updating class field value void zend_update_property(..., zval *value) increments refcount; if it's unexpected (if you want just to move a value to a field), don't forget to call zval_ptr_dtor(value) to decrement it back
• use debug build of PHP, it shows leaks also
• use profiling tools, valgrind for example; when vkext is enabled in php.ini, it could be launched as

  ZEND_DONT_UNLOAD_MODULES=1 USE_ZEND_ALLOC=0 valgrind --log-file=valgrind.out --leak-check=full --show-reachable=yes --track-origins=yes php main.php