PHP internals weigh formal spec and Scope RFC after critical bugs

After two critical engine bugs, Brian Nguyen proposed a formal spec of PHP's bytecode and parser plus a freeze on new features until four independent implementations exist. Maintainers replied that the bottleneck is money and bugfix capacity. Frode Børli's Scope RFC, giving each request its own identity and state, is also under discussion.

• Nguyen proposed an executable spec in K and PLT Redex, tested against WordPress, Laravel and Symfony
• Garfield: "This is a money problem" — PHP needs Foundation sponsors or full-time paid maintainers
• Scope RFC gives HTTP requests, queue jobs and CLI commands their own identity and state
• 418 of 831 first-time PRs merged; AI-written descriptions accepted ~20% vs 55%