---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jeff McKenna Date: 2016-06-28 10:27 GMT-03:00 Subject: Re: [mapserver-users] Fwd: MS4W version 4.0.0 pre-release 'alpha' available To: mapserver-users@lists.osgeo.org
On 2016-06-28 10:14 AM, Andy Colson wrote:
> On 06/28/2016 06:09 AM, Jeff McKenna wrote: > >> On 2016-06-27 10:16 PM, Andy Colson wrote: >> >>> On 06/27/2016 01:41 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote: >>> >>>> Forwarding to the MapServer community, to get feedback and testing >>>> with PHP 7. Thanks. -jeff >>>> >>>> >>>> -------- Forwarded Message -------- >>>> Subject: Re: [MS4W-Users] version 4.0.0 pre-release 'alpha' available >>>> Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 12:42:11 -0300 >>>> From: Jeff McKenna via MS4W-Users >>>> Reply-To: ms4w-users@lists.ms4w.com >>>> To: ms4w-users@lists.ms4w.com >>>> CC: Jeff McKenna >>>> >>>> Hello everyone, >>>> >>>> Another alpha build (alpha3) is now available on the download server >>>> (http://www.ms4w.com/release/experimental/), which contains PHP 7.0.8 >>>> as well as its extensions. Thank you to those who had filed tickets >>>> for specific PHP extensions (at http://ms4w.com/trac). Note that most >>>> of the extensions are loaded by default in PHP, so the best way to >>>> check what extensions are included is through a phpinfo() call (there >>>> is a 'phpinfo.php' file already included in /ms4w/apache/htdocs/ >>>> Technical users might want to check the configure command used when I >>>> compiled this PHP, which is shown in the phpinfo() results (or here is >>>> a screenshot, see the 5th row in the table: >>>>http://pasteboard.co/1ZYfzJyX.png). Don't be afraid to request >>>> additional extensions through the MS4W tracker: http://ms4w.com/trac - >>>> the time is now for feedback and requests. >>>> >>>> PHP 7 is of course a big improvement (and I've invested almost 2 >>>> months of my time to rebuild the entire MS4W stack for PHP 7, which >>>> requires the latest compiler). You can check online for performance >>>> improvements of PHP 7, most estimate 3X speed improvements with this >>>> version (wow). An important note of course is that PHPMapScript is not >>>> yet included in the alpha, as it definitely requires additional >>>> development time and effort; so please please contact me directly if >>>> your organization can help fund this effort. >>>> >>>> Thank you for using MS4W. >>>> >>>> -jeff >>>> >>>> ------- >>>> >>>> Please check the 'HISTORY.txt' file in the alpha, for a list of >>>> changes in your alpha build. >>>> >>>> To use these alpha builds, be sure to install the 'Microsoft Visual >>>> C++ 2015 Redistributable Update 2 >>>> ' package first (vc_redist.x86.exe): >>>>https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51682 An >>>> important note: because of this new compiler, old systems running >>>> Windows XP (and possible Windows Server 2003) can no longer be >>>> supported. But of course if need be, I can provide custom builds with >>>> the old compiler for those organizations requiring that. >>>> >>>> I realize that so many organizations (many on this mailing list) rely >>>> heavily on MS4W, so please contact me directly to help support its >>>> development with funding. It is very important. >>>> >>>> Below is a list of recent changes. If you want the latest stable MS4W >>>> release, please download last month's MS4W 3.1.4 release (from >>>>http://ms4w.com/). >>>> >>>> ************************************* >>>> >>>> 2016-06-27 Gateway Geomatics >>>> * ms4w version 4.0.0-alpha3 created. Notable changes are: >>>> >>>> - upgraded PHP to 7.0.8 with Visual Studio 2015 compiler >>>> (trac ticket 5) >>>> - built additional PHP extensions with Visual Studio 2015 >>>> compiler: >>>> pdo_mysql (trac ticket 52), pdo_oci, oci8, bzip2 >>>> - rebuilt all GDAL plugins and bindings >>>> - moved CSharp, Java, Python bindings into folder >>>> /ms4w/gdalbindings/ >>>> - updated script /gdalbindings/python/test-cgi-mapscript.py >>>> for Python 3 >>>> >>>> *PHPMapScript will not work in this version, needs dev work >>>> + funding >>>> >>>> >>> >>> Forgive my dumbness. But. Whats the point of PHP if PHPMapScript >>> doesnt work? >>> >>> Even if it did work, what's the point when 90% of the time spent is >>> inside mapserver, of which 50% of that time is spent reading >>> .shp/PostGIS/.tiff/etc. >>> >>> I'm all for PHP 7, please don't misunderstand, but this: >>> >>> PHP 7 is of course a big improvement (and I've invested almost 2 months >>>> >>> >>> Makes it sound like my gis hosting is going to be 3x faster. But its >>> not. Right? >>> >>> >> Hi Andy, >> >> Thanks for your positive feedback on all this work. >> >> Alpha releases are for the MS4W community to test in advance - many >> MS4W applications are based on PHP (GeoMOOSE, Mapbender, p.mapper, >> ...) so these builds help those developers and users prepare for PHP 7 >> in their sites. >> >> Talk soon, >> >> -jeff >> >> >> > Wow. I was a bit dickish, huh. Sorry about that. Re-reading my post I > realize I was a bit hostile. > > Perhaps I could re-ask and we could start over? I am curious about > performance. > > PHP 7 is faster, yes, but an average gis site spends more time inside > mapserver code than in php code, I assume, so the new performance > benefits of PHP 7 aren't going to speed up my site. Is this assumption > correct? Or might I see faster maps? > > Sorry again, Jeff. >
Thanks Andy, I think we both mean well.
It is true that at the moment I can't confirm yet all these sites with their "benchmarks" stating such a big performance improvement from PHP 7. I also can't confirm how this will impact map drawing speeds through PHPMapScript. I guess the point of these alphas and my work is to push this along, help PHP 7 + MapServer community along. This was a big hurdle for me (PHP 7 required the latest Visual Studio compiler, and if you have ever tried to compile on Windows, that means the whole MapServer and GDAL stack, and don't forget I also compile the whole Apache+modules and PHP+extensions stack on Windows, which is quite a massive effort - even the PHP dev team is aware of my MS4W work now on Windows).
This was a big first step, and I agree it could be taken as sort of a tease ("well ok, but where is PHPMapScript?"), ha, of course, good point. I hope this helps advance things, help things move along, as (when I first mentioned MapServer + PHP 7 back in December last year) I really feel that this is very important for the MapServer community, but spoken of very little.
I did get a response back from the Mapbender dev team already, and I'm sure other dev teams will be working towards PHP 7 and keeping this momentum going.
Edmar Moretti