[mapserver-users] Fwd: MS4W version 4.0.0 pre-release 'alpha' available

[Andy Colson]

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 <ms4w-users at lists.ms4w.com>
>>> Reply-To: ms4w-users at lists.ms4w.com
>>> To: ms4w-users at lists.ms4w.com
>>> CC: Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>
>>>
>>> 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.

-Andy