Overview of PHP and the PHP 8 Release Schedule

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a scripting language executed on computers, primarily used for handling dynamic web pages, and also includes a command line interface and the ability to create GUI programs.

PHP was originally invented by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995, and its de facto standard is now maintained by the PHP Group and the open‑source community. It is licensed under the PHP License, which restricts the use of the PHP name and is therefore incompatible with the GPL.

PHP 8 RC 1 has been released, marking the eighth release candidate for version 8. Since entering the beta phase, PHP 8 is now in a feature‑freeze period with no further feature changes.

The release schedule for PHP 8 has been updated as follows:

https://wiki.php.net/todo/php80

RC 6 has been removed to align the schedule with other active branches. The next release candidate, RC 2, is planned for October 15, and the final 8.0.0 GA release is scheduled for November 26.

Note that beta versions are not suitable for production use.

PHP 8 is a major new version that introduces significant changes, many new features, and performance improvements, including the long‑awaited JIT, Union Types, Attributes, and WeakMap.

Further details can be found in earlier reports such as https://www.oschina.net/news/116719/php-8-0-0-alpha-1-released .