Why PHP’s Bus Factor Is Only 2 and What the New PHP Foundation Means

Earlier this year PHP contributor Joe Watkins warned that PHP’s bus factor—a measure of how many developers would need to disappear before a project stalls—was a startlingly low 2.

Watkins argued that if just two core developers left, PHP would lack the expertise and resources to continue at its current pace, specifically naming Dmitry Stogov and Nikita Popov as the critical contributors.

Last week Popov stepped away from PHP work to focus on LLVM, prompting concerns about the project’s resilience.

“PHP is too big to fail, especially because WordPress continues to depend on it. It’s great to see a new foundation forming.” – Richard MacManus

Watkins’s earlier article drew attention to the situation, leading JetBrains—Popov’s employer—to contact him about forming a PHP Foundation.

This week the PHP Foundation was officially launched, aiming to fund part‑time and full‑time developers to work on the PHP core in 2022.

Ten companies—including Automattic, Laravel, Acquia, Zend, Private Packagist, Symfony, Craft CMS, Tideways, PrestaShop, and JetBrains—joined as supporters, pledging a total of $300,000 annually, with JetBrains contributing $100,000. The foundation is run through Open Collective and has already raised over $40,000 from fewer than 700 donors.

Beyond increasing the bus factor, the foundation diversifies influence over PHP’s direction. Historically, Zend (through Dmitry Stogov) has been a major financial backer, while JetBrains’ involvement via Popov also adds influence.

Watkins emphasizes that the foundation provides a mechanism to raise the bus factor, ensuring the language’s development won’t be jeopardized by the loss of a few key contributors.

The foundation operates under a temporary governance model with Popov, Stogov, and Watkins as members. Any php‑src contributor can apply for funding, with the first round lasting 28 days. For the next two years, the focus will be on hiring developers for core work, while the existing RFC process remains unchanged.

“I’ve contributed to the PHP Foundation; if you can, you should too. Every bit strengthens the foundation and helps our language and community!” – Matt Trask

Source: https://thenewstack.io/php-gets-a-foundation-to-work-on-php-core/