The PHP development team is proud to announce the immediate release of PHP 5.3.0. This release is a major improvement in the 5.X series, which includes a large number of new features and bug fixes.

Some of the key new features include: namespaces, late static binding, closures, optional garbage collection for cyclic references, new extensions (like ext/phar, ext/intl and ext/fileinfo), over 140 bug fixes and much more.

For users upgrading from PHP 5.2 there is a migration guide available here, detailing the changes between those releases and PHP 5.3.0.

Further details about the PHP 5.3.0 release can be found in the release announcement, and the full list of changes are available in the ChangeLog.

The PHP development team is proud to announce the fourth release candidate of PHP 5.3.0 (PHP 5.3.0RC4). This RC focuses on bug fixes and stability improvements, and we hope only minimal changes are required for the next candidate or final stable releases. PHP 5.3.0 is a newly developed version of PHP featuring long-awaited features like namespaces, late static binding, closures and much more.

Please download and test these release candidates, and report any issues found. A stable release is expected next week . In case of critical issues we will continue producing weekly RCs. Downloads and further information is available at qa.php.net. See also the work in progress 5.3 upgrade guide.

The PHP development team would like to announce the immediate availability of PHP 5.2.10. This release focuses on improving the stability of the PHP 5.2.x branch with over 100 bug fixes, one of which is security related. All users of PHP are encouraged to upgrade to this release.

Security Enhancements and Fixes in PHP 5.2.10:

• Fixed bug #48378 (exif_read_data() segfaults on certain corrupted .jpeg files). (Pierre)

Further details about the PHP 5.2.10 release can be found in the release announcement, and the full list of changes are available in the ChangeLog.

The PHP development team is proud to announce the second release candidate of PHP 5.2.10 (PHP 5.2.10RC2) and the third release candidate of PHP 5.3.0 (PHP 5.3.0RC3). These RCs focuses on bug fixes and stability improvements, and we hope only minimal changes are required for the next candidate or final stable releases.

PHP 5.2.10 is a pure maintenance release for providing bugfixes and stability updates. PHP 5.3.0 is a newly developed version of PHP featuring long-awaited features like namespaces, late static binding, closures and much more.

Please download and test these release candidates, and report any issues found. Downloads and further information is available at qa.php.net. See also the work in progress 5.3 upgrade guide.

TestFest is upon us once again. For those who don't know, this is the time of year where User Groups and individuals donate a little of their time and effort to increasing the test coverage of PHP.

Hundreds of thousands of lines of code are working in concert to assemble one of the simplest to learn and fastest running scripting languages in the business. All this is achieved with the expectation that very few bugs will make it into releases and the ones that do will be stomped out quickly, efficiently and will never be heard from again. This is a lofty goal and is only possible through a system of tests designed to continuously evaluate the well-being of PHP.

This year the QA Team has been very busy implementing new features and improvements to make the TestFest experience easier and more enjoyable than ever before. Some these improvements include a Subversion repository for test storage and tracking, a Virtual Machine for simple test environment setup, and improved documentation of testing procedures.

2009 is looking to be the most successful TestFest event ever. Over 20 User Groups spanning Belgium, Brazil, Catalonia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, USA and the UK have already registered. This is an incredible response and we still have 2 months left to go.

Getting involved couldn't be simpler. Visit the QA TestFest page to find out how you can organize a TestFest event in your community. We are looking forward to seeing your communities tests being committed into PHP.