I have maintained Vichan alone since 2017, which is a large, old PHP project.
As a collective, the Vichan community rejects in the strongest terms the PHP project's abandonment of the PHP 5 language specification. I likewise reject it. Their wonton disregard for the compatibility of projects written to this specification is destructive to our community and the community in general. Their Chinese water torture-esque method of specification development is in all regards an affront to good morals and decency; they know not what damage they have done.
But Fred, you say. Surely it is not a problem to change a language's specification when problems become known? Surely you will not defend the PHP 5 language specification?
It is a problem and I will defend it. When Python migrated to Python 3, they at least provided an automated upgrade tool (2to3), and committed to maintain Python 2 for years. Instead the PHP Group has scandalized the community with its ineptitude, constantly introducing breaking changes into the language spec. Why could the Python Software Foundation make all its breaking changes at one time, but the PHP Group has the audacity to foist new breaking changes on us yearly?
They have no idea what they want PHP to look like. ANSI C code compiles in a modern compiler, yet they can't manage to make code that's only ten years old continue to work. The same is true of C++.
The Vichan community has suffered these fools quietly for years but we want to make our suffering known: you, PHP Group, are a scourge. With every new change to the PHP specification you break another one of our bones.
We demand you decide what you want PHP to look like and commit to that decision for 25 years, until 2045. It can be done, your betters have managed it.
Signed, Fredrick R. Brennan