Critical PHP Security Release (21 October 2026): What We Know and How to Upgrade
Two critical PHP vulnerabilities (CVSS 9.2) are fixed on 21 October 2026: what is confirmed, what is rumoured, how to upgrade servers, Docker and hosting.
PHP & Software Engineering Blog
Articles about PHP, software architecture, algorithms and more.
PHP 8.6: The Features That Matter and What Can Break When You Upgrade
PHP 8.6 for experienced developers: partial function application, clamp(), Time\Duration, new session defaults, stricter validation and deprecations.
The Webhook Bug That Gives Cancelled Users Free Access
Payment webhooks arrive out of order, and a naive handler hands out free subscriptions. A lead engineer's guide to robust Stripe webhook handling: deduplication, race conditions, fetching current state, reconciliation - with PHP and Symfony examples.
What Makes an API Scalable? A Solution Architect's Perspective
Scalable APIs survive more traffic, more consumers and more years. A solution architect's guide to contracts, statelessness, data access, caching, idempotency, rate limiting and evolution - with PHP and Symfony examples.
Claude Code Cheat Sheet: Hooks, Skills, Plugins, CLAUDE.md, SKILL.md and AGENTS.md Explained
A practical mental model for when to use hooks, skills, plugins, subagents, CLAUDE.md, SKILL.md and AGENTS.md in Claude Code. Decision guide, project structure and a downloadable cheat sheet.
Best DMARC provider for SMBs: a practical, technical view
EU-hosted DMARC provider for SMBs - simple setup, strict protection, clear reports. Align SPF/DKIM, stage to reject fast with confidence.
Generics in PHP: From Blog Series to Book
PHP finally gets serious about generics. Explore the RFC, patterns, and future in my new book Generics in PHP - now on Amazon.
Fixing "Allowed memory size exhausted" in Symfony: When Doctrine Metadata Crashes Your Serializer
The Symfony serializer tries to (de)serialize Doctrine's Metadata and crashes in some cases. Read here when and how to fix.
PHP 8.5 Pipe Operator RFC: What It Means for Developers
Learn about the upcoming pipe operator in PHP 8.5, its meaning, origins, and why it matters for modern PHP development.
Why Self-Replicating Code (Quines) in PHP Is a Security Red Flag
Quines in PHP - and in other languages - are an interesting concept for coding challenges. Read here why they are dangerous for production.