====== PHP RFC: Unbundle ext/recode ======
  * Version: 1.0
  * Date: 2019-06-14
  * Author: Christoph M. Becker, cmb@php.net
  * Status: Implemented for PHP 7.4
  * First Published at: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/unbundle_recode

===== Introduction =====

ext/recode facilitates conversion between different character sets/encodings. This functionality is basically already supported by ext/iconv and ext/mbstring.  While the two latter extensions rely on POSIX iconv support or libiconv, and the bundled libmbfl, respectively, ext/recode relies on the [[https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Recode|Recode library]] which is **decomissioned** and had its latest release on 22 January 2001.

Even worse, at least according to [[https://www.php.net/manual/en/recode.requirements.php|our documentation]] the latest version (3.6.0) has unresolved issues, so we recommend using Recode 3.5, which is unlikely to be still provided by contemporary OS distributions.  Furthermore, the [[https://www.php.net/manual/en/recode.installation.php|PHP manual]] mentions collisions with some other extensions, which appear to be still unresolved.

===== Proposal =====

For the reasons mentionend in the introduction section, I propose to unbundle ext/recode. 

===== Backward Incompatible Changes =====

Obviously, code using ext/recode would either have to be ported to use ext/iconv or ext/mbstring instead, or such code 

===== Proposed PHP Version(s) =====

The unbundling should be done for PHP 7.4.

===== Vote =====

Voting starts on 2019-06-28 and ends on 2019-07-12.

<doodle title="Unbundle ext/recode" auth="cmb" voteType="single" closed="true">
   * Yes
   * No
</doodle>

===== Patches and Tests =====

No patch required.

===== Implementation =====

  - [[http://git.php.net/?p=php-src.git;a=commit;h=58b607c9ea6cdc631a61b18de0cf5c0b3c96c074|applied]] to PHP-7.4 and up
  - Documentation [[http://svn.php.net/viewvc?view=revision&revision=347728|updated]]

===== References =====

  * [[https://externals.io/message/105922|Initial RFC Discussion]]