ByJG PHPThread: Simplified Threads and Non-Blocking Code in PHP
, (*1)
ByJG PHPThread simplifies working with threads and non-blocking code in PHP,
bridging the gap for a language that was not inherently designed for threading., (*2)
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Why Threads in PHP?
-
How It Works
- Features
- Limitations
- Installation
Overview
PHPThread is a polyfill library that abstracts threading functionality for PHP, providing a consistent
interface regardless of the underlying PHP setup (ZTS or Fork). It empowers developers to implement
thread-like behavior and asynchronous processing in PHP applications., (*3)
Why Threads in PHP?
PHP is traditionally designed for a request-response cycle, where scripts are executed
only in response to client requests and terminate after sending a response. While efficient for
web applications, this architecture lacks native threading support for background or concurrent tasks., (*4)
With PHPThread, you can overcome these limitations by leveraging:, (*5)
-
Forking (Default PHP) for simulating threading.
-
Zend Thread Safety (ZTS) for true multi-threading environments.
How It Works
Default PHP (Non-ZTS)
In standard PHP installations (without ZTS), threading is simulated using the fork command.
This approach creates a new process by cloning the parent process. While not a true thread,
this method can approximate threading behavior., (*6)
Requirements:, (*7)
-
pcntl: For process control.
-
shmop: For shared memory.
PHP ZTS (Zend Thread Safety)
With ZTS-enabled PHP, true multi-threading becomes possible. This setup is ideal for production environments where
robust threading is required. The ZTS version is compiled with the --enable-zts flag, but it may not be included in
all PHP distributions., (*8)
Requirements:, (*9)
-
parallel: For multi-threading functionality.
-
shmop: For memory sharing.
Features
-
Thread Management: Simplified thread creation and execution (docs).
-
Thread Pools: Efficiently manage and reuse threads for multiple tasks (docs).
-
Promises (Experimental): Asynchronous task management with a promise-like API (docs).
Supported Promise Methods:, (*10)
-
then(): Execute a callback on promise resolution.
-
catch(): Execute a callback on promise rejection.
-
finally(): Execute a callback after resolution or rejection.
-
Promise::resolve(): Resolve a promise.
-
Promise::reject(): Reject a promise.
-
Promise::all(): Wait for all promises to resolve.
-
Promise::race(): Wait for the first promise to resolve.
Limitations
Read the full list of limitations., (*11)
Installation
Requirements
Non-ZTS (Default PHP)
- PHP ≥8.1
-
pcntl extension
-
shmop extension
ZTS (Zend Thread Safety)
- PHP ≥8.1 compiled with
--enable-zts
-
parallel extension
-
shmop extension (for Promises support)
Install via Composer
composer require byjg/phpthread
Dependencies
flowchart TD
byjg/phpthread --> byjg/cache-engine
byjg/phpthread --> ext-posix
byjg/phpthread --> ext-pcntl
byjg/phpthread --> ext-pthreads*
Open source ByJG, (*12)
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