# php/php-src

The PHP Interpreter

Repository: https://github.com/php/php-src
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/php-src
Homepage: https://www.php.net
Language: C
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T20:35:50+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 95, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5558, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 34, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 60}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 40316, forks 8136 (observed 2026-08-28T04:12:08.193365+00:00)

## What it is
php-src is the official C source code of the PHP interpreter, a popular general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. It builds the php and php-cgi binaries, ships an extensive test suite, and powers PHP releases from 8.2 through 8.6.

## Use cases
- build the PHP interpreter from source
- run PHP scripts from the command line
- serve dynamic web pages with PHP
- contribute to PHP language development
- test PHP core with the built-in test suite
- embed a PHP runtime in another application

## When to choose
- you need to build a custom or debug PHP binary
- you want to contribute patches to the PHP language or core extensions
- you need a PHP version not available as a prebuilt package
- you are developing or testing PHP itself across platforms

## When to avoid
- you just want to run PHP applications - install a prebuilt package instead
- you want a PHP framework or library for web development
- you are not comfortable compiling C projects with autoconf, bison, and re2c

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: interpreter, programming-language, http-server, cli
- domain: programming-languages, web-development, backend, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli
- tags: php, interpreter, scripting-language, web-scripting, c-implementation, linux, macos, web-server

## Member repositories
- php/php-src (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:08.193365+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:24:04.711854+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/php/php-src (fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:08.193365+00:00, sha ab6a43ccb987)
  - homepage: https://www.php.net (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.356680+00:00, sha 1f8ca0b9d260)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/docs.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.360013+00:00, sha 2ebac32f131e)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/getting-started.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.363833+00:00, sha ab6a47e3786e)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.369275+00:00, sha e754abca87dd)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.http-auth.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.371004+00:00, sha 99a4af7cdb48)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.cookies.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.374407+00:00, sha e9463556acd1)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/releases/8.5/index.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.361863+00:00, sha f04b3fc2cb55)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/security.cgi-bin.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.365474+00:00, sha 50258b7db787)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/security.apache.php (fetched 2026-08-29T07:46:38.367388+00:00, sha b0548a78e295)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.