Shekar, I am trying to build a testable testcase for this so that i can apply it to all verisons of php supported by zend framework.. does this look like it describes the problem well?

<?

// set path for all php versions
set_include_path('.:/usr/share/php5:/usr/share/php');

// e-strict it
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);

// start the bug
require_once 'Zend/Session.php';

$s = new Zend_Session_Namespace('blah');
$s->someArray['foo'] = 'bar';

var_dump($_SESSION);

can you confirm this produces the problem on your version?

-ralph

Hi Ralph,

The following test-cases work well on v5.2.3 but fail on v5.1.6:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
echo PHP_VERSION;

error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);   // e-strict it

 
///////////////////////////////////////
// Pre-v5.2 syntax
///////////////////////////////////////

echo 'BEFORE: ' . Zend_Debug::dump($_SESSION);
$b = new Zend_Session_Namespace('blah');
$s = $b->someArray;

Zend_Debug::dump($s);     // Always empty on v5.1.6 - does not persist :(

if ( ! isset( $s[ 'foo' ] ))
{
   $s['foo'] = 'bar';
   $b->someArray = $s;
}
 
echo 'AFTER: ' . Zend_Debug::dump($_SESSION);   // [blah][someArray][foo] exists now but does not persist
 

 
///////////////////////////////////////
// v5.2 syntax
///////////////////////////////////////
 
echo 'BEFORE: ' . Zend_Debug::dump($_SESSION);
$b = new Zend_Session_Namespace('blah');
 
if ( ! isset( $b->someArray[ 'foo' ] ))
{
   echo 'Boo-Boo!';     // Always echoes this on 5.1.6 - does not persist :(
   $b->someArray['foo'] = 'bar';
}
 
echo 'AFTER: ' . Zend_Debug::dump($_SESSION);   // [blah][someArray][foo] exists now but does not persist
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

You marked my issue 1743 as a duplicate of http://framework.zend.com/issues/browse/ZF-1385 but I'm not sure if it is. Furthermore, my issue comprises of two problems; one being the above, and the other pertaining to setOptions('name') for session-name at its bottom.

HTH

Hi Ralph,

Forgot to mention that ideally, the pre-v5.2 syntax should work on all versions as expected.

On another note, I consider it double-standards to advise the developers to use one syntax for pre-v5.2 and another syntax for v5.2 - unless the ZF raises the minimum PHP version to 5.2. Its more confusing and there will be frequent questions on the list why the Zend_Session logic is not working even if its documented clearly and even if its an issue with the version of PHP they are using. I suggest that we simplify the session component and offer Zend_Session out of the box without dependency on the namespace subcomponent. However, those who wish to use the namespace subcomponent may still use it if their version of PHP is compatible with the syntax they're going to use. Here is my suggestion that supports optional namespaces and multi-dimensional nodes that should suffice most applications - including even the complex ones:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
class Zend_Session ...
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
{
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   static function get( $key, $namespace = '', $node = '' )
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   {
      if ( $namespace && $node )      // Namespace and node
         return $_SESSION[ $namespace ][ $node ][ $key ];
      elseif ( $namespace )           // Just the namespace
         return $_SESSION[ $namespace ][ $key ];
      //
      return $_SESSION[ $key ];       // No namespace or node
   }
   //
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   static function set( $key, $value, $namespace = '', $node = '' )
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   {
      if ( $namespace && $node )        // Namespace and node
         $_SESSION[ $namespace ][ $node ][ $key ] = $value;
      elseif ( $namespace )             // Just the namespace
         $_SESSION[ $namespace ][ $key ] = $value;
      else
         $_SESSION[ $key ] = $value;    // No namespace or node
   }
   //
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   static function has( $key, $namespace = '', $node = '' )
   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   {
      if ( $namespace && $node )
      {
         if ( isset( $_SESSION[ $namespace ][ $node ][ $key ] ))
            return true;          // Namespace and node
      }
      elseif ( $namespace )
      {
         if ( isset( $_SESSION[ $namespace ][ $key ] ))
            return true;          // Just the namespace
      }
      else
      {
         if ( isset( $_SESSION[ $key ] ))
            return true;         // No namespace or node
      }
      //
      return false;              // No data found
   }
}



USAGE
-----
if ( Zend_Session::has( 'user', 'auth' ))
   $user = Zend_Session::get( 'user', 'auth' );
else
   ...

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

What do you think of the above...?

Shekar, Ive done some digging and using a standard suggested test script, was able to identify the problem to only 5.2.0

here is the code i used:

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat test_zsession.php 
<?

// set path for all php versions
set_include_path('.:/usr/share/php5:/usr/share/php');

// e-strict it
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);

// start the bug
require_once 'Zend/Session.php';

Zend_Session::setId('1234');
Zend_Session::start();

echo PHP_VERSION . PHP_EOL;

$s = new Zend_Session_Namespace('blah');

if (isset($s->someArray)) {
  echo 'OLD VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;
}

$new_value = 'bar' . rand(1,5);

$s->someArray['foo'] = $new_value;

echo 'NEW VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;

And the output of runs:

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php514 test_zsession.php 
5.1.4
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar2";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php514 test_zsession.php 
5.1.4
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar2";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar3";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php514 test_zsession.php 
5.1.4
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar3";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar4";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php516 test_zsession.php 
5.1.6
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar1";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php516 test_zsession.php 
5.1.6
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar1";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php516 test_zsession.php 
5.1.6
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar4";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php520 test_zsession.php 
5.2.0

Notice: Indirect modification of overloaded property Zend_Session_Namespace::$someArray has no effect in /home/webdeveloper/testing/test_zsession.php on line 25
NEW VALUE: N;
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php520 test_zsession.php 
5.2.0

Notice: Indirect modification of overloaded property Zend_Session_Namespace::$someArray has no effect in /home/webdeveloper/testing/test_zsession.php on line 25
NEW VALUE: N;
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php521 test_zsession.php 
5.2.1
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php521 test_zsession.php 
5.2.1
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php521 test_zsession.php 
5.2.1
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar4";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ php test_zsession.php 
5.2.2-pl1-gentoo
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar3";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ php test_zsession.php 
5.2.2-pl1-gentoo
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar3";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar3";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ php test_zsession.php 
5.2.2-pl1-gentoo
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar3";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar2";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ 

Again, right now we are only talking about modification of Namespace variables, (not the "name" issue you also mentioned above)

See if this demonstrates the problem, my run output is right above. -ralph

As a 5.2.0 only workaround:

<?

// set path for all php versions
set_include_path('.:/usr/share/php5:/usr/share/php');

// e-strict it
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);

// start the bug
require_once 'Zend/Session.php';

Zend_Session::setId('1234');
Zend_Session::start();

echo PHP_VERSION . PHP_EOL;

$s = new Zend_Session_Namespace('blah');

if (isset($s->someArray)) {
  echo 'OLD VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;
}

$new_value = 'bar' . rand(1,5);

$tmp['foo'] = $new_value;
$s->someArray = $tmp;

echo 'NEW VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php516 test_zsession.php 
5.1.6
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar1";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php516 test_zsession.php 
5.1.6
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar1";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar2";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php520 test_zsession520.php 
5.2.0
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar4";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php520 test_zsession520.php 
5.2.0
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar4";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar3";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php521 test_zsession.php    
5.2.1
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar4";}
webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php521 test_zsession.php 
5.2.1
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar4";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar1";}

I get results consistent with Ralph's - success for versions 5.1.4 (WinXP), 5.2.1 (Ubuntu), and 5.2.3 (RHEL 3).

Hi Ralph/Darby,

I work on v5.1.6 on XP where the script did not work. It worked on 5.2.3 on XP, too. Regret, I have no way of testing it on other versions.

It's strange it works on 5.1.4, 5.1.6 but not on 5.2. Does it mean PHP was fine on 5.1.4 and 5.1.6 but broken in 5.2 in this respect? Is there a guarantee it would not be broken in future versions of PHP? It wouldn't be graceful for the session component if it does!

In any case, the methods I suggested above for the Zend_Session component to make it independent of the namespace subcomponent are backwards compatible and are meant to be in addition to the ones that already exist in the session component.

Regards,

Shekar, I just downloaded php 5.1.6 for xp and was able to sucessfully run this script:

<?

// set path for all php versions
set_include_path('.');

// e-strict it
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);

// start the bug
require_once 'Zend/Session.php';

Zend_Session::setId('1234');
Zend_Session::start();

echo PHP_VERSION . PHP_EOL;

$s = new Zend_Session_Namespace('blah');

if (isset($s->someArray)) {
  echo 'OLD VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;
}

$new_value = 'bar' . rand(1,5);

$s->someArray['foo'] = $new_value;

echo 'NEW VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;

And get these expected results:

C:\Documents and Settings\Nobody Special\Desktop\php-5.1.6-win32\test_zsession>less "C:\Documents and Settings\Nobody Special\Local Settings\Temp\sess_1234"

C:\Documents and Settings\Nobody Special\Desktop\php-5.1.6-win32\test_zsession>rm "C:\Documents and Settings\Nobody Special\Local Settings\
Temp\sess_1234"

C:\Documents and Settings\Nobody Special\Desktop\php-5.1.6-win32\test_zsession>..\php test_zsession.php
5.1.6
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}

C:\Documents and Settings\Nobody Special\Desktop\php-5.1.6-win32\test_zsession>..\php test_zsession.php
5.1.6
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}

C:\Documents and Settings\Nobody Special\Desktop\php-5.1.6-win32\test_zsession>..\php test_zsession.php
5.1.6
OLD VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar5";}
NEW VALUE: a:1:{s:3:"foo";s:4:"bar1";}

Are you using this test script or the one you posted above? B/c i notice the one you post above does not explicitly call Zend_Session::start() even though you are printing $_SESSION before the first namespace object is created (which implicitly calls start).

Overall, before discussing code changes, we really need to identify the problem, and to which version of php it pertains to. Once we figure that out, then we can talk about what changes to the codebase need to happen in order to fix outstanding problems.

Note: other projects have also come across this problem and have fixed and suggested to move up to 5.2.1. 5.2.0 is simply broken when it comes to __get() behavior, and forcing a referenced return does not work for that version.. This should be taken into consideration when a decision needs to be made about whether or not fix's need to be applied to the codebase..

References:

http://trac.symfony-project.com/trac/ticket/1376 http://weierophinney.net/matthew/archives/…

Hi Ralph,

Yes, Zend_Session::start() is called elsewhere BEFORE the script is executed. It's the same script that is run on 5.1.6 and 5.2.3 without any changes; otherwise, code on 5.2.3 would not succeed, either (I'm getting results as desired on 5.2.3)! But I'm not sure why my PHP 5.1.6 is failing - maybe something wrong with my installation/configuration. It could be a DLL mismatch or a corrupted download or something that I'm not sure.

I'm gonna have to re-download/re-install/re-try it. I'll let you know soon...

Modified my test script to include unnamed array modification and creation:

Script and test run below:

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat test_zsession.php 
<?

// set path for all php versions
set_include_path('.:/usr/share/php5:/usr/share/php');

// e-strict it
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);

// start the bug
require_once 'Zend/Session.php';

Zend_Session::setId('1234');
Zend_Session::start();

echo PHP_VERSION . PHP_EOL;

$s = new Zend_Session_Namespace('blah');

if (isset($s->someArray)) {
  echo 'OLD VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;
}

$s->someArray[] = 'bar' . rand(1,5);

echo 'NEW VALUE: ' . serialize($s->someArray) . PHP_EOL;




webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php514 test_zsession.php 
5.1.4
NEW VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar5";}

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php514 test_zsession.php 
5.1.4
OLD VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar5";}
NEW VALUE: a:2:{i:0;s:4:"bar5";i:1;s:4:"bar1";}

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php516 test_zsession.php 
5.1.6
NEW VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar3";}

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php516 test_zsession.php 
5.1.6
OLD VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar3";}
NEW VALUE: a:2:{i:0;s:4:"bar3";i:1;s:4:"bar1";}

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php520 test_zsession.php 
5.2.0

Notice: Indirect modification of overloaded property Zend_Session_Namespace::$someArray has no effect in /home/webdeveloper/testing/test_zsession.php on line 23
NEW VALUE: N;

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php520 test_zsession.php 
5.2.0

Notice: Indirect modification of overloaded property Zend_Session_Namespace::$someArray has no effect in /home/webdeveloper/testing/test_zsession.php on line 23
NEW VALUE: N;

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php521 test_zsession.php 
5.2.1
NEW VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar5";}

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ ~/bin/php521 test_zsession.php 
5.2.1
OLD VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar5";}
NEW VALUE: a:2:{i:0;s:4:"bar5";i:1;s:4:"bar2";}

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ cat /dev/null > /tmp/sess_1234 

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ php test_zsession.php 
5.2.2-pl1-gentoo
NEW VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar4";}

webdeveloper@webdevelopment ~/testing $ php test_zsession.php 
5.2.2-pl1-gentoo
OLD VALUE: a:1:{i:0;s:4:"bar4";}
NEW VALUE: a:2:{i:0;s:4:"bar4";i:1;s:4:"bar4";}

I re-downloaded PHP 5.1.6 and did a binary diff on all the files with those installed on my machine and found all of them to be identical. I guess this is just an isolated case - the reasons for which are unknown for now. Since you and Darby are stating it works on 5.1.6, let safely assume that 5.1.6 does not have any issues except for my isolated case.

Thanks,

Closing as not an issue right now, have done due diligence in finding the core of the issue, but it seems it only affects a 'bad' version of php.

-ralph