--- title: A language has non-functional requirements, too | daily.dev description: PHP's licensing changed in 2026: starting with PHP 8.6, the language moved from the vendor-specific PHP License 3.01 to the plain Modified BSD (PHP License... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-language-has-non-functional-requirements-too-a7lpt41ye twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A language has non-functional requirements, too | daily.dev og:description: PHP's licensing changed in 2026: starting with PHP 8.6, the language moved from the vendor-specific PHP License 3.01 to the plain Modified BSD (PHP License... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-language-has-non-functional-requirements-too-a7lpt41ye og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/A7Lpt41ye.png og:image:alt: A language has non-functional requirements, too og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A language has non-functional requirements, too **[PHPUnit Expert](https://daily.dev/sources/phpunit-expert)** · 14 min read · 5 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary PHP's licensing changed in 2026: starting with PHP 8.6, the language moved from the vendor-specific PHP License 3.01 to the plain Modified BSD (PHP License v4), dropping name restrictions and the special authority the PHP Group and Zend held over the license. Zend simultaneously simplified the Zend Engine License. The piece argues that these governance and sustainability facts, not language feature checklists, are what actually drive architecture decisions to adopt or keep PHP, covering ownership, release cadence, scaling, tooling maturity, and the makeup of the PHP developer pool, while also naming the real costs behind each: a shrinking pool of Foundation sponsors, an electorate of roughly 140 active RFC voters, unresolved in-request concurrency, and an aging population of experienced PHP developers with limited pipeline behind them. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What license does PHP use starting with PHP 8.6? PHP 8.6 moves to the PHP License, version 4, which is simply the Modified BSD License (BSD-3-Clause) with no additional terms. This drops the prior restrictions from PHP License 3.01, including the naming restrictions on 'PHP' and 'Zend', the advertising acknowledgment clause, and the exclusive authority the PHP Group and Zend Technologies held to publish new license versions. Zend Technologies made the same simplification to the Zend Engine License at the same time. _Track how license simplifications like PHP's reshape long-term platform risk assessments on daily.dev._ ### How long does PHP support each release version for? Each PHP feature release gets two years of active support followed by two years of security-only fixes, a four-year total window that was extended from three years in March 2024. End-of-support dates are aligned to December 31, so PHP 8.2's end of life is December 31, 2026. PHP ships one feature release annually every November, and this cadence has held for a decade. _Planning PHP upgrades around fixed support windows gets easier when you follow ecosystem changes on daily.dev._ ### How many people actually vote on PHP language change proposals? Roughly 140 people voted on any PHP RFC in the preceding three years, against about 1,650 accounts nominally eligible to vote, according to the draft Who Can Vote RFC from 2024. Every PHP language change requires a public RFC with a public vote and a two-thirds majority, giving more transparency than most languages, but the actual voting group is small and self-selected. _Understanding who really controls a language's roadmap matters when betting on it long-term, a topic worth following on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [My wishlist for PHP in 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/my-wishlist-for-php-in-2026-1f3gibyag) · stitcher.io · 39 upvotes · 1 comments - [Four out of five](https://daily.dev/posts/four-out-of-five-0p880vrtn) · PHPUnit Expert · 5 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-language-has-non-functional-requirements-too-a7lpt41ye) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A language has non-functional requirements, too","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-language-has-non-functional-requirements-too-a7lpt41ye","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-language-has-non-functional-requirements-too-a7lpt41ye"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T03:52:41.436Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:44:50.400Z","description":"PHP's licensing changed in 2026: starting with PHP 8.6, the language moved from the vendor-specific PHP License 3.01 to the plain Modified BSD (PHP License...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/deb93304f92f36f7b038dd150d386a14?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/deb93304f92f36f7b038dd150d386a14?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"PHPUnit Expert","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"PHPUnit Expert","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FMZoysoG--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964057/logos/phpunit-expert?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/phpunit-expert"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-language-has-non-functional-requirements-too-a7lpt41ye","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,architecture,php","timeRequired":"PT14M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PHPUnit Expert","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/phpunit-expert"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A language has non-functional requirements, too"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-language-has-non-functional-requirements-too-a7lpt41ye#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What license does PHP use starting with PHP 8.6?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"PHP 8.6 moves to the PHP License, version 4, which is simply the Modified BSD License (BSD-3-Clause) with no additional terms. 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