Voting has opened on the PHP Bound-Erased Generic Types RFC, running from June 14 to June 28, 2026. Two votes are on the table: a primary vote requiring a 2/3 majority to accept the RFC, and a secondary vote on variance marker syntax (+T/-T vs in T/out T). A notable dissenting voice from Rowan Tommins explains a 'No' vote on philosophical grounds: native syntax should come with native enforcement. The RFC proposes type erasure at runtime, meaning generic type parameters like T in Foo<int> are only enforced as their bound (e.g., int|string), not the specific instantiation. Tommins argues this undermines the trust developers place in PHP's native type annotations and would be a step backwards for the language's type system, while acknowledging the effort and hoping future work builds on this foundation.
