The PHP internals mailing list is actively voting on the Bound-Erased Generic Types RFC (June 14–28, 2026), which proposes adding generic type syntax to PHP with type erasure at runtime. Two votes are open: a primary vote requiring 2/3 majority to accept the RFC, and a secondary vote on variance marker syntax (+T/-T vs in T/out T). Key community members are divided: Rowan Tommins voted No, arguing that native syntax should come with native enforcement and that erased generics would undermine PHP's type system guarantees. Larry Garfield urged delaying the vote, warning that a failed generics vote would be terrible PR for PHP, and suggested targeting PHP 9.0 (2027) with fully enforced/monomorphized generics instead. Levi Morrison voted Yes, viewing it as a useful stepping stone toward reified generics. Rob Landers highlighted that with type erasure, generic types reduce to 'mixed' at runtime, meaning code using generics would receive no enforcement or feedback about type correctness.
