So finally we are at the end of the 2009 PHP TestFest. It has been an outstanding success with the coverage increasing by about 2.5% overall and 887 new tests contributed in the TestFest SVN repository of which 637 have already been added to PHP CVS.

User groups from all over the world have worked hard to make this happen and we thank each and every one of you for your contribution to PHP! You really made a difference to the PHP5.3 release quality.

There still are few loose ends to tie up - the TestFest SVN repository will be closed for contributions later this week and the last few tests will be moved into the main PHP repository. Finally, we have 10 elePHPants and 9 TestFest mugs to give out. The winners of mugs and elePHPants will be drawn at random from a list of people who wrote tests; the winner's names will be announced later this month.

For those that would like to continue to make a difference by writing tests there are two options. You can simply continue by submitting new tests to the QA mailing list, or, if you have written a significant number of tests you might consider applying for your own PHP CVS (or SVN) ID. In your application you should reference the tests that you have written in support of your application.

Last but not least, we would like to thank all of the companies and institutions that sponsored TestFest. These include Combell, Corretgé, Faculdade Impacta de Tecnologia, IBM, iBuildings, Itera, Mayflower, Microsoft, Nexen (Alter Way Group), php|architect, Redpill-Linpro, Steinigke Showtechnic, Verges Council and Zend.

The PHP development team is proud to announce the immediate release of PHP 5.3.0. This release is a major improvement in the 5.X series, which includes a large number of new features and bug fixes.

Some of the key new features include: namespaces, late static binding, closures, optional garbage collection for cyclic references, new extensions (like ext/phar, ext/intl and ext/fileinfo), over 140 bug fixes and much more.

For users upgrading from PHP 5.2 there is a migration guide available here, detailing the changes between those releases and PHP 5.3.0.

Further details about the PHP 5.3.0 release can be found in the release announcement, and the full list of changes are available in the ChangeLog.

The PHP development team is proud to announce the fourth release candidate of PHP 5.3.0 (PHP 5.3.0RC4). This RC focuses on bug fixes and stability improvements, and we hope only minimal changes are required for the next candidate or final stable releases. PHP 5.3.0 is a newly developed version of PHP featuring long-awaited features like namespaces, late static binding, closures and much more.

Please download and test these release candidates, and report any issues found. A stable release is expected next week . In case of critical issues we will continue producing weekly RCs. Downloads and further information is available at qa.php.net. See also the work in progress 5.3 upgrade guide.

The PHP development team would like to announce the immediate availability of PHP 5.2.10. This release focuses on improving the stability of the PHP 5.2.x branch with over 100 bug fixes, one of which is security related. All users of PHP are encouraged to upgrade to this release.

Security Enhancements and Fixes in PHP 5.2.10:

• Fixed bug #48378 (exif_read_data() segfaults on certain corrupted .jpeg files). (Pierre)

Further details about the PHP 5.2.10 release can be found in the release announcement, and the full list of changes are available in the ChangeLog.

The PHP development team is proud to announce the second release candidate of PHP 5.2.10 (PHP 5.2.10RC2) and the third release candidate of PHP 5.3.0 (PHP 5.3.0RC3). These RCs focuses on bug fixes and stability improvements, and we hope only minimal changes are required for the next candidate or final stable releases.

PHP 5.2.10 is a pure maintenance release for providing bugfixes and stability updates. PHP 5.3.0 is a newly developed version of PHP featuring long-awaited features like namespaces, late static binding, closures and much more.

Please download and test these release candidates, and report any issues found. Downloads and further information is available at qa.php.net. See also the work in progress 5.3 upgrade guide.