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PHP Interpreter

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The PHP Interpreter — the implementation behind a general-purpose web scripting language

OSS health 89
About these scores

Discovery score is an unbounded weighted, log-compressed index of stars, watchers, forks, and contributors. Growth momentum is its change over the observed period; OSS health is a 0–100 score from available repository recency, Community Health, and release data.

Stars
40,378
Primary language
C
License
BSD-3-Clause
Repository last updated
Sep 12, 2026

Overview

php/php-src is the interpreter source repository for PHP, a general-purpose scripting language used extensively in web development. It separates binaries and packages for normal use from the source-build workflow needed to change the runtime itself.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Build and test the PHP runtime and its bundled extensions

The repository contains the PHP interpreter and many essential bundled extensions. After compilation, make test runs the extensive test suite, with options for selecting directories and controlling parallel workers when validating a focused change.

Sources: [1]

For work on the PHP runtime, extensions, and language behavior

This repository fits developers investigating or changing the interpreter and bundled extensions, not only application developers using PHP. New language features require an RFC and a developer vote, so review the official proposal process before implementing one.

Sources: [1]

Keep everyday installation separate from source development

Windows binaries and operating-system packages avoid the source build. A minimal build from Git requires autoconf, bison, and re2c, while the default build also needs libxml2 and SQLite. PHP is distributed under the Modified BSD License, identified as BSD-3-Clause.

Sources: [1]

Official sources

  1. [1]PHP Interpreter README(2026-09-13)
Supplemental curator note

Selected to show why a three-letter language name needs a clear distinction between ecosystem-wide search intent and the interpreter's source repository.

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

40,378 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
443
Open PRs
1,099

Development activity is still being collected.

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GitHub data

GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
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Stars
40,378
Forks
8,144
Watchers
1,344
Open issues
970
Primary language
C
Repository last updated
Sep 12, 2026
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