macOS 12 Monterey will likely be delivered without PHP: In the first beta of an operating system update scheduled for autumn, the script language is missing, as reported by developers with access to the pre-release version. Apple’s Monterey beta release notes don’t list the change yet.
In the in-house developer forum, an employee responsible for the developer tools only briefly explained when asked why PHP was removed in macOS 12. No further information was given.
Mac OS X 10.0.0. PHP on board since
PHP has been part of the operating systems from macOS and Mac OS X 10.0 to macOS 11 Big Sur. However, Apple already out there warns that PHP is only included to ensure “compatibility with older software”. PHP will be removed with a “future version” of the operating system, making it now appear to be macOS 12.
MacOS currently has the older PHP version 7.3.24 instead of the current version 8. Newer versions of the scripting language can still be brought to the Mac using common methods, such as Homebrew or MacPorts, to set up a web development environment.
Ruby, Python and Perl are already discontinued
At the WWDC 2019 developer conference, Apple already announced that it would drop pre-installing many scripting languages in the future – they have since been listed as “obsolete”. At that time Ruby, Python and Perl were mentioned by name, but not PHP. Since then, Apple has recommended giving developers the required runtime environment with the associated program, rather than relying on what’s included in the operating system. According to the manufacturer, this avoids problems. However, in many cases, older software no longer needs to be optimized.
For a long time, Apple promoted the built-in UNIX tools from macOS as a special advantage of the platform. Developers said at the time that it is now “a big philosophical thing” to distribute and maintain script languages as a standard.
(LBE)
