Everyone knows the php.net site. All of us went there sooner or later,
and will keep going back there. This is the central reference point for PHP
users, and there is a wealth of information there. Not all of it is obvious.
Come with me, I'll show you.
This is the primary web site. The front page is where major news is published: new PHP versions, security updates, and new projects launched. This site is also mirrored in dozens of countries worldwide.
This is the home of the download page, for everyone to get the latest version of the PHP source code and binaries for Windows. The current and next-to-current versions are available there. (There is also a PHP Museum, which has all of the source distributions since June 1996.)
The next most visited section is the documentation. The documentation is translated into twelve different languages, and is available in a variety of different formats. Users are able to read notes on the documentation left by other users, and contribute their own notes. The documentation is a real community project by itself!
The support page has all the directions to a wealth of resources both inside and outside of PHP.net. The community has built a huge network of knowledge bases, PHP user groups, and training sessions where anyone can have his or her questions answered. Non-English-speaking users also get a large share of attention.
Now, buckle up your seat belt, and stop smoking. Here are the no-light streets:
This is where speakers at various PHP-related conferences keep their slides. It covers all sorts of topics, from the famous 'Rasmus' introduction to PHP to the latest 'PHP system administration', through PEAR and advanced topics. All those slides are available within the PHP slide application.
news.php.net is the web interface to the PHP mailing lists. If you're not subscribed to the mailing lists, but you still want to keep in touch regularly, this is your place. An infinite pile of fresh news and trends of PHP. You can also point your news reader at the NNTP server at news.php.net to follow the lists.
PEAR is the next revolution in PHP. This repository is bringing higher level programming to PHP. PEAR is a framework and distribution system for reusable PHP components. It eases installation by bringing an automated wizard, and packing the strength and experience of PHP users into a nicely organised OOP library.
PECL is a repository for PHP Extensions, providing a directory of all known
extensions and hosting facilities for downloading and development of PHP
extensions.
The packaging and distribution system used by PECL is shared with
its sister, PEAR.
The bug database is where you can bring problems with PHP to the attention of developers (but don't forget to double-check that somebody else hasn't already reported the same problem!).
This page provides set of useful tools for PHP Manual translators and contributors.
PhD O.E. is an online documentation editor. Its a great tool for users that are looking for a way to get into contributing to PHP.net. Anonymous users can submit patches through the editor, while karma holders can approve and commit changes directly from the editor.
The documentation developmental server is a PHP mirror that contains upcoming releases of the PHP documentation before it's pushed out to the mirrors. Documentation changes, such as layout, is tested here (with feedback requested) before being made official. Documentation is built here four times a day.
The Quality Assurance team is one of the most important pieces of the PHP project, protecting users from bugs. It is gathered around the QA mailing list, and this site allows anyone to provide tests and experience to the release process.
The PHP project is organized with a Git server, and this website is the web interface to it. There you can browse the history (and latest versions) of the source code for all of the PHP projects. For example, the php-src module is the repository for the source code to the latest version of PHP itself. Checking out the source code can be done anonymously.
The Git repository is also mirrored on GitHub, for those who would prefer to use GitHub's interface.
Using OpenGrok is another option to view the source code, and it offers additional features like search and cross referencing.
The PHP project used to be organized under the SVN revision control system, but migrated to Git (see above) in March 2012. The old SVN repository is archived here for posterity, however it's still used for i.e. documentation files.
The PHP project used to be organized under the CVS revision control system, but migrated to Subversion (see above) in July of 2009. The old CVS repository is archived here for posterity. It was formerly named cvs.php.net, but that now redirects to the SVN repository. This is not available via HTTP.
OpenGrok allows search and viewing of the PHP source code in an intelligent manner. Several branches and sub-projects are listed. Any time an important macro or function is detected within the code, it is linked to its definition, and all its usage locations. This will help you build your code and understand the PHP source.
The name "lxr" exists as it was once based on the "Linux Cross Reference", but changed over to OpenGrok sometime in 2010.
This web site is the home of the PHP-GTK project, which allows PHP to be used to build graphical interfaces, with slick interface and highly interactive content. You'll find the downloads and docs here, and the latest news from the project.
This site is dedicated to automatic PHP code coverage testing. On a regular basis current Git snapshots are being build and tested on this machine. After all tests are done the results are visualized along with a code coverage analysis.
Home of the official PHP wiki, this site contains information related to php.net like RFCs, GSOC information, and TODO files. Most every aspect of the PHP project has a wiki section and everyone is able to apply for wiki commit access.
A list of the developers behind PHP along with quick profiles for each of them.