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Huge shout-out to the PHP Foundation for this. Last year, it received close to 680K USD, and managed this security audit, sponsored 10 developers, and paid for
by Ayesh 1y ago
Huge shout-out to the PHP Foundation for this.
Last year, it received close to 680K USD, and managed this security audit, sponsored 10 developers, and paid for various expenses. For a language that runs close to 75% of the web, it certainly deserves more funding.
Some of the recent initiatives from the Foundation (https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/03/31/transparency-and-impact-report-2024/ https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/03/31/transparency-and-i...) :
- All PHP versions now receive a total of 4 years of security updates; 2 bug fixes + 2 security, up from 3.
- PIE: A replacement for PECL, to easily install PHP extensions (C, C++ compiled, not PHP packages).
- The security audit.
(I'm one of the PHP Core team and a volunteer at the foundation, happy to answer any questions, but almost all of the work is public)
- zakki 1y ago>>> Last year, it received close to 680K USD, and managed this security audit, sponsored 10 developers, and paid for various expenses. For a language that runs close to 75% of the web, it certainly deserves more funding. Wow, Automattic itself donated more than half of it: Silver Sponsor $387,500 USD Why many donors with more than USD 24K and USD 100K still listed as Silver sponsor? Source: https://opencollective.com/phpfoundation/contribute/major-sponsors-34207 https://opencollective.com/phpfoundation/contribute/major-sp...
- system2 1y agoWhy does Laravel have a dude with a Hawaiian shirt, though? Heh
- some_developer 1y agoIt's the creator of Laravel, Taylor Otwell
- avkpatel 1y agoPeople are calling him savior of PHP. :D
- wiseowise 1y agoIs it true, though? Serious question, I don’t participate much in PHP topics.
- WildGreenLeave 1y agoI'm a heavy PHP & Laravel developer and I speak for myself and a few close friends around my in my network who are like me. We all consider Laravel the reason we are still within the PHP scene and didn't move away. So in a sense I think it is true. That said, the recent changes around Laravel (being bought out and becoming more and more commercial) is not something I (we) consider a good thing. Not necessarily a bad thing, but we all know that a OSS framework becoming commercial doesn't usually end well.
- florbo 1y agoMy take: no. He just has a cult following.
- some_developer 1y agoIt's hyperbole, but like so often, there's a grain of it truth somewhere. Also, like most things, Laravel is built on the shoulders of others. It sometimes makes hard things easy to access (ppl like this) and hides complexity away, clouding how things actually work (ppl don't like this). I primarily use Laravel but like to think I code in a generalist if way as to not get stuck in its system.
- Gigablah 1y agoLaravel (when it started) was mostly built upon Symphony components, which in turn was inspired by Java frameworks.
- orangepanda 1y agoIt's about as divisive as saviours in any other population.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- davidandgoliath 1y agoCrazy that Automattic only makes 4,843,750 a year (and donates 8% to the PHP foundation).
- sanswork 1y agoAutomattic has annual revenue of over $700m where did you get that number from?
- ChocolateGod 1y ago"had annual revenue" at this rate given their legal troubles
- davidandgoliath 1y agoAh, sorry, I assumed they contributed 8% to PHP just like they've asked WP Engine to contribute 8% (of their revenue) to them.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- JimDabell 1y agoThey are referring to the dispute between Matt Mullenweg / Automattic vs WP Engine. Mullenweg has been demanding 8% of WP Engine’s revenue, access to their books, and the ability to direct their staff on what to work on. For context, Mullenweg is maintainer of WordPress and WordPress.org, and CEO of WP Engine’s direct competitor, Automattic. The dispute has turned very nasty and included a lot of unhinged behaviour from Mullenweg. WP Engine is currently suing him for a bunch of things, including extortion. davidandgoliath is basically saying that if Mullenweg thinks he is owed 8% of WP Engine’s revenue, presumably Mullenweg is donating 8% of Automattic’s revenue to the PHP Foundation, making their revenue only ~$5MM/yr. Obviously Automatic’s revenues are vastly higher than that and this is just a tongue in cheek way of pointing out hypocrisy.
- graemep 1y agoRevenue is not profit. While the 8% is probably a dig, the donation of .06% of revenue is going to be a much higher proportion of profits. No idea what their profits or margins are (a quick search does not provide useful info)
- sanswork 1y agoThat's since 2021 not last year.
- zakki 1y agoIn the GP's transparency report link, it said: Overall, 658 organizations and individuals sponsored the foundation in 2024 through on Open Collective and GitHub Sponsors. and in the Open Collective link, it is stated that Automattic donated those amount.
- sanswork 1y agoIf you click on their name you can see the transactions. That's the total amount donated since 2021.
- esskay 1y agoIt feels pretty off that Laravel and Symfony, arguably the two largest benefactories to PHP being in such a good position have donated so little. Those contribution values are lifetime, Laravel hasn't funded it for over 3 years now, meanwhile its a multimillion dollar business with a huge amount of financial backing. I know its all donations and not expected, but them kicking in ~$30k a month would realistically be nothing to them, but benefit the PHP foundation massively. The same goes for Symfony.
- kyriakos 1y agoHow's Symfony making money? Aren't they just OSS? On the other hand Laravel has VC backing and sells services.
- esskay 1y agoIt's backed by SensioLabs (same creators as Symfony), plus theres a ton of sponsorship across the whole Symfony ecosystem. Every release is sponsored by multiple companies for example: https://symfony.com/backers https://symfony.com/backers Symfony itself also had a round of funding many years ago when it wasn't rolling in cash, around $7 million if I recall.