14 February 2013, 10:38

Zend Optimizer+ open sourced

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Zend Enterprise, a company that has been instrumental in the development of PHP, has open sourced its opcode caching and optimisation software Zend Optimizer+. The source code is now available under the PHP License from GitHub. Previously, the software was only available as part of the proprietary Zend Server package.

The Zend Optimizer+ tool improves the bytecode generated from PHP source files to speed up the language's performance. The software also stores precompiled bytecode in shared memory instead of reading it from the hard disk and compiling it when needed. Zend Optimizer+ supports PHP versions 5.2 up to 5.4, but can also be used with the 5.5 development branch.

The move of the code to an open source licence comes shortly after Zend CTO Zeev Suraski had filed an RFC to integrate Zend Optimizer+ into the core of the PHP 5.5 distribution. However, the tool is not the only opcode caching and optimisation software for PHP. The Alternative PHP Cache (APC) is also in widespread use and has been proposed as a native part of PHP 6.0. According to Suraski, Zend Optimizer+ delivers better performance, though.

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