Release candidates are development packages released to check if any critical problems have slipped into the code during the previous development period. Release candidates are NOT for production use, they are for testing purposes only even though in most cases there are almost no differences between the general availability (GA) release and the last RC. You can help the PHP Team and yourself detect problems by installing and testing release candidates on your own (non-production!) server.

You're encouraged to compile this version on your platform and include the "make test" command in the process to report any issues found directly back to the PHP dev group. Windows users can find the latest binaries over on windows.php.net.

PHP 5.4 alpha3 is available for testing now. Please give us a hand and compile it on your platform and run a "make test". Download it from http://qa.php.net and you can see the changes in the NEWS file at http://t.co/bBVGj8P

Updates in this alpha include the shortened array syntax, binary numbers format, support for the "Class::{expr}()" syntax, removal of magic quotes related features, a change to include E_STRICT in E_ALL and several others. Head over to the PHP QA site and download this latest version to test in your environment. Remember, environments are unique, so the more test results the better - it helps make for a better quality end result.

In preparation I decided it was high time to sit down and figure out what testing PHP is all about. People kept telling me it was easy but I had no clear picture of how all the pieces went together - there are different ways of doing the same thing and although I have been keen to get involved with testing for some time, I haven't been able to get started until now.

She looks at the automated tests as a part of the build ("make test") and some of the screens from the lcov testing results. She also recommends reading up on the phpt documentation to help you get going.