In a new post to his blog Pádraic Brady gives his take on the PHP-FIG (Framework Interoperability Group) and some of the decisions they've been making on PHP coding standards.

Anthony, whose views always make good reading, raises concerns about the way in which this group generates standards. He contrasts the current approach to RFC 2026 which defines the IETF's Internet Standards Process. [...] Where Anthony's arguments seemingly fall flat is that the FIG is not the IETF. The Framework Interoperability Group was founded to allow cooperating members to develop shared standards. It does not claim to be PHP's standards body and so there is no obligation for any PHP programmer to adopt their standards (unless they work on a member project obviously!).

He points out that the standards group's process has been slowly opening more and more ("by inches") and that the group, while made of up individuals, is more than just a collection of people - it's representatives for well-known Open Source projects.

In other words, the FIG is actually something really really good for PHP. PHP needs standards so we can make interoperability between various frameworks and applications a true reality. The hodgepodge of APIs and standards we've relied on to this point only serve to reinforce PHP's NIH obsession. [...] What the FIG should do, in my opinion, is clearly define its purpose and better document its bylaws/processes. [...] It really all comes down to better communication and pushing the community engage with the FIG.

Brian Moon has shared some of his thoughts about the recently proposed standards (PSRs) from the PHP-FIG group based on some discussions had at this year's php|tek.

During the /dev/hell podcast at Tek12, someone asked the guys their opinion about PSR. [...] The person asking the question had asked about PSR1 and PSR2. These are the first two standards proposals in the group and they deal with coding standards. [...] There are already coding standards for PHP and any other language out there. Why does anyone need to make a new one? [...] This reminds me a lot of Open Source licenses. There are tons of these things. And in the end, most (GPL has its issues I know) of the open source licenses represent the same idea.

He goes on to talk more about the feedback he's gotten from other PHP community members about the target of the group and his thoughts on the naming of both the group and the standards they're generating.

In the end, cooperation is good. And if these guys want to cooperate I say more power to them. I just hope they get into really good things soon. Like, can we talk about a maximum number of files, functions or classes used for any one single page execution? *That* would be valuable to the PHP community.