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Most disheartening is the way Zeev Suraski pleaded for votes against the size_t/int64 patch in a mail[1] titled "A call for help (urgent)" because, I quote, it "negates months of hard work". That was only a few days after Zend's secret project had been uncovered.

The size_t/int64 refactor has been going through several iterations and RFCs since 2013.

[1]: http://news.php.net/php.internals/74268

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Why? Months of hard work can surely negate months of other hard work.

Sure, but it seems pretty irrational to suddenly say 'Hey guys, we've been working on this code without telling anyone, so this community project that people have been working on for months should be abandoned'.

They could have been integrating the changes in their code as they went, and then launched with 'Hey, we have this cool new project, including the optimization work that people have been doing'. Instead, they kept their work secret, knowing that their work was incompatible with another large refactor that people were contributing to, and then said 'hey, abandon all the work you were doing because who cares'.

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