PHP 7: mysql extension deprecated

In mysql() nach PHP 7 retten , Charly Kühnast explains how you can get the deprecated and disabled mysql extension back in PHP 7. You shouldn’t. There are many reasons for this.

One of them being that none of the newer features in MySQL can be used with the old mysql extensions. There is an overview in the PHP documentation that explains exactly what you are missing.

One of the things that you are missing is support for prepared statements. Prepared statements are a mechanism in which you write SQL statements with placeholders for variables, and then later bind values to the placeholders using a “bind” call or as part of the “execute” call which is actually running the statement.

In any case, the variables are being escaped properly automatically, making SQL injection a lot harder. This is not just a problem limited to PHP - a search for bind and execute other sources can be very instructive. For example, the sources of Opennebula or in older versions of Owncloud (up to and including version 7) are rich treasure troves of potential exploits.

So currently the situation is as follows:

There are three extensions at the PHP level, one of which is deprecated and disabled in PHP 7:

• The old mysql extension is no longer available by default, and for good reasons. Do not use it, do not attempt to use code that uses it.
• The mysqli extension has been around for very many years, and offers a procedural and an object oriented interface, and makes “newer” MySQL features available, including prepared statements.
• The PDO_mysql extension has been around for many years, too, and offers an object oriented, and portable across databases interface. It also allows access to all “newer” MySQL features.

The wire protocol of all of these extensions is implemented by a C-level library, against which the extension can be linked. A manual page explains the choices.

• Traditionally that has been the Oracle/MySQL C-API (“libmysqlclient”, “Connector/C”), which comes with the database server. It is available on the GPL, which is a license different from the PHP license of the rest of the PHP proper, and it has it’s own memory management, which is different from the PHP native memory management.
• Since PHP 5.3, there is mysqlnd (the “native driver”, ND). It re-implements the MySQL wire protocol, and is available under the same license as PHP itself. It also uses the same memory management that PHP uses, which makes it faster (no copying) and more efficient (no duplication of values). It is the default on a normal PHP build these days.

What you should be using:

These days, your code should not be using the mysql extension. So you will be using mysqli or PDO_mysql, depending on your needs, with the underlying implementation of the native driver doing the heavy lifting.

Do not attempt to port mysql-Extension based code to PHP 7 without refactoring it for prepared statements, please.