Skip to content

returntypewillchange.xml Add warning about future strict return type enforcement #5613

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
jordikroon merged 1 commit into from
Jun 14, 2026
+16 −3
Merged

returntypewillchange.xml Add warning about future strict return type enforcement #5613

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
19 changes: 16 additions & 3 deletions language/predefined/attributes/returntypewillchange.xml
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -7,15 +7,28 @@

<section xml:id="returntypewillchange.intro">
&reftitle.intro;
<para>
<simpara>
Most non-final internal methods now require overriding methods to declare
a compatible return type, otherwise a deprecated notice is emitted during
inheritance validation.
inheritance validation. This introduces a tentative return type phase:
the engine emits a deprecation notice instead of a fatal error when return
types are incompatible, before they become enforced in a future version.
In case the return type cannot be declared for an overriding method due to
PHP cross-version compatibility concerns,
a <code>#[\ReturnTypeWillChange]</code> attribute can be added to silence
the deprecation notice.
</para>
</simpara>

<warning>
<simpara>
The <classname>ReturnTypeWillChange</classname> attribute suppresses
deprecation warnings during the tentative return type phase <emphasis>only</emphasis>.
It has no effect when overriding methods defined in user-defined classes.
Once internal methods adopt strict types, mismatches in overriding method
signatures will cause a fatal error and this attribute will no longer have any effect.
</simpara>
</warning>

</section>

<section xml:id="returntypewillchange.synopsis">
Expand Down