Technical insights and software architecture

Deep dives into PHP development, Horde Framework evolution and practical software engineering. Focused on real-world solutions for complex technical challenges. “Always close to the source”.

Core Topics

PHP, Horde Framework, authentication systems, composer workflows and modern development practices.

Long-form Analysis

Comprehensive technical articles exploring architectural decisions, migration strategies and lessons learned from real projects.

Code & Community

Open source contributions, framework development and sharing knowledge with the PHP developer community.

Category: First Page

  • Dark is the road you wander

    While we are pushing forward day by day, processing user reports of alpha and beta version bugs and quirks, we sometimes wonder what path lies ahead beyond those minor worries. Where do we go? I want to know. We have 150+ libraries and apps which are more or less in focus and a body of…

  • Intermission: H6 Beta Update Week

    I hesitated the whole last week to release part 4 of our series on Horde 6 architecture decisions since there was a lot going on. The good news is you don’t have another lengthy article to read before next week at the earliest as we are laser focused on delivering beta stage for all 150+…

  • Web: Why “No Frontend Framework” is the Right Framework for Horde 6

    Part 3 of 4: Architectural Evolution in Horde 6 I really did not want to build another frontend framework. Or adopt one for that matter. When jQuery Mobile became untenable (see Part 1), my instinct was to find the next framework. Something modern, well-maintained, with good documentation and community support. React? I embraced it wholeheartedly…

  • JWT Authentication: Building a Hybrid Model That Actually Works

    Part 2 of 4: Architectural Evolution in Horde 6 In part 1 of the evolution series: The jQuery Problem I discussed frontend concerns – How to move off a dead mobile-only framework towards a mobile-first responsive design and not get caught in the next framework I don’t need. This time we move towards authentication concerns.…

  • The jQuery Mobile Problem: Why Horde 6 Had to Move On

    Part 1 of 4: Architectural Evolution in Horde 6 Turns out you can’t ship a stable release while depending on a framework that was deprecated five years ago. I sort of knew this deep down in my head. Yes, yes, unmaintained dependencies are a problem. But the full weight of it didn’t hit me until…

  • Horde’s new Two-Factor API

    New Horde 6 feature: The horde/horde base app’s next release supports two factor logins.Dmitry Petrov is working to release a new One-Time Password module which integrates with this new API. Seemless integration for One Time Passwords. Several years ago I did some downstream development for a customer. They wanted to use One Time Passwords (OTP)…

  • PHP: The case for standalone null parameters

    PHP 8.0 introduced null and false as members of union types but disallowed them as standalone parameter types. PHP 8.2 changed that and allowed null as standalone parameter types. What is this good for? Should they extend this to “never” one day? Why do I call standalone null parameters poor man’s generics? What’s a null parameter?…

  • A wicked problem from the past

    In the last few evenings there was great despair. Trying to solve one problem would reveal yet another one. As a result, I hesitated to release some of the changes immediately. I don’t want to make people suffer, having to deal with new improved problems of the day whenever they run an update on their…

  • Unit Testing Horde 6

    Some years ago I reasoned about upgrading unit tests from ancient PHPUnit 4 to then-recent PHPUnit 9.Back then Horde’s unit test suite would use a Horde_Test class inheriting from the actual phpunit test cases. Even then I was fairly certain that this approach was not very practical in the long run.Why extending PHPUnit might be…