WordPress-Extra: remove the Generic.Functions.CallTimePassByReference sniff#2536
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GaryJones merged 1 commit intoWordPress:developfrom Jun 24, 2025
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…e` sniff The `Generic.Functions.CallTimePassByReference` sniff was deprecated in PHPCS 3.13.0 and will be removed in PHPCS 4.0 (PHPCSStandards/PHP_CodeSniffer#921). Removing this sniff from WordPress-Extra will be necessary anyway when preparing this repository for PHPCS 4.0, and I believe it is something that can be done now as call-time pass-by-reference was deprecated in PHP 5.3 (https://web.archive.org/web/20150920055013/http://us1.php.net/manual/en/migration53.deprecated.php) and removed in PHP 5.4 (https://web.archive.org/web/20140815142840/http://us2.php.net/manual/en/migration54.incompatible.php). PHP 5.4 was released in 2012, with the last security release in 2015. So it is unlikely users are still relying on it, and even if they are, there is a PHPCompatibility sniff to check for the use of call-time pass-by-reference: PHPCompatibility.Syntax.ForbiddenCallTimePassByReference (https://github.com/PHPCompatibility/PHPCompatibility/blob/9013cd039fe5740953f9fdeebd19d901b80e26f2/PHPCompatibility/Sniffs/Syntax/ForbiddenCallTimePassByReferenceSniff.php#L128). This sniff was added to WordPress-Extra via WordPress#382 back in 2015.
jrfnl
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Jun 23, 2025
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LGTM. Thanks @rodrigoprimo !
Regarding whether this can go in a minor or MUST go into a major: I consider this a ruleset update, not a (code) "Removal" which MUST go into a major per SemVer, so I think we should be okay to include this change in a minor release.
dingo-d
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Jun 24, 2025
GaryJones
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Jun 24, 2025
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The
Generic.Functions.CallTimePassByReferencesniff was deprecated in PHPCS 3.13.0, and will be removed in PHPCS 4.0.In this PR, I suggested that we remove it from WPCS. Removing this sniff from WordPress-Extra will be necessary anyway when preparing this repository for PHPCS 4.0, and I believe it is something that can be done now as call-time pass-by-reference was deprecated in PHP 5.3 and removed in PHP 5.4.
PHP 5.4 was released in 2012, with the last security release in 2015. So it is unlikely users are still relying on it, and even if they are, there is a PHPCompatibility sniff to check for the use of call-time pass-by-reference: PHPCompatibility.Syntax.ForbiddenCallTimePassByReference.
This sniff was added to WordPress-Extra via #382 back in 2015.
Closes #2528