PHP 8.0: XMLRPC extension is moved to PECL
XMLRPC is an extension that was bundled in PHP that brought XML RPC server and client features to PHP.
This extension was relatively unused, and was marked "experimental" all along. This extension relied on some of the libraries that were not maintained for several years.
xmlrpc extension is unbundled in PHP 8.0. While it is technically possible to install the xmlrpc extension from PECL, it is highly recommend to to choose a puser-land PHP implementation](#alternatives).
XMLRPC extension, despite being installable from PECL, is unmaintained. The underlying library this extension depends on (
libxmlrpc) is abandoned. Instead of using thexmlrpcPECL extension in PHP 8.0 and later, it is highly recommended to use one of the alternatives.
Backwards Compatibility
Because xmlrpc is no longer bundled, you will need to make sure the extension is available.
For composer projects, make sure to add ext-xmlrpc as a dependency to ensure Composer checks the availability of the extension in its platform checks.
Alternative Libraries
Note that the xmlrpc library and its dependencies were not updated in several years, and a more apt approach would be to replace it with more modern libraries that rely in xml extension or work with its own XML implementation:
phpxmlrpc/phpxmlrpczendframework/zend-xmlrpclstrojny/fxmlrpclaminas/laminas-xmlrpcgggeek/polyfill-xmlrpc- A drop-in replacement polyfill that emulates same functions from thexmlrpcextension, usingphpxmlrpc/phpxmlrpc.