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Migration Guide

The following details the changes from the version 2 series to version 3, and how to prepare for migration.

New requirements for random number generation

For version 3, we changed the random number generator strategy of Laminas\Math\Rand using the random_int() ad random_bytes() functions of PHP 7. For users still on PHP 5.5+, we now require the random_compact library, which provides a polyfill for these new PHP 7 functions.

ext/mbstring required

Starting with version 3, we now require the mbstring extension. We added this requirement to ensure that all string manipulations inside laminas-math are binary-safe.

Internally, we replace all strlen() and substr() functions with the equivalent mb_strlen() and mb_substr() functions, and require 8bit encoding.

We removed the $strong optional parameter

In Laminas\Math\Rand, we removed the usage of the $strong optional parameter for the random number generator. By default, all random numbers produced in version 3 releases will use a secure pseudo-random number generator (CSPRNG).

The following lists the functions from which the parameter was removed:

  • Rand::getBytes($length)
  • Rand::getBoolean()
  • Rand::getInteger($min, $max)
  • Rand::getFloat()
  • Rand::getString($length, $charlist = null)

In each case, the $strong parameter was both optional, and the last argument in the list. As PHP allows passing more arguments than the signature accepts, this will not pose a backwards compatibility break; it only means that the argument no longer has any meaning.

We recommend removing the parameter from any calls you make to the above functions after migrating.

We changed the error management in Rand

Several methods now throw exceptions for error situations:

  • Laminas\Math\Rand::getBytes($length) will no longer return a boolean false when $length <= 0. Instead, it will now throw a Laminas\Math\Exception\DomainException.
  • Laminas\Math\Rand::getBytes($length) will now throw a Laminas\Math\Exception\InvalidArgumentException if the $length parameter is not an integer.
  • Laminas\Math\Rand::getInteger($min, $max) will now throw a Laminas\Math\Exception\InvalidArgumentException if either parameter is not an integer.

Additionally, in cases where you are not using PHP 7 and your PHP environment does not provide a secure random source, we now throw a Laminas\Math\Exception\RuntimeException with the following message:

This PHP environment doesn't support secure random number generation.
Please consider upgrading to PHP 7.

This message should appear if your are using PHP versions less than 7 on Windows machines without one of the following extensions or libraries installed:

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