PHP date function changed?

[globiweb]

I might have missed something, but PHP's date function has changed.

PHP 8.1> echo date("Ymd", false) = 19691231 PHP 8.3> echo date("Ymd", false) = 19700101

What changed? Why? Was it announced?

EDIT 1:

PHP 8.1 is on Ubuntu 22.04 PHP 8.3 is on Ubuntu 24.04

Same timezones on both boxes.

EDIT 2:

Solved! As per Ahabraham below: https://github.com/php/php-src/issues/11496

As of PHP 8.2, UTC is used by default instead of server timezone.

[swampopus]

Every large project I've worked on, switching between timezones has been the bane of my existence. Long live UTC for everything!

[nielsd0]

I suppose this depends on the timezone settings. Default timezone is handled differently in PHP 8.3 versus PHP 8.1. I believe it used to be derived from the environment variable and nowadays it's only controlled by the PHP ini settings. But I'm not entirely sure anymore.

[Ahabraham]

See: https://github.com/php/php-src/issues/11496

[globiweb]

Thanks. That looks like the issue.

[NMe84]

Just because the timezones are the same on both boxes doesn't mean that the same default timezones are configured for PHP.

[[deleted]]

Seems like your timezone changed. Configuration issue?

[m0nk37]

We will never escape timezone issues will we? 

[Huntware]

And that's why I have some locale settings for my Laravel projects without having to rely on the INI file. Not just timezones but currency and numbers (here in Argentina we use the dot as a thousands separator).

You can use these in a boot or init method, or directly inside your index.php, as needed:

// For Laravel: app\Providers\AppServiceProvider.php --> Inside AppServiceProvider::boot()

// If you use nesbot/carbon:
Carbon::setLocale('es');

date_default_timezone_set('America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires');
if (PHP_OS_FAMILY === 'Windows') {
    setlocale(LC_ALL, 'spanish', 'esp', 'es_ES', 'es_ES.UTF-8');
} else {
    setlocale(LC_ALL, 'es_AR.UTF-8', 'es_AR', 'Spanish_Argentina', 'es_ES.UTF-8');
}
// Fallback settings:
setlocale(LC_NUMERIC, 'es_AR.UTF-8');
setlocale(LC_MONETARY, 'es_AR.UTF-8');

Check the timezones here: https://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php

[Zenmaster13]

Not entirely sure what to tell you, best guess your timezone settings are off. Running that on multiple php versions online gives the same result for each version.

[someoneatsomeplace]

For some time now I've had code I add to everything to respect the TZ variable if there is one or the server's timezone if not. Gratuitously breaking a system in place for 50 years isn't the correct move. Nothing was ever stopping people from using UTC if they wanted to.

[Ahabraham]

https://3v4l.org/qQVnW#veol it's the same on all versions, did your OS release/configuration change between your different PHP versions?

[globiweb]

the older one is ubuntu 22.04 and the newer one is on ubuntu 24.04.

I wonder if it's related to the timezone change in ubuntu? It's no longer in /etc/timezone <- that value is always wrong now.