Developer deprecates 2014 PHP workaround that quietly amassed 20 million installs

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A developer named Jake Smith is deprecating a PHP utility package he originally created in 2014 as a temporary fix. The package, designed to replicate the http_build_url function, was never intended for long-term use but spread widely across the PHP ecosystem. Over the past decade, it accumulated nearly 20 million installations without any significant maintenance effort from its author. Smith announced the deprecation on his personal blog, signaling that developers relying on the package should seek alternatives. The case highlights how quick workarounds in open-source software can unexpectedly become critical dependencies for millions of projects.

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