Yii Framework

Appearance

Packages ​

Yii3 team divided the framework into several packages that conform to the following agreements.

For all packages, the GitHub repository name exactly matches the Packagist package name.

For a full list of packages and their building status, see status page at yiiframework.com.

Yii-specific packages (framework and extensions) ​

  • named yiisoft/yii-something or more specific: yii-type-something e.g.:
    • modules: yii-module-users, yii-module-pages
    • themes: yii-theme-adminlte, yii-theme-hyde
    • widgets: yii-widget-datepicker
    • ...
  • titled as "Yii Framework ..."
  • may have any dependencies and Yii-specific code

General purpose packages (libraries) ​

  • you can use these independently of Yii Framework
  • named as yiisoft/something without yii-prefix
  • titled as "Yii ..."
  • must not have dependencies on any Yii-specific packages
  • should have as fewer dependencies as possible

Configs and defaults ​

The following applies to both Yii-specific packages and general purpose packages:

  • Package may have config directory with Yii-specific defaults.
  • Package may have "config-plugin" in "extra" section of composer.json.
  • Package mustn't have dependencies in require section of composer.json that are used in config only.
  • You should namespace parameters with vendor/package-name:
php
return [
    'vendor/package-name' => [
        'param1' => 1,
        'param2' => 2,
    ],
];

Versions ​

All packages follow SemVer versioning:

  • x.*.* - incompatible API changes.
  • *.x.* - add functionality (backwards-compatible).
  • *.*.x - bug fixes (backwards-compatible).

The first stable version should be 1.0.0.

Each package version number doesn't depend on any other package version or framework name/version, only on its own public contract. The framework as a whole has the "Yii3" name.

It's alright to use packages with different major versions together, as long as they're compatible.

PHP versions support ​

The support of PHP versions supported for a package depends on PHP versions life cycle.

  • Package versions with active support MUST support all PHP versions that have active support.
  • Both packages and application templates MUST have supported versions that receive bug and security fixes. These SHOULD correspond to PHP versions receiving security fixes.
  • Packages and application templates MIGHT have supported versions that work with unsupported PHP versions.
  • Bumping the minimal PHP version in a package or an application template is a minor change.

composer.json ​

A logical OR operator in version ranges MUST use double pipe (||). For example: "yiisoft/arrays": "^1.0 || ^2.0".