Symfony Station Communiqué — 10 March 2023. A look at Symfony, Drupal, PHP, Cybersecurity, and Fediverse news.
Tags: symfony, drupal, php, cybersecurity
Published: 2023-03-11 18:36:22

This communiqué [originally appeared on Symfony Station](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-10-March-2023), your source for cutting-edge Symfony, PHP, and Cybersecurity news.

Welcome to this week's Symfony Station Communiqué. It's your review of the essential news in the Symfony and PHP development communities focusing on protecting democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world and the Fediverse.

Please take your time and enjoy the items most relevant and valuable to you. There is a good bit of Drupal content this week, including the featured item.

Thanks to Javier Eguiluz and Symfony for sharing [our latest communiqué](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-03-March-2023) in their [Week of Symfony](https://symfony.com/blog/a-week-of-symfony-844-27-february-5-march-2023). 

**My opinions will be in bold. And will involve profanity.**

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![Symfony logo](https://www.symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Symfony-2.png)

## Symfony

As always, we will start with the official news from Symfony. Highlight -> “This week, Symfony 5.4.21
 and 6.2.7 maintenance versions were released. Meanwhile, the upcoming Symfony 6.3 version added support for managing command exit code while handling signals. Lastly, the SymfonyOnline June 2023 conference announced that you can submit your papers until March 6.“

[A Week of Symfony #844 (27 February - 5 March 2023)](https://symfony.com/blog/a-week-of-symfony-844-27-february-5-march-2023?utm_source=Symfony+Blog+Feed&utm_medium=feed)

Symfony announced:

[SymfonyLive Paris 2023: Only 2 weeks to go for the pre-conference workshops!](https://symfony.com/blog/symfonylive-paris-2023-only-2-weeks-to-go-for-the-pre-conference-workshops)

[SymfonyCon Brussels 2023 - Call for papers is open!](https://symfony.com/blog/symfonycon-brussels-2023-call-for-paper-is-open)

Blackfire has:

[Getting started with the Blackfire test suite: part 3 of a series](https://blog.blackfire.io/getting-started-with-the-blackfire-test-suite-part-3-of-a-series.html)

SymfonyCasts continues its API Platform course.

[This week on SymfonyCasts](https://5hy9x.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/mr/5puCf1lnRoDEzfTRXH79eO0J9T7_4c8F0ol5fmeMMyeJpUgU8Cg7GBsfMyVc-zkUpO4fPjikxRdht8BYAMOgBdv92ylL3d1HuAXoaM5_CVZo3Xgg3f8jyRXGart7001jEVZeMySK77k)

---

## Featured Item

![Featured item graphic](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Featured-Item_1_0.png)

I am tooting my own horn this week as I have published my first “opinion” piece. It examines if Drupal has a path to growth. 

“Idiots have been claiming PHP is dead for years. Guess what? It’s not dying. It’s growing and mainly via WordPress and outside the United States. With Drupal, not so much.

This piece will cover Drupal’s strengths and weaknesses as I see them  affecting its growth. And when I talk about growth, I mean the total number of Drupal users, not the profits of companies basing their businesses on Drupal.

Then I will look at three paths its future could take. Those of **what I want, what could happen, and what will probably happen**.”

### **[Does Drupal Have a Path to Growth?](https://www.symfonystation.com/Drupal-Path-Growth)**

---

### This Week

Anton Lytvynov has:

[Why use Symfony for web development](https://antonlytvynov.medium.com/why-use-symfony-for-web-development-f82cb1ccf9e9)

[The Future of PHP and Symfony: Predictions and Trends for Web Development](https://antonlytvynov.medium.com/the-future-of-php-and-symfony-predictions-and-trends-for-web-developmen-1c826a952937)

[How to Set Up a Local Symfony Development Environment with Docker Compose](https://antonlytvynov.medium.com/how-to-set-up-a-local-symfony-development-environment-with-docker-compose-f6b1f243b450)

It is great to see Smaine Milianni back with:

[Feature Flag and Strategy pattern with the Symfony framework](https://smaine-milianni.medium.com/feature-flag-and-strategy-pattern-with-the-symfony-framework-7863ecc9556a)

Mark Caggiano shows us:

[How to create a WordPress plugin using PHP and OOP, with Composer for package management, Symfony components for backend functionality, and Twig for frontend templating](https://marcocaggiano.medium.com/how-to-create-a-wordpress-plugin-using-php-and-oop-with-composer-for-package-management-symfony-cceaf60c5f50)

JoliCode looks at:

[Handling signal with Symfony Command](https://jolicode.com/blog/handling-signal-with-symfony-command)

Shahid Shahmiri shows us:

[How To Build A Metaverse-Enabled Ad Tech Platform With Symfony](https://leadgenapp.io/how-to-build-a-metaverse-enabled-ad-tech-platform-with-symfony/)

Carlo Todeschini built:

[GitHub - carlotodeschini/htmxtest: Symfony CRUD handled by HTMX JavaScript framework](https://github.com/carlotodeschini/htmxtest)

And Jordi Boggiano built a Symfony wrapper of the PHP client for the FeaturIT Feature Flag management platform.

[featurit/featurit-sdk-symfony - Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/featurit/featurit-sdk-symfony)

### eCommerce

Quick Sprout has a:

[PrestaShop Review – What Makes PrestaShop Great and Where PrestaShop Falls Short](https://www.quicksprout.com/prestashop-review/)

Shopware shares:

[Shopware Community Digest February '23](https://www.shopware.com/en/news/shopware-community-digest-february-23/)

Edna Ololade compares:

[Medusa Vs. Sylius: Which Should You Use for Your Ecommerce?](https://dev.to/women__leader/medusa-vs-sylius-which-should-you-use-for-your-ecommerce-2clf)

### CMSs

Zyxware Technologies compares:

[Drupal Updates vs Upgrades vs Migrations: What's the Difference and When Do You Need Them?](https://www.zyxware.com/article/6538/drupal-updates-vs-upgrades-vs-migrations-whats-the-difference)

FiveJars explores:

[Building Microsites in Drupal](https://fivejars.com/blog/building-microsites-drupal)

The Drop Times has several developer interviews:

[Shouldn’t Let Imposter Syndrome Keep You from Trying: John Jameson | DrupalCamp NJ](https://www.thedroptimes.com/28769/shouldnt-let-imposter-syndrome-keep-you-trying-john-jameson-drupalcamp-nj)

[An Accidental Web Developer: Interview with Rick Hood | NERD Summit](https://www.thedroptimes.com/28797/accidental-web-developer-interview-rick-hood-nerd-summit)

ComputerMinds continues its Drupal 10 upgrade case study series:

[Drupal 10 upgrade: Custom code upgrades](https://www.computerminds.co.uk/articles/drupal-10-upgrade-custom-code-upgrades)

[Drupal 10 upgrade: File to media](https://www.computerminds.co.uk/articles/drupal-10-upgrade-file-media)

Prometsource shows us:

[How to Leverage Load Testing to Scale up a Drupal Site](https://www.prometsource.com/blog/website-load-testing-tools)

Matt Glaman looks at:

[Running specific PHPUnit data provider data set](https://mglaman.dev/blog/running-specific-phpunit-data-provider-data-set?utm_source=Front&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS+Feed)

Colorfield explores:

[Visual regression testing for Drupal migrations with Playwright](https://colorfield.be/blog/visual-regression-testing-for-drupal-migrations-with-playwright)

Specbee shows us:

[How to Efficiently Fetch Drupal Reference Entities in Custom Modules](https://www.specbee.com/blogs/fetch-drupal-reference-entities-in-custom-modules)

CKEditor can expand its capabilities:

[Drupal Premium Features module now stable](https://ckeditor.com/blog/drupal-premium-features-module/)

EvolvingWeb goes:

[Hands-On With Drupal 10: Olivero, a New Theme with a Meaningful Name](https://evolvingweb.com/blog/hands-drupal-10-olivero-new-theme-meaningful-name?utm_source=feed)

Star Shaped of Lullabot shares her experience at:

[Florida DrupalCamp 2023](https://www.star-shaped.org/florida-drupalcamp-2023/)

Mateu Aguiló Bosch of lullabot explores:

[Getting Single Directory Components in Drupal Core](https://www.lullabot.com/articles/getting-single-directory-components-drupal-core)

**This is fantastic news.**

### Previous Weeks

And Lullabot has this case study.

[American Bookseller Association](https://www.lullabot.com/our-work/american-bookseller-association)

Suckup shares:

[Legacy Codebase: A Love Story](https://suckup.de/2023/01/legacy-codebase-a-love-story/)

![PHP logo](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/php-logo_4.png)

## PHP

### This Week

.com says:

[I Was Accused of Prematurely Optimizing the Code. They Are Wrong!](https://medium.com/@dotcom.software/i-was-accused-of-prematurely-optimizing-the-code-they-are-wrong-a96f08e3598f)

Derry Ross explores:

[Mastering PHP for Dynamic Web Development](https://medium.com/@derry.r05/mastering-php-for-dynamic-web-development-41b9b519bd1d)

Dolly Aswin looks at:

[PHP Development Trends In 2023](https://medium.com/@dollyaswin/php-development-trends-in-2023-d03fb601ff67)

Marcel Bootsman looks at:

[Switching to PHP 8.x in Four Steps - An Interview with Juliette Reinders Folmer](https://kinsta.com/blog/switching-to-php-8/)
This got lots of interest when I shared it on Mastodon this week.

Nikola Stojiljkovic shares:

[Impressions on GitHub Copilot and PHPStorm — March 2023](https://nikola-stojiljkovic.medium.com/impressions-on-github-copilot-and-phpstorm-march-2023-746e72915b46)

Active Hosted opines on:

[The PHP Operator that You Should Always Use](https://alexwebdevelop.activehosted.com/social/cb70ab375662576bd1ac5aaf16b3fca4.251)

Kumar Ravi says:

[PHP Match Expression Is the New and Improved Switch Statement](https://kumarravisingh.medium.com/php-match-expression-is-the-new-and-improved-switch-statement-9b1d0b53431d)

Roberton B. examines:

[Test coverage: did you set Xdebug's coverage mode?](https://dev.to/robertobutti/test-coverage-did-you-set-xdebugs-coverage-mode-ij9)

Erika Heidi explores:

[Creating Safer Containerized PHP Runtimes with Wolfi](https://dev.to/erikaheidi/creating-safer-containerized-php-runtime-environments-with-wolfi-1ioa)

Laravel News looks at:

[Sharing PHPCS Rules Across Projects and Teams](https://laravel-news.com/sharing-phpcs-rules)

Kumar Abhinav shows us:

[How to Install Different PHP Versions in Ubuntu](https://geekabhinav.medium.com/how-to-install-different-php-versions-in-ubuntu-d80ea4afac0)

Mom Junior examines the:

[Single Responsibility Principle(SRP) example using PHP](https://medium.com/@Omojunior11/single-responsibility-principle-srp-example-using-php-337e33d739e)

Claudio Ribeiro has a:

[Quick Tip: How to Cache Data in PHP](https://www.sitepoint.com/php-cache/)

Geek Job shows us how to:

[Disable eval in PHP 8](https://geekjob.tech/disable-eval-in-php-8-a0369da7b822)

of0x looks at:

[Beating an old PHP source code protector](https://adepts.of0x.cc/decrypt-nu-coder/)

Moslem Deris explores:

[Singleton in PHP (complete guide)](https://medium.com/@moslem.deris/singleton-in-php-complete-guide-31fa96c45ac9)

Uladzimir Tsykun shares:

[Mirroring Composer dependencies with Packeton](https://dev.to/vtsykun/mirror-composer-dependencies-with-packeton-1jea)

Sam Anglin has:

[Common Function Comparisons in PHP](https://www.mizouzie.dev/articles/common-function-comparisons-in-php/)

PeakD expounds on:

[Using PSR-3 placeholders properly](https://peakd.com/hive-168588/@crell/using-psr-3-placeholders-properly)

Atakan Demircioğlu looks at:

[Implementing a Service Layer in PHP](https://medium.com/@atakde/implementing-service-layer-in-php-6bf9bfc4d10c)

[Valerie Kuzmina](https://blog.jetbrains.com/qodana/2023/03/secure-your-php-code-with-taint-analysis-by-qodana/) shows us how to:

[Secure Your PHP Code With Taint Analysis by Qodana](https://blog.jetbrains.com/qodana/2023/03/secure-your-php-code-with-taint-analysis-by-qodana/)

Aminul Islam Sarker examines:

[Unlocking the Power of PHP with the Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)](https://aminshamim.xyz/unlocking-the-power-of-php-with-the-abstract-syntax-tree-ast-6951a3de2919)

**Great stuff here.**

### Previous Weeks

İlyas Özkurt shows us how to:

[Boost Your PHP Testing Speed with Paratest](https://ilyasozkurt.com/programming/boost-your-php-testing-speed-with-paratest/)

![Code logo](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/code-logo_3.jpeg)

## Other

[Please visit our Support Ukraine page](https://www.symfonystation.com/Support-Ukraine) to learn how you can help kick Russia out of Ukraine (eventually).

### The cyber response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The New York Times reports on:

[The Daring Ruse That Exposed China’s Campaign to Steal American Secrets](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/magazine/china-spying-intellectual-property.html)

TechCrunch reports:

[Police arrest suspected members of prolific DoppelPaymer ransomware gang](https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/06/police-arrest-suspected-members-of-prolific-doppelpaymer-ransomware-gang/)

TechSpot reports:

[US blacklists China's Loongson as its CPUs reach maturity](https://www.techspot.com/news/97817-us-blacklists-china-loongson-cpus-reach-maturity.html)

The Federal Trade Commission warns:

[Keep your AI claims in check](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/02/keep-your-ai-claims-check)

CBS reports:

[Bipartisan group of senators unveil bill targeting TikTok, other foreign tech companies](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-ban-bipartisan-senate-bill-mark-warner-john-thune/)

### The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Register reports:

[Pro-Putin scammers trick politicians and celebrities into low-tech hoax video calls](https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/07/proputin_scammers_trick_politicians_and/)

[Secret Service, ICE break the law over and over with fake cell tower spying](https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/04/dhs_secret_service_ice_stingray/)

The Hacker News reports:

[Lazarus Group Exploits Zero-Day Vulnerability to Hack South Korean Financial Entity](https://thehackernews.com/2023/03/lazarus-group-exploits-zero-day.html)

Cory Doctorow laments:

[They’re still trying to ban cryptography](https://doctorow.medium.com/theyre-still-trying-to-ban-cryptography-33aa668dc602)

### Cybersecurity/Privacy

Zack Whittaker opines:

[Today’s startups should terrify you](https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/08/startups-today-should-terrify-you/)

Fast Company reports on:

[5 cybersecurity trends people who work from home need to know](https://www.fastcompany.com/90859303/5-cybersecurity-trends-people-who-work-from-home-need-to-know?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss)

**Use password managers, two-factor authentication, VPN, etc. peeps.**

Tech Republic reports on the:

[Top 10 open-source security and operational risks of 2023](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/top-open-source-security-risks/)

[New National Cybersecurity Strategy: resilience, regs, collaboration and pain (for attackers)](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/new-national-cybersecurity-strategy/)

Decipher reports:

[Apache Patches Two Important Bugs in Web Server](https://apple.news/AdYYgYyyrRrqW5XT6uCIK0Q)

Dark Reading reports:

[Without FIDO2, MFA Falls Short](https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/without-fido2-mfa-falls-short)

The Guardian reports:

[Sensitive personal data of US House and Senate members hacked, offered for sale](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/08/us-house-senate-members-data-leaked-for-sale?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)

**Maybe the fucks will do something about cybersecurity now.**

### More

Abid Ali Awan explores:

[Getting Started with GitHub CLI](https://www.kdnuggets.com/2023/03/getting-started-github-cli.html)

Bleeping Computer reports:

[GitHub makes 2FA mandatory next week for active developers](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/github-makes-2fa-mandatory-next-week-for-active-developers/)

GitHub shows us how they implemented Elasticsearch:

[How GitHub Docs’ new search works](https://github.blog/2023-03-09-how-github-docs-new-search-works/)

Marcus Bentele shares:

[How To Become A Git Pro By Mastering Only One Powerful Git Command](https://levelup.gitconnected.com/how-to-become-a-git-pro-by-mastering-only-one-powerful-git-command-7c1da31be9ea)

Leticia Coelho shows us how to write:

[Clean HTML](https://medium.com/arctouch/clean-html-1acda5c0326e)

SpicyWeb says:

[HTML is a Serialized Object Graph and That Changes Everything](https://www.spicyweb.dev/html-serialized-object-graph/)

The acerbic and awesome Jason Knight has:

[Adam Wathan (Part 1): Deluded, Predator, Or An Outright Fraud?](https://medium.com/codex/adam-wathan-part-1-deluded-predator-or-an-outright-fraud-d704e97fcf3f)

[Adam Wathan (Part 2): The Ignorance On Full Display](https://deathshadow.medium.com/adam-wathan-part-2-the-ignorance-on-full-display-6ad82e8c5065)

**TLDR Tailwind CSS sucks. Don’t be lazy. Learn HTML and CSS.**

Chrome Developers examine:

[CSS Nesting](https://developer.chrome.com/articles/css-nesting/)

Toptal has:

[TypeScript vs. JavaScript: Your Go-to Guide](https://www.toptal.com/typescript/typescript-vs-javascript-guide)

Beau Coburn looks at:

[HTTP for Those That Are Afraid to Ask](https://dev.to/beaucoburn/http-for-those-that-are-afraid-to-ask-38i5)

Josh long opines:

[From a Fan: On the Ascendance of PostgreSQL](https://thenewstack.io/from-a-fan-on-the-ascendance-of-postgresql/)

Cory Doctorow says:

[The AI hype bubble is the new crypto hype bubble](https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/)

**Yes.** 

### Fediverse

Let’s start with a few items about the biggest driver of Fediverse growth, Twitter.

The BBC reports:

[Twitter insiders: We can't protect users from trolling under Musk](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64804007)

**Musk takes the shittiest thing about Twitter and makes it shittier.**

The Verge reports:

[How a single engineer brought down Twitter](https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/6/23627875/twitter-outage-how-it-happened-engineer-api-shut-down)

**Stupidity in management = product incompetence.**

Daring Fireball reports:

[Phony Stark Picks on the Wrong Guy, Attempting (and of Course Botching) an HR Exit Interview Live on Twitter](https://daringfireball.net/2023/03/thorleifsson_musk_twitter)

**Being a c*nt = being a c*nt**

In late-breaking news, Platformer reports:

[Meta is building a decentralized, text-based social network](https://www.platformer.news/p/meta-is-building-a-decentralized)

**Fucking hell. While this will work with Activity Pub, at least these instances can be blocked when the inevitable tracking starts.**

The Washington Post opines:

[A better kind of social media is possible — if we want it](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/06/social-media-future-regulation-imagination/)

The Atlantic explores:

[How to Take Back Control of What You Read on the Internet](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/social-media-algorithms-twitter-meta-rss-reader/673282/)

Fastly shares:

[Fastly and the Fediverse, pt.2](https://www.fastly.com/blog/fastly-and-the-fediverse-pt-2)

Here’s an analytical breakdown of the exodus from Twitter to the Fediverse:

[A Snapshot of the Twitter Migration](http://www.deweysquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/DSG-Snapshot-of-the-Twitter-Migration-March-2023.pdf)

The Washington Post reports:

[Here’s how The Washington Post verified its journalists on Mastodon](https://washpost.engineering/heres-how-the-washington-post-verified-its-journalists-on-mastodon-7b5dbc96985c)

Daring Fireball reports:

[Medium’s me.dm Mastodon Server Opens Up](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/03/06/medium-mastodon)

I mentioned this was coming last week.

TechCrunch provides more detail:

[Medium launches a ‘premium’ Mastodon instance as a membership perk](https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/06/medium-launches-a-premium-mastodon-instance-as-a-membership-perk/)

Here are the official details:

[Join Mastodon with Medium](https://blog.medium.com/join-mastodon-with-medium-e2d6d814325b)

If you are also interested in content production, marketing, strategy, and related fields, you can follow me at [@mobileatom@me.dm](https://me.dm/@mobileatom).

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##Author

![Reuben Walker Headshot](https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/1*B3RcgIbAiytfjynP-oiOMg.jpeg)

###Reuben Walker

Founder
Symfony Station