Webman TypePHP AOT Build Plugin

Compile Webman applications into portable, production-ready Linux native artifacts

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📖 Introduction

tinywan/webman-typephp is a TypePHP AOT build plugin designed for Webman 2.x. It automatically inspects existing Webman projects, generates AOT compilation entrypoints and configurations, builds the application using pinned Docker builder images, and packages a deployment-ready dist/ directory for target Linux servers.

The host system only requires PHP, Composer, and Docker. No C++, Clang, or TypePHP compilation toolchains need to be installed locally.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install Plugin

Run the following command in your Webman project root:

composer require tinywan/webman-typephp --dev

2. Environment Check

Check and verify PHP version, Docker CLI, and Docker daemon availability:

php webman typephp:doctor

3. Build & Package

# Default build output to dist/
php webman typephp:package

# Force overwrite if dist/ already exists
php webman typephp:package --force

# Force refresh main.php entrypoint with the latest official TypePHP stub (existing main.php is backed up to main.php.bak)
php webman typephp:package --refresh-main

# Build a fully-static single binary executable (zero dynamic library dependencies)
php webman typephp:package --static

The default builder image is tinywan/typephp-webman-builder:v0.2.1 (portable dynamic directory); static mode uses tinywan/typephp-webman-builder-static:v0.2.1. Compilation runs entirely within Docker containers.

4. Run Artifacts

Copy the dist/ directory to a compatible Linux x86_64 server and run:

cd dist
./start.sh start

start.sh automatically configures PHPRC to load bundled php.ini and sets dynamic library search paths to the packaged lib/. Standard Workerman management commands are fully supported:

./start.sh start -d
./start.sh status
./start.sh stop
./start.sh restart

You can also launch via the wrapper script directly:

./webman-server start

📦 Artifact Contract

Depending on the packaging command, the build artifacts are produced in two forms:

Mode 1: Fully-Static Single Binary (php webman typephp:package --static)

Outputs a statically linked standalone executable with zero external dynamic library dependencies. It does not require any pre-installed PHP environment or glibc on the target system (runs directly on Alpine, BusyBox, or minimal Linux containers):

dist/
├── webman-server           # Statically linked standalone binary (ELF 64-bit statically linked, stripped, ~17MB)
├── start.sh                # Standard Workerman start script (exec ./webman-server "$@")
├── build-manifest.json     # Build metadata including inputs, builder image, and timestamps
├── config/                 # Application runtime configurations (supports hot edits and reload)
├── public/                 # Static web assets (HTML, CSS, JS, images, etc.)
├── app/
│   ├── view/               # View templates (if present)
│   └── functions.php       # Custom global functions (if present)
└── runtime/                # Runtime cache and log directory (logs, views)

Key Highlights

• Zero External Dependencies: Fully self-contained single binary; no libphp.so, ext/*.so, lib/ directory, or external php.ini needed.
• Universal Distro Compatibility: Compatible with any Linux x86_64 environment (Alpine, Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, BusyBox, etc.).
• Ready Out of the Box: Run the executable directly without system dependency installations.

Minimal Containerization Example (Optional)

Thanks to static linking, you can build an ultra-lightweight production container (~20MB) using the official 5MB Alpine image:

FROM alpine:latest

WORKDIR /app
COPY dist /app

EXPOSE 8787
CMD ["./webman-server", "start"]

---

Mode 2: Portable Dynamic Directory (php webman typephp:package)

Outputs a self-contained portable directory with a precompiled libphp.so core runtime and bundled dynamic extensions. Best suited for workloads requiring native Linux .so extensions:

dist/
├── webman-server.bin       # TypePHP generated native ELF executable (dynamically linked)
├── webman-server           # Launcher wrapper (configures LD_LIBRARY_PATH and PHPRC)
├── start.sh                # Workerman process management script
├── libphp.so               # PHP core shared library
├── libphpx.so              # PHPX runtime shared library
├── php.ini                 # Isolated clean PHP runtime configuration
├── ext/                    # Bundled PHP core & network extensions (.so)
├── lib/                    # Underlying system & extension dynamic libraries (collected via ldd)
├── build-manifest.json     # Build metadata
├── config/                 # Application runtime configuration
├── public/                 # Static web assets
├── app/
│   ├── view/               # View templates (if present)
│   └── functions.php       # Custom global functions (if present)
└── runtime/                # Runtime logs and cache (logs, views)

Key Highlights

• Rich Extension Ecosystem: Supports precompiled .so extensions installed from Linux package managers.
• Flexible Maintenance: The executable and underlying runtime libraries (libphp.so / ext/*.so) are decoupled for granular updates.
• Standard glibc Compatibility: Compatible with Linux distributions using glibc 2.31+ (Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, RHEL 9+, etc.).

---

🛠️ Commands

Command	Description
php webman typephp:package	Build Linux portable directory using the default builder
php webman typephp:package --static	Build fully-static single binary executable (zero external dynamic library dependencies)
php webman typephp:package --force	Overwrite existing output and preserve backup of old dist directory
php webman typephp:package --refresh-main	Force refresh main.php from official TypePHP stub (backs up existing file)
php webman typephp:package --image=...	Use a custom verified Docker image
php webman typephp:doctor	Check PHP, Docker, and build prerequisites
php webman typephp:init-ci	Generate Linux amd64 GitHub Actions workflow

⚙️ Configuration

After installing the plugin, the configuration file is located at config/plugin/tinywan/typephp/app.php:

return [
    'enable' => true,
    'docker' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'image' => 'tinywan/typephp-webman-builder:v0.2.1',
        'static_image' => 'tinywan/typephp-webman-builder-static:v0.2.1',
    ],
    'build' => [
        'output_name' => 'webman-server',
        'dist_dir' => 'dist',
        'clean_build' => true,
    ],
];

The --image CLI option takes highest precedence; if omitted, docker.image from config is used, falling back to tinywan/typephp-webman-builder:v0.2.1.

🎯 MVP Scope & Boundaries

The current phase supports the verified combinations:

• Target platform: linux/amd64.
• Runtime: glibc dynamic portable-dir and musl fully-static single binary.
• Delivery: Standalone binary or webman-server.bin + start.sh + lib/ + Webman runtime resources.
• Build mechanism: Pinned Docker builder images aligned with repository release tags.

Future roadmaps include Composer dependency audits, expanded Webman extension fixtures, ARM64 builds/tests, and incremental caching.

🐳 Maintainers: Publishing Docker Builders

Regular users do not need this section. Pushing a Git tag matching vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g. v0.2.1) triggers GitHub Actions to build and push Linux amd64 images automatically:

Git tag v0.2.1  →  GitHub Actions  →  tinywan/typephp-webman-builder:v0.2.1

The repository requires DOCKER_USERNAME and DOCKER_PASSWORD (Docker Hub Access Token) secrets. Workflows only publish exact version tags and do not push latest or floating tags.

See RELEASING.md for details.

🧪 Quality & Testing

Tests are written with Pest, formatted and linted with Mago:

composer test
composer format:check
composer lint
composer analyze
composer check

Tests must not connect to production, shared, or external databases. Tests requiring databases must run in isolated temporary environments (e.g., SQLite :memory:).

🗺️ Documentation & References

• TypePHP AOT Documentation
• TypePHP Plugin Proposal
• Release Guide
• Issue Tracker
• Tinywan

License

MIT © Tinywan