magdev
f132c3c9b6
Symptom (user report on v0.1.1):
QProcess: Destroyed while process ("/tmp/.mount_Todo-xbNoHHL/usr/bin/frankenphp") is still running.
…and the frankenphp child + its PHP workers were left orphaned after
the host exited.
Cause: teardownChild() was only called from ~BackendConnection. By
the time that destructor runs, app.exec() has already returned,
QQmlApplicationEngine is mid-destruction, and Qt's event loop is
half-torn-down. waitForFinished() doesn't reliably reap the child in
that window — QProcess gets destroyed by the QObject parent-chain
cleanup before the kernel reports the child as exited.
Fix: in BackendConnection's constructor, connect
QCoreApplication::aboutToQuit → teardownChild. aboutToQuit fires
while the event loop is still active and BEFORE main() starts
unwinding the stack, so SIGTERM + waitForFinished can do their job
properly. The destructor's teardownChild call stays as belt-and-
suspenders (no-op once aboutToQuit has already cleaned up — the
function is idempotent via the m_child = nullptr at its end).
The connect happens unconditionally in the constructor (not just for
bundled mode) because m_child is also nullptr in dev mode and
teardownChild handles that with its leading `if (!m_child) return;`.
Regression guard: examples/todo/tests/bundled-supervisor.sh gains a
"graceful shutdown" step:
- Snapshots the host's child PIDs before SIGTERM
- SIGTERMs the host, waits up to 3s for clean exit
- Greps the host log for "QProcess: Destroyed while" — fail if found
- Iterates the snapshotted PIDs, fails on any frankenphp orphan still alive
Verified locally: real AppImage + the integration test both clean up
without Qt warnings or orphan processes.
PLAN.md: new v0.1.2 section above v0.1.1, this is its first entry.
CHANGELOG.md: [0.1.2] — TBD section with the same Fixed entry.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
php-qml
A framework for native desktop applications with a Symfony / FrankenPHP backend and a Qt / QML frontend, packaged as a single distributable per OS.
Status: Phase 5 / pre-v0.1.0. Phases 0–4a are merged (working framework, real POC, Linux AppImage, auto-update, release CI). macOS and Windows packaging are deferred to 4b/4c. See CHANGELOG.md.
What it is
php-qml lets a PHP developer write a desktop app using ordinary Symfony on the backend and ordinary QML on the frontend. The two halves run as a process pair inside one bundled binary:
- A Qt/QML host owns the window, input, and rendering.
- A bundled FrankenPHP child runs a Symfony app in worker mode.
- They communicate over a local socket — HTTP for commands and queries, Mercure SSE for state push.
It is not a PHP↔Qt language binding — the languages run in separate processes; the bridge is a wire protocol, not an FFI layer. That deliberately avoids the failure mode that left php-gtk and php-qt unmaintained.
60-second tour
git clone https://src.bundespruefstelle.ch/magdev/php-qml && cd php-qml
# Scaffold a fresh app
./bin/php-qml-init my-app
# Run it
cd my-app
make doctor # readiness check
make dev # FrankenPHP --watch + Qt host
Add a reactive resource (entity + REST controller + QML snippet) with one maker:
cd my-app/symfony
bin/console make:bridge:resource Todo
bin/console make:migration && bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate -n
make dev opens the Qt window, connection state flips to Online, and the generated TodoList.qml shows a list whose ReactiveListModel is auto-subscribed to app://model/todo over Mercure. There is no handwritten cross-side glue.
For a non-trivial app with a multi-window test, crash-recovery test, and AppImage packaging, see examples/todo/.
Documentation
The full developer documentation lives under docs/:
- Getting started — prerequisites by distro, first project, troubleshooting.
- Architecture — process pair, transport, dev vs bundled mode.
- Update semantics — connection state machine, optimistic mutations, idempotency.
- Reactive models —
ReactiveListModel,ReactiveObject, Mercure dual-publish. - Makers —
make:bridge:resource/command/window. - Dev workflow — hot reload, dev console, editor setup,
bridge:doctor. - Bundled mode — supervisor, per-session secret rotation, first-launch migrations.
- Linux packaging —
make appimage, auto-update, performance budgets. - Configuration reference — env vars, CLI flags.
- QML API reference / PHP API reference — singletons, components, attributes, services.
Design rationale and roadmap live in PLAN.md. User-facing changes per release are in CHANGELOG.md.
Tech stack
PHP 8.4+ · Symfony 8 · Doctrine ORM 3 · FrankenPHP 1.12+ (worker mode) · Mercure · Qt 6.5+ · CMake · Composer · Gitea Actions
Roadmap
- Phase 0 ✅ throwaway transport spike.
- Phase 1 ✅ framework skeleton, dev mode, single-instance lock, CI quality gate.
- Phase 2 ✅ reactive models, update semantics, headline maker.
- Phase 3 ✅ POC todo app, integration + snapshot tests.
- Phase 4a ✅ bundled mode, Linux AppImage, release CI, AppImageUpdate.
- Phase 4b/4c ⏳ macOS / Windows packaging.
- Phase 5 🚧 DX polish — dev console, init script, hot-reload docs, v0.1.0 prep.
Contributing
Active development happens on the dev branch; main only carries release commits. Pull requests target dev.
cd framework/php && composer quality # PHPStan + cs-fixer + PHPUnit
cd examples/todo && make quality # adds qmllint + integration test
A dedicated CONTRIBUTING.md arrives with Phase 5's wrap-up.
Versioning
Semantic Versioning — MAJOR.MINOR.BUGFIX. Pre-v1.0.0, minor bumps may break public API.
License
To be decided before v0.1.0 is tagged. The framework's own code will be permissively licensed; Qt is shipped under LGPL with relinkability obligations — see PLAN.md §12.