I mean, "out of the box" it's broken... but it uses GTK+ and I want to make desktop applications with PHP that don't require end users to mess with a command prompt.

So, is it worthwhile to learn PHP-GTK or should I try something else? Has development on the project been cancelled, or just sitting still?

I ask here because it looks like this is the most active place on the internet for PHP-GTK...

As far as I know it isn't dead. At least when having contact with the devs I get the impression they're working on the next release.

And what you describe isn't a bug. It's mostlikely you using the wrong *.exe (if you're on Windows that is). php.exe is supposed to be used from console, while php-win.exe suppresses the windows command line window.

Further, the web shows PHP-GTK activity, you simply have to watch out for the right places. PS - this is my site: www.terrasco.net

Typically, PHP-GTK app-devs don't have much time to invest in new applications. I work throughout the day and sometimes sit down in the evenings to continue development on my apps (of which some are public, and some others private for my firm). Considering how small the PHP-GTK community web is, we don't get much assistance from other people, ergo, it takes time.

It would have been nice if there can be a robust IDE for PHP-GTK and more support for it in NetBeans.

More so, bringing Glade GUI builder and PHP-GTK together in the same IDE will also help PHP-GTK developers to develop application faster and easily.

Compilation of code too will easy deployment.

There is an installer for PHP, GTK, and PHP-GTK. http://pigii.sourceforge.net/ It worked for me on a windows xp machine without any fuss. The glade user interface came up and seemed to run alright, I didn't save any projects or test it thoroughly, so don't quote me on that. The PHP-GTK demo worked.

The part I have issues with is getting the gtkhtml extension to work with the 2.0.1 release of PHP-GTK. I've seen things around the net, but none of them really work. I suppose you can build GUI applications with PHP-GTK if you're happy with the extensions that work. I don't know. Even Gnome is talking about dropping GTK, and the PHP-GTK website is suffering link rot. I checked out a copy of the PHP-GTK source from subversion, thinking "well, maybe I could compile the php-gtk, php extensions, and gtk extensions. . . myself" My plan was foiled though. It seems the snaps server is down, broken, whatever, and I can't get source from the same version of php as was used to build php-gtk.

So basically I'm looking at
1. GTK's future is on the "should we toss it list" from it's own team.
2. PHP-GTK is what it is, with a sparse manual, and no clear path to upgrade or develop.
3. PHP snapshots of the extensions and code available at the time of PHP-GTK's release, are currently (permanentely??) unavailable.

I saw a little bit about an extension for PHP and QT, but that seems to have gone nowhere.

And then there's COM. . . :( COM is really cool for my windows machine but, word on the streets is that it's useless on a linux box. :(

I wish we could make simple desktop apps with PHP 5.3.6 and some current widget framework.

It is what it is I guess.

GNOME won't drop GTK+. They are developing GTK+ 3 right now, which is in its early stages, and GNOME 3 uses it, so why would they abandon GNOME 3..? They won't.

Our main concern now is php-gtk3, but I believe it will take a few years yet for GTK+ 2 to be dropped.

PHP is now on to 5.4.11, but the PHP in PHP-GTK2 is 5.2.* .
(said to be working with 5.4, but not thoroughly tested)

GTK is now on to 3.6, but the GTK in PHP-GTK2 is 2.6 .

Glade is now on to 3.8.3, but the last version compatible with PHP-GTK2 is 2.16. While it is still documented, the Glade2 package itself is not available. This means you can't use Glade with PHP-GTK2 - Glade3 outputs an .xml file, which you import with GladeXML, but that is not in the PHP-GTK2 package.

The http://gtk.php.net website is hopelessly out of date - most importantly that it doesn't direct you to the latest source/binaries. (https://github.com/php/php-gtk-src)

Setting up on Ubuntu needs a patch, the best fix is described at http://squirrelshaterobots.com/programming/php-gtk/compiling-php-gtk2-on-ubuntu-10/ - should work on Ubuntu 12.10.

The chatroom at irc.freenode.net #php-gtk has people on it, very helpful, but busy.

What it needs is someone to pull it all together and update it.

PHP is now on to 5.4.11, but the PHP in PHP-GTK2 is 5.2.* .
(said to be working with 5.4, but not thoroughly tested)

GTK is now on to 3.6, but the GTK in PHP-GTK2 is 2.6 .

Glade is now on to 3.8.3, but the last version compatible with PHP-GTK2 is 2.16. While it is still documented, the Glade2 package itself is not available. This means you can't use Glade with PHP-GTK2 - Glade3 outputs an .xml file, which you import with GladeXML, but that is not in the PHP-GTK2 package.

The http://gtk.php.net website is hopelessly out of date - most importantly that it doesn't direct you to the latest source/binaries. (https://github.com/php/php-gtk-src)

Setting up on Ubuntu needs a patch, the best fix is described at http://squirrelshaterobots.com/programming/php-gtk/compiling-php-gtk2-on-ubuntu-10/ - should work on Ubuntu 12.10.

The chatroom at irc.freenode.net #php-gtk has people on it, very helpful, but busy.

What it needs is someone to pull it all together and update it.