Letting PHP errors make their way

Question

I'm developing a very simple but (hopefully) solid framework that just fits my needs. No more things then the really needed one. I know that someone of you might find me the last "re inventor of the wheel", but I believe in this project and I think that other framework are complex for no reason some times; and we all know that bugs and errors grow exponentially as the framework complexity.

I came to the problem of handling errors: PHP errors, framework errors (PHP errors group) etc. There are a lot of ways to do that but I usually prefer the simple one.

Should I manage all the PHP errors that can occur during the initialization of the framework with Exceptions or set_error_handler() or should I build a simple error handler that show (if we are in developer mode) or log (if we are not in developer mode) the errors?

For example:

include('file.php'); // required files for the application

should I check for it and return "nice looking" error messages such as "The framework cannot run because a file is missing". Or should I let PHP error trigger its own error? How would you manage this type or errors?

I would say that "bugs and errors" mainly come from reinventing the wheel... — Oliver Charlesworth
– Oliver Charlesworth, Commented Dec 10, 2011 at 20:01
Remember, you're using PHP, so you can make a nicely formatted HTML+CSS error log :) — Brigand
– Brigand, Commented Dec 10, 2011 at 20:08

Your Common Sense · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-10 20:29:47Z

Look, you are just mixing the matters.

There are actually two persons you have to notify

A programmer
A user.

Understanding that, you will see that there is no problem what to choose: both.

For the programmer, the default PHP handler is enough. Driven with display_errors and log_errors settings PHP will do exactly what you want: show (if we are in developer mode) or log (if we are not in developer mode) the errors.

For the user (and a search engine) a "nice looking" 503 error page is obligatory. Of course, without whatever details like "file is missing". Just an apology page.

The only question is how to trigger that. A good reason to make use of a custom error handler.

middus · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-10 20:02:50Z

Leaking php errors can be quite dangerous security-wise, because it can reveal the innards of your application and server. It is generally good practice to switch display_errors Off for production and use a custom error handler instead. For development, it does not really matter.

I will cite the php doc on display_errors:

This is a feature to support your development and should never be used on production systems (e.g. systems connected to the internet).

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