Description: ------------ In both the stable version of MDB (2.4.1) and in beta versions up to and including 2.5.0.b2, the factory method is defined in the PHP using a PHP4-compatible syntax, i.e.: function &factory($dsn, $options = false) MDB2-2.5.0b3 breaks backwards compatibility: if a derived class of MDB2 has declared an overloaded factory() method with a signature matching that in all previous versions of MDB2, this triggers a fatal error in MDB2-2.5.0b3: "Cannot make static method MDB2::factory() non static" Test script: --------------- <?php class myclass extends MDB2 { function &factory($dsn, $options = false) { // do something different to normal } } Expected result: ---------------- Works Actual result: -------------- Fatal error: Cannot make static method MDB2::factory() non static in class myclass in /path/to/myclass.php on line 3

Sorry, as explained on the mailing list, this change was inevitable to have STRICT compatibility with PHP 5.x. All the documentation and examples were declaring this method as static already, now we have a language construct to enforce it. Without the explicit "static" keyword, PHP 5 will complain.