Symfony polyfill for the Iconv extension
1.8k
Stars
10
Forks
0
Open issues
21
Contributors
AI Analysis
This Symfony component provides a native PHP implementation of the iconv character encoding conversion functions, serving as a fallback when the native iconv extension is unavailable. It is specialized for developers maintaining PHP applications that require cross-platform character encoding support, particularly useful in environments where the iconv extension cannot be installed. This tool is not for general-purpose web development but rather for library authors and framework developers who...
Inferred from signals mentioned in the README (tests, CI, type safety) — not a review of the actual code.
AI's overall editorial judgment — not an average of the bars above, can weigh other factors too.
PHP polyfill for iconv character encoding functions, maintained as part of Symfony's ecosystem
symfony/polyfill-iconv provides a pure PHP implementation of PHP's native iconv extension functions, enabling character encoding conversion on systems where the iconv extension is unavailable or disabled. It is part of Symfony's polyfill suite—a collection of standardized fallbacks for missing PHP extensions. Adoption appears concentrated within the Symfony ecosystem and projects that depend on Symfony components. Real-world adoption metrics are not publicly documented.
Created in October 2015 as part of Symfony's broader polyfill initiative to address missing or inconsistent PHP extensions across hosting environments. The polyfill suite emerged from Symfony's goal of providing portable, dependency-light components that work across diverse PHP configurations.
1,761 stars indicates modest, stable presence within the PHP ecosystem. Growth has been flat relative to sibling polyfills (e.g., polyfill-mbstring has 7,830 stars), suggesting this solves a less common gap than multibyte string handling. Last commit in April 2026 indicates ongoing, though not frequent, maintenance.
Adoption not verified. The project is part of the official Symfony organization and likely used transitively by projects requiring Symfony components, but explicit production usage, case studies, or adoption figures are not documented in the README or public metadata.
Based on README, this appears to be a thin wrapper around iconv's core character conversion functions. The README notes it does not implement `ob_iconv_handler` (output buffering integration), suggesting selective scope. Likely implements functions like `iconv()`, `iconv_get_encoding()`, and `iconv_set_encoding()` as pure PHP or through fallback mechanisms.
Not documented in provided README excerpt. Test coverage details are not available.
Last push on 2026-04-26 (approximately 67 days before evaluation date) indicates the project is actively maintained but not under continuous active development. No zero-stars-in-7-days signal suggests low churn. Maintenance appears reactive rather than feature-driven.
ADOPT IF: your application requires character set conversion beyond UTF-8, you use Symfony components, and you need to ensure compatibility on servers without the iconv extension installed. AVOID IF: your primary need is UTF-8 handling (use polyfill-mbstring instead), you have control over your hosting environment and can require the native iconv extension, or you do not depend on Symfony. MONITOR IF: you maintain a library that must support environments without iconv and you want to assess whether this mature, maintained polyfill reduces your own maintenance burden.
Independent dimensions
Mainstream potential
2/10
Technical importance
5/10
Adoption evidence
2/10
- Narrow scope: solves character set conversion, but only when iconv extension is absent. If the extension is available (common on most hosting), this polyfill adds unused code.
- Performance: pure PHP fallback will be significantly slower than native C-based iconv extension. Not suitable for high-throughput encoding tasks.
- Incomplete scope: README explicitly notes `ob_iconv_handler` is not implemented, limiting use cases involving output buffering stream handlers.
- Limited adoption transparency: no documented real-world usage metrics, case studies, or community feedback makes it difficult to assess how widely this is relied upon beyond Symfony itself.
- Dependency lock-in: adopting this as a dependency couples your project to Symfony's maintenance and versioning decisions for a relatively narrow function.
Likely to remain a niche utility within the Symfony ecosystem, maintained indefinitely but not seeing significant growth. Adoption will remain tied to Symfony's ecosystem growth and the ongoing prevalence of legacy character set conversion requirements.
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Information
- Language
- PHP
- License
- MIT
- Last updated
- 2mo ago
- Created
- 130mo ago
- Analyzed with
- anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5
Stars over time
Contributors over time
Top 100 contributors only — repos with more will plateau at 100.
Top contributors
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7,830 stars vs. 1,761. Multibyte string handling solves a broader, more common problem (UTF-8 handling in legacy environments). iconv targets a narrower use case (character set conversion beyond just UTF-8).
2,072 stars vs. 1,761. Similar scope (text encoding/normalization). Intl-normalizer likely addresses a more standardized, widely-expected need (Unicode normalization) than iconv's broader conversion capability.
4,043 stars vs. 1,761. Ctype (character type classification) appears more universally needed than iconv. Iconv is often used only when legacy character set migration is required.
Canonical solution. Polyfill-iconv is a fallback for environments where the PECL/native iconv extension is unavailable, not a replacement for the native implementation.
Alternative for UTF-8 conversion. Many projects use mbstring's functions instead of iconv when available, as mbstring is more commonly installed. Iconv targets character sets beyond UTF-8.