Milestone: Self-host — compile php-compiler with php-compiler (bootstrap)

[PurHur]

Problem

The compiler runs on PHP today; compile times dominate JIT benchmarks. Long-term, the compiler should compile a subset of itself to native code.

Goal (stretch)

bin/compile.php successfully builds a native binary from a defined subset of lib/Compiler.php + dependencies.

Phased approach

Phase A — Inventory

• Script listing files/functions needed for bin/vm.php minimal path
• Mark unsupported constructs per file

Phase B — Subset compiler

• "bootstrap profile" disabling unsupported opcodes
• CI job: compile.php -l on bootstrap file list

Phase C — Run native VM

• Native binary runs 000-HelloWorld example
• Document gap list

Non-goals (initially)

• Full FFI/LLVM pipeline self-hosted
• Compiling all of vendor/

Dependencies

Most Phase 2 language issues, #174 LLVM stability

Tracking

Link progress in #78 roadmap; do not block #67 on this.

[PurHur]

Phase A complete via merged PR #238.

• script/bootstrap-inventory.php scans the bin/vm.php path (lib/, ext/, src/, entry shims) and flags constructs that block bootstrap AOT compile.
• docs/bootstrap-inventory.md is generated and checked in CI (script/bootstrap-inventory.php --check).
• Summary: 188 PHP files, 10 source blockers (try/catch, yield, etc.), 501 warnings (mostly class-method counts).

Remaining for this milestone: Phase B (bootstrap profile + compile.php -l gate) and Phase C (native binary runs HelloWorld).