Thanks for the suggestion. We've actually decide to go 
with SQLite instead. See http://www.php.net/sqlite.

Thanks, but I think I am being misunderstood here: SQLite is a stand-alone DBMS, which definitely has its place, but is not at all in the same problem domain as a database abstraction layer to allow unified methods for interacting with various server-based database systems. (http://php.net/dbx). My point is, at present PHP has no existing *built-in* standardization of database access. DBX is already available, it is a well-tested solution, and it is a very small addition to the standard PHP build, because it is really a thin layer over the existing database modules.

DBX has only a few functions, but these functions are all that is really needed for true relational DBMS interaction, because all serious logic should be handled on the database side. Also, by default DBX returns all results in object form, making it a natural for the strong OO capabilities of PHP5.

As a long-time user of PHP (since 1999), I strongly urge the PHP development team to consider this.

I've changed this from bogus=>open as amt misunderstood the feature request.
Feel free to close this with a valid reason (or actually bundle it, but then, I'm biased :)

BTW, the dbx version in cvs already contains support for SQLite.

Version 4.3 is a stable version where we do not do further featzre changes.

PHP 5.0 is in feature freeze mode too. But there is a new database abstraction extension in development. It may be ready for PHP 5.1. So please be patient.