Application Container & Architecture Migration

TorrentPier has introduced a modern application architecture with a full-featured dependency injection container, service providers, and a modular bootstrap pipeline. This provides better testability, explicit dependencies, and cleaner code organization.

No Code Changes Required (for most users)

Important: All existing helper functions (config(), DB(), CACHE(), request(), etc.) continue to work exactly as before. This is an internal modernization that requires zero code changes for standard usage.

Key Improvements

Modern Foundation

• DI Container: Centralized service resolution with auto-wiring support
• Service Providers: Modular service registration with register() and boot() lifecycle
• Bootstrap Pipeline: Explicit, ordered application initialization
• Fluent Configuration: Clean, expressive bootstrap/app.php setup

Enhanced Architecture

• Testability: Services can be mocked and replaced for testing
• Explicit Dependencies: No hidden global state or magic singletons
• Memory Efficiency: Shared service instances managed by container
• IDE Support: Better autocompletion and type inference

Application Container (src/Application.php)

The new Application class serves as the central DI container:

// Get the application instance
$app = app();

// Resolve services from container
$database = app(Database::class);
$config = app(Config::class);

// Or use the familiar helper functions (unchanged)
$database = DB();
$config = config();

Path Helpers

app()->basePath();      // /path/to/torrentpier
app()->appPath();       // /path/to/torrentpier/app
app()->configPath();    // /path/to/torrentpier/config
app()->publicPath();    // /path/to/torrentpier/public
app()->storagePath();   // /path/to/torrentpier/storage
app()->resourcePath();  // /path/to/torrentpier/resources
app()->databasePath();  // /path/to/torrentpier/database

Environment Helpers

app()->isDebug();       // Check if debug mode is enabled
app()->isBooted();      // Check if application has booted
app()->environment();   // Get current environment (production/development)

Service Providers (app/Providers/)

Services are now registered through dedicated providers:

Provider	Responsibility
ConfigServiceProvider	Configuration management
DatabaseServiceProvider	Database connections
CacheServiceProvider	Unified caching system
SessionServiceProvider	User sessions
HttpServiceProvider	HTTP kernel, router, request handling
TemplateServiceProvider	Twig template engine
LegacyServiceProvider	BBCode, Html, User, LogAction
SearchServiceProvider	Manticore search integration
AppServiceProvider	Application-specific bindings

Creating Custom Providers

<?php

namespace App\Providers;

use TorrentPier\ServiceProvider;

class MyCustomServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function register(): void
    {
        // Register bindings (called immediately)
        $this->app->singleton(MyService::class, function ($app) {
            return new MyService($app->make(Config::class));
        });
    }

    public function boot(): void
    {
        // Bootstrap logic (called after all providers registered)
        // Safe to use other services here
    }
}

Add your provider to bootstrap/providers.php:

return [
    // ... existing providers
    App\Providers\MyCustomServiceProvider::class,
];

Bootstrap Pipeline (app/Bootstrap/)

Application initialization follows explicit order:

1. LoadEnvironmentVariables - .env loading, base constants (TIMESTART, TIMENOW, BB_PATH)
2. SetTrustedProxies - CDN/proxy IP extraction (Cloudflare, Fastly, etc.)
3. LoadConfiguration - Config files, FORUM_PATH definition
4. RegisterHelpers - Helper functions (app(), config(), DB(), request())
5. HandleExceptions - Whoops & Tracy error handlers
6. RegisterProviders - Service provider registration
7. BootProviders - Service provider boot phase
8. BootApplication - Legacy initialization (init_bb.php)

Fluent Configuration (bootstrap/app.php)

Application setup uses a clean, expressive API:

return Application::configure(basePath: dirname(__DIR__))
    ->withBootstrappers([
        LoadEnvironmentVariables::class,
        SetTrustedProxies::class,
        LoadConfiguration::class,
        // ...
    ])
    ->withRouting(
        web: __DIR__ . '/../routes/web.php',
        admin: __DIR__ . '/../routes/admin.php',
        tracker: __DIR__ . '/../routes/tracker.php',
    )
    ->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware): void {
        $middleware->alias('auth', Authenticate::class);
    })
    ->withExceptions(function (Handler $exceptions): void {
        // Custom exception handling
    })
    ->create();

Singleton Migration

All major classes migrated from singleton pattern to DI:

Before	After
Config::getInstance()	app(Config::class) or config()
Database::getInstance()	app(Database::class) or DB()
User::getInstance()	app(User::class) or user()
UnifiedCacheSystem::getInstance()	app(UnifiedCacheSystem::class)
Template::getInstance()	app(Template::class) or template()
Language::getInstance()	app(Language::class) or lang()
Censor::getInstance()	app(Censor::class) or censor()

HTTP Kernel & Middleware

Middleware Configuration

// In bootstrap/app.php
->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware): void {
    // Add to web middleware group
    $middleware->web(append: [
        StartSession::class,
    ]);

    // Define middleware aliases
    $middleware->alias('auth', Authenticate::class);
    $middleware->alias('session', StartSession::class);
})

Available Middleware

• StartSession - Starts user session and initializes locale
• Authenticate - Requires authenticated user
• BootTracker - Boots tracker environment for announce/scrape

Entry Point Changes

All requests now go through the front controller:

// public/index.php
require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';

$app = require_once __DIR__ . '/../bootstrap/app.php';
$app->handleRequest();

Important

Direct script access (e.g., /viewtopic.php) is redirected to clean URLs by the web server.

Breaking Changes

Removed Files

• library/common.php - Replaced by bootstrap pipeline
• src/Env.php - Environment handling moved to bootstrapper
• src/Database/DatabaseFactory.php - Replaced by DI
• src/Router/FrontController.php - Replaced by Application
• public/bt/announce.php, public/bt/scrape.php - Replaced by controllers

Removed Constants

• IN_DEMO_MODE - Use app()->isDebug() or environment checks

Removed Functions

• utime() - Use microtime(true)
• str_compact() - Use Illuminate\Support\Str::squish()
• make_rand_str() - Use Illuminate\Support\Str::random()

Verification

To verify the migration is working correctly:

// Test container resolution
$app = app();
echo "App booted: " . ($app->isBooted() ? 'yes' : 'no');

// Test service resolution
$config = app(TorrentPier\Config::class);
echo "Site name: " . $config->get('sitename');

// Test helper functions (unchanged)
echo "DB version: " . DB()->server_version();
echo "Cache test: " . (CACHE('bb_cache')->get('test') ?? 'empty');

// Test path helpers
echo "Base path: " . app()->basePath();
echo "Storage path: " . app()->storagePath();

Migration for Custom Code

If you have custom code using old patterns:

// Old singleton pattern
$db = TorrentPier\Database\Database::getInstance();

// New DI pattern
$db = app(TorrentPier\Database\Database::class);

// Or use helper (recommended)
$db = DB();

For dependency injection in your classes:

// Old way - hidden dependencies
class MyService {
    public function doSomething() {
        $db = DB();  // Hidden dependency
    }
}

// New way - explicit dependencies
class MyService {
    public function __construct(
        private Database $db,
        private Config $config
    ) {}

    public function doSomething() {
        $this->db->sql_query(...);
    }
}

// Register in a service provider
$this->app->singleton(MyService::class);  // Auto-wired!