[kwhorne]

The problem

In worker mode, $r['post'] had each field's name as a key, exactly as sent:

• tags[] was a key of its own, and a second tags[] overwrote the first;
• user[name] was never nested.

Laravel saw neither tags nor user in any form with a file input, which are the forms that post multipart. The new smoke probe showed [null, null, null] for tags, user and user.avatar.

The fix

• The shim registers each field with php_register_variable_safe, the way main/rfc1867.c builds $_POST:
  • [] appends and [x] nests;
  • a repeated name keeps its last value;
  • . and space in a top-level name become _;
  • at most max_input_vars fields.
• Not through sapi_module.input_filter, unlike rfc1867. I found this while testing: ext/filter's filter writes POST variables into the real $_POST and its filter_input() store, then returns 0. In a worker, which is one request that never ends, that would grow with every request and carry fields from one request into the next. The only thing skipped is filter.default, which PHP has deprecated.
• The max_input_vars warning goes to stderr. Raised inside askr_handle_request(), an app's error handler would turn it into an exception in the middle of the worker loop.
• laravel-worker.php nests the files the same way, with one parse_str() of the field names. user[avatar] now reaches $request->file('user.avatar'); before, only name and name[] worked.

Verification

• e2e a_worker_s_post_fields_are_shaped_as_php_shapes_post uses PHP itself as the oracle: the same body is sent to a per-request server, where PHP builds $_POST.

  • A second request shows that nothing carries over, and that the worker's own $_POST is never written.

  • It fails on the old shim:

    left:  {"tags[]":"b","note":"again","user[name]":"kh",...,"a.b":"1","x y":"2",...}
    right: {"tags":["a","b"],"note":"again","user":{"name":"kh","roles":["admin"]},"a_b":"1","x_y":"2","arr":{"k.l":"3"}}
    

• Laravel smoke: tags[], user[name] and user[avatar] reach Laravel. Passes on Laravel 12 and on a fresh Laravel 13.
• phpt: all 32 as expected.

A worker script that read raw names ($r['post']['tags[]']) now gets PHP's shape. That is in the CHANGELOG.