ezinfo.php: who made it and which version #

Part 3, chapter 2. ezinfo.php tells the system and its users what an extension is: its name, version, copyright, license and website. Setup > About, Setup > Extensions and the upgrade checks read it. The reference is Extension metadata; this chapter shows how to write one and the mistakes to avoid.

The file #

extension/mysite_hello/ezinfo.php:

<?php
class mysite_helloInfo
{
    public static function info()
    {
        return array(
            'Name'      => "My Site Hello",
            'Version'   => "1.0.0",
            'Copyright' => "Copyright (C) 2026 Your Organization",
            'License'   => "GNU General Public License v2.0 (or any later version)",
            'Info_url'  => "https://github.com/your-organization/mysite_hello"
        );
    }
}

Keys are matched case-insensitively, so older extensions that write info_url still work; new ones write Info_url.

Who reads it, and in which order #

The reader is expInfo (lib/ezutils/classes/expinfo.php): expInfo::extensionInfo( 'mysite_hello' ) returns the normalized fields name, description, summary, version, copyright, author, license and info_url. It reads:

1. extension.xml first; non-empty values win,
2. then ezinfo.php, for every field extension.xml did not give,
3. then composer.json and the Git origin, for what is still missing.

So both files should exist and agree. A quick check with the kernel loaded:

<?php
// php bin/php/ezexec.php extension/mysite_hello/scripts/info.php
$info = expInfo::extensionInfo( 'mysite_hello' );
eZCLI::instance()->output( $info === false ? 'not found' : $info['name'] . ' ' . $info['version'] );

The PHP 8 trap: bare keys #

Older extensions wrote the keys without quotes. In PHP 5 an undefined constant became its own name with a notice; in PHP 8 it is an Error, and the page that reads the metadata stops. A real fix, from se7enxweb/expsite_installer (commit 0c771fe, "Fixed ezinfo.php, whose keys were bare words that PHP 8 reads as undefined constants and stops on"):

// before
return array( Name => "expsite_installer",
              Version => "1.0.1",
              info_url => "https://github.com/se7enxweb/expsite_installer" );

// after
return array( 'Name' => "expsite_installer",
              'Version' => "1.0.1",
              'Info_url' => "https://github.com/se7enxweb/expsite_installer" );

php -l does not catch this (the file is valid syntax); only running it does. Part 4 has more of these: Modernizing ezinfo.php and extension.xml.

HTML in the values #

Some older extensions put HTML links into Name or Copyright (<a href='...'>). expInfo removes the tags (strip_tags()) when it normalizes the fields, so only the text is shown and the link is lost. Write plain text and use Info_url for the link.

Several copyright holders #

Keep every earlier holder when you take over or fork an extension, and add yourself:

'Copyright' => "Copyright (C) 2011 - 2014 Original Author Organization, 2026 Your Organization",

See Attribution and copyright notices.

Check #

php -l extension/mysite_hello/ezinfo.php
php bin/php/ezexec.php extension/mysite_hello/scripts/info.php

Then open Setup > Extensions: the card shows your name, version, license and website.

At every release #

The Version in ezinfo.php and in extension.xml equals the release version, changed in the commit the tag points at; see Bumping ezinfo.php and extension.xml.

Related pages #

• Previous: The extension directory layout
• Next: extension.xml: metadata and dependencies
• Extension metadata (specification)
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.

Copyright and copyleft #

Since 29 October 2026 the copyright of Exponential is held by the Exponential Foundation and 7x together, the Foundation named first: "Exponential Copyright © 1998-2026 Exponential Foundation and 7x", in files "Copyright (C) 1998 - 2026 Exponential Foundation and 7x. All rights reserved." Who holds it and why, what the GPL lets you do, the third-party notices that stay and how to write the notice in new files and extensions: Copyright and copyleft.