Undefined array key in PHP 8.0

[frauklee]

When using ILIAS with php 8.0 the error
‘ErrorException (E_WARNING)Undefined array key "imagefile_delete"’
occurs during various actions.

Steps to reproduce:

• save existing question without changes

1. call up existing assPaintQuestion
2. questions > click on question + edit question
3. save: Error: Undefined array key ‘imagefile_delete’

• create a new character question

1. create an assPaintQuestin question in the test or questionpool
2. questions > create question + question type: assPaintQuestion
3. fill in all mandatory fields > save > error: Undefined array key ‘imagefile_delete’

[Rillke]

this still being an issue in ilias9 i wonder if llz should drop this plugin

[kyro46]

Thank you for sharing your proposal. Your first pull request left me quite reluctant, but I'm certainly not against tested and universally applicable contributions. The priority of warnings and deprecation notices, since normally set to non‑fatal in productive environments, sometimes gets the short end of the stick — and this project is no exception, especially since releases are fixed to certain PHP versions so sudden transitions to errors should be rare and are not the case here.

ILIAS 9 is two weeks before the end of full maintenance and I suppose you want to roll it out right now, in hopes for a time-tested base. Yet, despite the core-ILIAS having so many dedicated devs behind it, all working to their best effort, there are some long standing issues within the core more serious than E_WARNINGS. We are all just ordinary people. But I believe you know all that. I wonder if your thoughts about keeping the core-software are the same.

That said, I went through the code and patched a number of lines in branch ilias_9_dev that should, of course, preferably not throw any warnings and hope I got them all. I don't know why your server stumbled over those above but not over others. If it no longer raises any warnings, I'll merge it into the 9 and 10 main branches so keep me updated.

[pawohl]

Thanks for the prompt reply and for patching the ilias_9_dev branch. I really appreciate you taking the time to address these, especially given the weight of maintaining those plugins over so many years now while the core 's test and assessment underwent significant changes and brought difficulties to question plugin developers.

To give some context on why we’re being "picky" about warnings: with the transition to PHP 8.0, the language has become much less forgiving. We run strict error reporting in our testing environments because an undefined array key is often a "canary in the coal mine"—it can lead to unexpected branching or null-pointer issues later in the execution flow. Even if production suppresses the display, we log everything to catch these logic gaps before they hit the users and prefer getting alerts in case they occur.

Regarding the timing: you’re right, we are moving to ILIAS 9 now out of necessity. With staffing changes and ILIAS 8 hitting end-of-life for security, we have to stay aligned with upstream to keep our maintenance manageable. Backporting fixes manually is a luxury we don't have right now.

My earlier comment about "dropping the plugin" wasn't a slight against your work, but rather a reflection of the internal pressure we face. When we hit errors (even warnings) during migrations, our stakeholders start asking if we should move to other platforms like Moodle or Stud.IP. We would much rather stay with a stable, well-maintained ILIAS ecosystem.

We completely agree that OSS contributors should be better rewarded. The irony of the public sector is that it’s often easier to navigate a massive procurement for proprietary software than it is to get a small, fair payment to a dedicated developer for their time.

We’ll test the new branch and keep you updated. Our server likely caught these specific paths due to our manual testing protocols; we'll let you know if any other "ghosts in the machine" appear.

Best regards