CI: run PHPUnit with opcache.enable_cli=1 for faster, more realistic test runs

[satwareAG-ironMike]

Context

While verifying Bergmann's OPcache optimizer article (phpunit.expert, 2026-08-26) we confirmed on PHP 8.5.9 that:

• opcache.enable_cli defaults to 0, so PHPUnit runs execute unoptimized bytecode (~14% slower on suite-like workloads, 21% on a call-heavy microbench of 30M userland calls: min 1191 ms vs 1515 ms).
• Enabling it makes CI runs faster AND exercises the same optimized handler paths production uses (type-specialized handlers are selected whenever OPcache loads).

Proposal

In CI workflows (and optionally composer test scripts), enable the CLI optimizer explicitly:

php -d opcache.enable_cli=1 -d opcache.optimization_level=0x7FFEBFFF vendor/bin/phpunit

Note: pinning optimization_level matters - at least one workstation was found silently running with it zeroed (harness issue tracked separately). Sibling repo doctrine-firebird-driver has the same pattern and may want the same change.

Acceptance criteria

• CI job measures suite time before/after enabling; keep if stable improvement
• Flags documented where contributors will find them (CI yaml comment or docs)

Filed from satware.ai/harness findings session 2026-08-26.

[satwareAG-ironMike]

Measured on this repo's actual PHPUnit workload - no stable improvement, flags not applied.

A/B (php84-fb3 container, driver suite subset: TransactionTest + ExceptionTest + BatchTest + BooleanBindingTest, 49 tests / 72 assertions, same code both variants)

run	baseline (s)	opcache.enable_cli=1 (s)
1	2.817	10.965 (one-time compile pass)
2	2.895	2.949
3	2.844	2.982

Median: 2.844 vs 2.949 - the opcache variant is within noise, marginally slower. Memory: 18 MB vs 14 MB (only real effect).

Why the 14% claim does not transfer

The doctrine-firebird-driver suite (the only PHPUnit workload in this repo's CI, run via doctrine-downstream) is dominated by C-extension calls + Firebird wire I/O, not userland bytecode. The type-specialized handler win applies to call-heavy userland code.

Per the acceptance criteria ("keep if stable improvement"): keeping the workflow unchanged. Reopen if the CI mix changes toward userland-heavy suites.