[ealexhudson]

I don't think the title is correct: JSON being pulled is not mentioned in http://php.net/manual/en/migration55.changes.php

It is probably the case that in common Linux distributions, the build of PHP has the relevant functionality removed, as the license does obviously conflict.

It's a shame that only IBM gets dispensation to do evil :(

[wendall911]

Here is a better summary of the situation: http://liorkaplan.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/bye-bye-non-free-...

[bilalq]

Thanks, that cleared things up quite a bit. It seems that it is isolated to Debian unstable. Even that problem should be resolved soon through an alternative JSON extension.