Choice of a PHP framework for LimeSurvey 2

Criteria

Criteria	Weight (1-5)	Symfony 2	Yii
Ease of use, low learning curve	5		X
Native support of Postgres/mySQL/MSSQL database systems	5	X	X
Handles some form of namespacing	5	X	X
Supports creation of an application installer which handles DB setup properly without using commandline or weird workarounds	5	X	X
Pluggable authentication system	4	X	X
Activity and maturity	4	X	X
DB Active Records handling similar to CodeIgniter	3		X
Handles real 5.3 namespaces	2	X	X
XML-RPC server support or support for a similar RESTful API (not SOAP)	2	X	X
Native PHP views	5	X	X
Templating engine	4	X	X
Support for different template engines	2	X	X
CLI support	3	X	X
ORM support	2	X	X
Unit tests	X	X	X
Clean separation between Framework/Application Configuration and User Configuration (Administrative Configuration)	5	X	X
Clean separation between Framework Code and Application Code	5	X	X
Thoughtfull library folder layout for integration with LimesSurvey and 3rd Party Libraries (incl. Autoload)	4	X	X

Must-haves

• GPL compatible license
• Support of Postgres/mySQL/MSSQL database systems
• MVC model
• Requires at least PHP 5.1

Non-criteria

• ACL (because LimeSurvey provides it's own CRUD ACL)

Other resources

1. List & comparison of web frameworks
2. Best Lightweight PHP Frameworks of 2010
3. Short comparison Yii - CI
4. Short comparison Yii - CI #2
5. Blog article "Yii vs CodeIgniter
6. Short summary of PHP frameworks (Germany, 02-2011)
7. Blog post "Yii vs CodeIgniter vs Simfony