Consistent usage of return values and success

Hi,

I've been having problems with how return values and success bools are getting mixed throughout the code, first here are some examples:

1. The default bootstrap.php suggests, that Configure::config() and Configure::load() have no return values, but throw exceptions.

The truth is, load() returns a bool, config() returns void, and both don't throw any exceptions.

2. Functions like Configure::write() or Configure::clear() have a bool return value, thus suggesting me that I have to check it and apply error handling.

However, they can't possibly ever fail and should both return void.

3. As already mentioned in https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/issues/3284, using one variable for both return value and success checking leads to trouble.

Another example here: https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/blob/3.0/src/Cache/Engine/ApcEngine.php#L85

The phpdoc says "false if the data doesn't exist" which is wrong. Correct would be using a referenced $success variable, see http://www.php.net/manual/de/function.apc-fetch.php.

The success value would have to propagate down through the base classes in the same way: mixed Cache::read($key, &$success)

4. Another possibilty would be using exceptions, but this is a choice of design.

To sum it up: Nice would be having some consistency, so it's always clear by looking at the function declaration what really happens. I was also surprised finding the handling of "display_errors" setting in Configure::write(), without being mentioned in phpdoc. This implied, that Configure::load() *had* to use Configure::write() in order to set display_errors in order to work (see https://github.com/pschiel/cakephp/commit/d7f5cc08de1c15cea1ec0ac762ed4cbe389e7248 )

What are your thoughts?

Regards,

Patrick

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