During September 2025, Joe Watkins focused on stabilizing PHP core behavior in the php/php-src repository by reinstating sanity checks for include and require operations. He reverted a previous change that had removed these checks, restoring robust error handling and aligning the logic with existing stream wrapper mechanisms. This work, implemented in C and PHP, involved cleaning up related test files to ensure the test suite accurately reflected the corrected behavior. By addressing this core bug, Joe improved consistency in error reporting and reduced silent failures, enhancing the reliability of include and require operations for both developers and downstream applications.