Use zend.assertions PHP setting instead of assert.active

Problem/Motivation

Drupal uses the PHP setting assert.active to disable assert() evaluation in the .htaccess file:

php_value assert.active 0

However, PHP documentation says "zend.assertions should be used instead to control the behaviour of assert()" instead of assert.active.

assert.active has been deprecated in PHP 8.3.

Steps to reproduce

N/A

Proposed resolution

1. Use the zend.assertions PHP setting instead.

   The doc states:

   When set to 1, assertion code will be generated and executed (development mode). When set to 0, assertion code will be generated but it will be skipped (not executed) at runtime. When set to -1, assertion code will not be generated, making the assertions zero-cost (production mode).

   What value should be used in zend.assertions? The wiki page Runtime Assertions already instructs to use -1 for production servers and 1 for development servers. It seems the safer value is -1 (no assertion code generated while code is being interpreted). However, this could impact sites relying in assert for tests or other checks.

   To do this, .htaccess file should be updated (in the root bolder and in core/assets/sca‎ffold/files‎).

   NOTE: This issue comes from #2463967: Add .user.ini. There a user.ini file is being added. Both issues should be in sync (if user.ini is added, here we should update user.ini as well; if this issue is committed that issue needs to be updated with the PHP settings usage).

2. Update documentation

   The previously linked wiki page Runtime Assertions instructs to also use assert.active. It should be updated, removing or stating that setting is not required anymore.

Remaining tasks

Decide what value to use on zend.assertions.

Provide patch.

User interface changes

None.

API changes

None.

Data model changes

None.

Release notes snippet

TBD