How to implement acquaintance and aggregate as described by the Gang of Four

Question

Is the following implementation in PHP correct?

I focused on what they say about the lifetime of dependencies:

“Aggregation implies that an aggregate object and its owner have identical lifetimes.“

The implementation of acquaintance:

    class B {}
    class A
    {
        /**
         * @var B
         */
        private $b;

        // $b can be injected to $a via a constructor
        public function __construct(B $b)
        {
            $this->b = $b;

            // this is not possible and would be an aggregation relationship
            // $this->b = new B();
        }

        // $b can also be injected to $a via a setter
        public function setB(B $b)
        {
            $this->b = $b;
        }
    }

The implementation of aggregation:

    class B {}
    class A
    {
        /**
         * @var B
         */
        private $b;

        // $b is instantiated in the constructor (the lifetime of $b is the same as of $a)
        public function __construct()
        {
            $this->b = new B();
        }
    }

Answer 1

Thinking about lifetimes is not that relevant in PHP because the language has automatic memory management. That is more of a C++ thing.

Your second solution is aggregation-ish because the B object doesn't have to exist beyond the A object's lifetime. But if the B object were accessible externally, some external code could hold on to the B reference and extend its lifetime. This can be the case in your first solution because the object is provided externally. However, depending on how they are intended to be used, either of the approaches could be an example of aggregation.

The important parts of the GoF book are not so much the definition of aggregation but the parts where they describe general principles for solving problems through object-oriented techniques.