Commit | Line | Data |
43d4bbc8 |
1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | perl571delta - what's new for perl v5.7.2 |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
6 | |
7 | This document describes differences between the 5.7.1 release and the |
8 | 5.7.2 release. |
9 | |
10 | (To view the differences between the 5.6.0 release and the 5.7.0 |
11 | release, see L<perl570delta>. To view the differences between the |
12 | 5.7.0 release and the 5.7.1 release, see L<perl571delta>.) |
13 | |
14 | =head1 Security Vulnerability Closed |
15 | |
16 | (This change was already made in 5.7.0 but bears repeating here.) |
17 | |
18 | A security vulnerability affecting all Perl versions prior to 5.6.1 |
19 | was found in August 2000. The vulnerability does not affect default |
20 | installations and as far as is known affects only the Linux platform. |
21 | |
22 | You should upgrade your Perl to 5.6.1 as soon as possible. Patches |
267a12e6 |
23 | for earlier releases exist but using the patches require full |
24 | recompilation from the source code anyway, so 5.6.1 is your best |
25 | choice. |
26 | |
43d4bbc8 |
27 | See http://www.cpan.org/src/5.0/sperl-2000-08-05/sperl-2000-08-05.txt |
28 | for more information. |
29 | |
30 | =head1 Incompatible Changes |
31 | |
699e893f |
32 | =head2 64-bit platforms and malloc |
33 | |
267a12e6 |
34 | If your pointers are 64 bits wide, the Perl malloc is no more being |
35 | used because it simply does not work with 8-byte pointers. Also, |
36 | usually the system malloc on such platforms are much better optimized |
37 | for such large memory models than the Perl malloc. |
38 | |
d7b629d9 |
39 | =head2 AIX Dynaloading |
40 | |
41 | The AIX dynaloading now uses the native dlopen interface of AIX, |
42 | (given the AIX is recent enough) instead of the old emulated interface. |
43 | This will probably break backward compatibility with compiled modules. |
44 | |
45 | =head2 Socket Extension Dynamic in VMS |
46 | |
47 | The Socket extension is now dynamically loaded instead of being |
48 | statically built in. This may or may not be a problem with ancient |
49 | TCP/IP stacks of VMS: we do not know since we weren't able to test |
50 | Perl in such configurations. |
51 | |
52 | =head2 Deprecations |
cbb3fa72 |
53 | |
54 | The current user-visible implementation of pseudo-hashes (the weird |
55 | use of the first array element) is deprecated starting from Perl 5.8.0 |
d7b629d9 |
56 | and will be removed in Perl 5.10.0, and the feature will be |
57 | implemented differently. Not only is the current interface rather |
58 | ugly, but the current implementation slows down normal array and hash |
59 | use quite noticeably. The 'fields' pragma interface will remain |
60 | available. |
61 | |
62 | The syntaxes C<@a->[...]> and C<@h->{...}> have now been deprecated. |
cbb3fa72 |
63 | |
267a12e6 |
64 | The suidperl is also considered to be too much a risk to continue |
65 | maintaining and the suidperl code is likely to be removed in a future |
66 | release. |
67 | |
43d4bbc8 |
68 | =head1 Core Enhancements |
69 | |
d7b629d9 |
70 | In general a lot of fixing has happened in the area of Perl's |
71 | understanding of numbers, both integer and floating point. Since in |
72 | many systems the standard number parsing functions like C<strtoul()> |
73 | and C<atof()> seem to have bugs, Perl tries to work around their |
74 | deficiencies. This results hopefully in more accurate numbers. |
267a12e6 |
75 | |
76 | =over 4 |
77 | |
78 | =item * |
79 | |
80 | The rules for allowing underscores (underbars) in numeric constants |
81 | have been relaxed and simplified: now you can have an underscore |
82 | B<between digits>. |
83 | |
84 | =item * |
85 | |
d7b629d9 |
86 | GMAGIC (right-hand side magic) could in many cases such as concatenation |
87 | of string be invoked too many times. |
267a12e6 |
88 | |
89 | =item * |
90 | |
d7b629d9 |
91 | Lexicals I: lexicals outside an eval "" weren't resolved |
92 | correctly inside a subroutine definition inside the eval "" if they |
93 | were not already referenced in the top level of the eval""ed code. |
94 | |
95 | =item * |
96 | |
97 | Lexicals II: lexicals leaked at file scope into subroutines that |
98 | were declared before the lexicals. |
99 | |
100 | =item * |
101 | |
102 | Lvalue subroutines can now return C<undef> in list context. |
267a12e6 |
103 | |
104 | =item * |
105 | |
106 | The MAGIC constants (e.g. C<'P'>) have been macrofied |
107 | (e.g. C<PERL_MAGIC_TIED>) for better source code readability |
108 | and maintainability. |
109 | |
110 | =item * |
111 | |
112 | The C<op_clear> and C<op_null> are now exported. |
113 | |
114 | =item * |
115 | |
699e893f |
116 | L<utime> now supports C<utime undef, undef, @files> to change the |
d7b629d9 |
117 | file timestamps to the current time. |
699e893f |
118 | |
119 | =item * |
120 | |
267a12e6 |
121 | The Perl parser has been stress tested using both random input and |
122 | Markov chain input. |
123 | |
d7b629d9 |
124 | =item * |
125 | |
126 | C<eval "v200"> now works. |
127 | |
128 | =item * |
129 | |
130 | VMS now works under PerlIO. |
131 | |
267a12e6 |
132 | =back |
133 | |
43d4bbc8 |
134 | =head1 Modules and Pragmata |
135 | |
699e893f |
136 | =head2 New Modules and Distribution |
43d4bbc8 |
137 | |
267a12e6 |
138 | =over 4 |
139 | |
140 | =item * |
141 | |
699e893f |
142 | L<Attribute::Handlers> - Simpler definition of attribute handlers |
143 | |
144 | =item * |
145 | |
146 | L<ExtUtils::Constant> - generate XS code to import C header constants |
147 | |
148 | =item * |
149 | |
150 | L<I18N::LangTags> - functions for dealing with RFC3066-style language tags |
151 | |
152 | =item * |
153 | |
154 | L<libnet> - a collection of perl5 modules related to network programming |
267a12e6 |
155 | |
d7b629d9 |
156 | Perl installation leaves libnet unconfigured, use F<libnetcfg> to configure. |
157 | |
267a12e6 |
158 | =item * |
159 | |
699e893f |
160 | L<List::Util> - selection of general-utility list subroutines |
267a12e6 |
161 | |
162 | =item * |
163 | |
699e893f |
164 | L<Locale::Maketext> - framework for localization |
267a12e6 |
165 | |
166 | =item * |
167 | |
699e893f |
168 | L<Memoize> - Make your functions faster by trading space for time |
267a12e6 |
169 | |
170 | =item * |
171 | |
699e893f |
172 | L<NEXT> - pseudo-class for method redispatch |
267a12e6 |
173 | |
174 | =item * |
175 | |
699e893f |
176 | L<Scalar::Util> - selection of general-utility scalar subroutines |
267a12e6 |
177 | |
178 | =item * |
179 | |
7117b917 |
180 | L<Test::More> - yet another framework for writing test scripts |
181 | |
182 | =item * |
183 | |
184 | L<Test::Simple> - Basic utilities for writing tests |
185 | |
186 | =item * |
187 | |
699e893f |
188 | L<Time::HiRes> - high resolution ualarm, usleep, and gettimeofday |
267a12e6 |
189 | |
190 | =item * |
191 | |
699e893f |
192 | L<Time::Piece> - Object Oriented time objects |
267a12e6 |
193 | |
d7b629d9 |
194 | (Previously known as L<Time::Object>.) |
195 | |
267a12e6 |
196 | =back |
197 | |
43d4bbc8 |
198 | =head2 Updated And Improved Modules and Pragmata |
199 | |
267a12e6 |
200 | =over 4 |
201 | |
202 | =item * |
203 | |
204 | L<B::Deparse> module has been significantly enhanced. It now |
205 | can deparse almost all of the standard test suite (so that the |
7ebe6671 |
206 | tests still succeed). There is a make target "test.deparse" |
207 | for trying this out. |
267a12e6 |
208 | |
209 | =item * |
210 | |
211 | L<Class::Struct> now assigns the array/hash element if the accessor |
212 | is called with an array/hash element as the B<sole> argument. |
213 | |
214 | =item * |
215 | |
216 | L<Cwd> extension is now (even) faster. |
217 | |
218 | =item * |
219 | |
220 | L<DB_File> extension has been updated to version 1.77. |
221 | |
222 | =item * |
223 | |
224 | L<Fcntl>, L<Socket>, and L<Sys::Syslog> have been rewritten to use the |
225 | new-style constant dispatch section (see L<ExtUtils::Constant>). |
226 | |
227 | =item * |
228 | |
699e893f |
229 | L<File::Find> is now (again) reentrant. It also has been made |
230 | more portable. |
231 | |
232 | =item * |
233 | |
267a12e6 |
234 | L<File::Glob> now supports C<GLOB_LIMIT> constant to limit the |
235 | size of the returned list of filenames. |
236 | |
699e893f |
237 | =item * |
267a12e6 |
238 | |
d7b629d9 |
239 | L<IO::Socket::INET> now supports C<LocalPort> of zero (usually meaning |
240 | that the operating system will make one up.) |
241 | |
242 | =item * |
243 | |
244 | The L<vars> pragma now supports declaring fully qualified variables. |
245 | (Something that C<our()> does not and will not support.) |
699e893f |
246 | |
247 | =back |
43d4bbc8 |
248 | |
249 | =head1 Utility Changes |
250 | |
267a12e6 |
251 | =over 4 |
252 | |
253 | =item * |
254 | |
699e893f |
255 | The F<emacs/e2ctags.pl> is now much faster. |
256 | |
257 | =item * |
258 | |
d7b629d9 |
259 | L<h2ph> now supports C trigraphs. |
260 | |
261 | =item * |
262 | |
267a12e6 |
263 | L<h2xs> uses the new L<ExtUtils::Constant> module which will affect |
264 | newly created extensions that define constants. Since the new code is |
265 | more correct (if you have two constants where the first one is a |
266 | prefix of the second one, the first constant B<never> gets defined), |
267 | less lossy (it uses integers for integer constant, as opposed to the |
268 | old code that used floating point numbers even for integer constants), |
269 | and slightly faster, you might want to consider regenerating your |
270 | extension code (the new scheme makes regenerating easy). |
271 | |
272 | =item * |
273 | |
699e893f |
274 | L<libnetcfg> has been added to configure the libnet. |
267a12e6 |
275 | |
276 | =item * |
277 | |
278 | The F<Pod::Html> (and thusly L<pod2html>) now allows specifying |
279 | a cache directory. |
280 | |
281 | =back |
282 | |
43d4bbc8 |
283 | =head1 New Documentation |
284 | |
267a12e6 |
285 | =over 4 |
286 | |
287 | =item * |
288 | |
289 | L<Locale::Maketext::TPJ13> is an article about software localization, |
290 | originally published in The Perl Journal #13, republished here with |
291 | kind permission. |
292 | |
293 | =item * |
294 | |
295 | More README.$PLATFORM files have been converted into pod, which also |
296 | means that they also be installed as perl$PLATFORM documentation |
297 | files. The new files are L<perlapollo>, L<perlbeos>, L<perldgux>, |
699e893f |
298 | L<perlhurd>, L<perlmint>, L<perlnetware>, L<perlplan9>, L<perlqnx>, |
299 | and L<perltru64>. |
267a12e6 |
300 | |
301 | =item * |
302 | |
303 | The F<Todo> and F<Todo-5.6> files have been merged into L<perltodo>. |
304 | |
305 | =item * |
306 | |
7ebe6671 |
307 | Use of the F<gprof> tool to profile Perl has been documented in |
308 | L<perlhack>. There is a make target "perl.gprof" for generating a |
309 | gprofiled Perl executable. |
267a12e6 |
310 | |
d7b629d9 |
311 | =item * |
312 | |
313 | (Code documentation) F<perly.c> and F<sv.c> have now been extensively |
314 | commented. |
315 | |
267a12e6 |
316 | =back |
317 | |
43d4bbc8 |
318 | =head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements |
319 | |
320 | =head2 New Or Improved Platforms |
321 | |
267a12e6 |
322 | =over 4 |
323 | |
324 | =item * |
325 | |
7ebe6671 |
326 | AIX should now work better with gcc. Also longdouble support in AIX |
327 | should be better now. See L<perlaix>. |
267a12e6 |
328 | |
329 | =item * |
330 | |
331 | AtheOS (http://www.atheos.cx/) is a new platform. |
332 | |
333 | =item * |
334 | |
7ebe6671 |
335 | DG/UX platform now supports the 5.005-style threads. See L<perldgux>. |
267a12e6 |
336 | |
337 | =item * |
338 | |
7ebe6671 |
339 | Several MacOS (Classic) portability patches have been applied. We |
340 | hope to get a fully working port by 5.8.0. (The remaining problems |
341 | relate to the changed IO model of Perl.) See L<perlmacos>. |
267a12e6 |
342 | |
343 | =item * |
344 | |
699e893f |
345 | MacOS X (or Darwin) should now be able to build Perl even on HFS+ |
346 | filesystems. (The case-insensitivity confused the Perl build process.) |
267a12e6 |
347 | |
348 | =item * |
349 | |
7ebe6671 |
350 | NetWare from Novell is now supported. See L<perlnetware>. |
267a12e6 |
351 | |
352 | =item * |
353 | |
354 | The Amdahl UTS UNIX mainframe platform is now supported. |
355 | |
356 | =back |
357 | |
43d4bbc8 |
358 | =head2 Generic Improvements |
359 | |
267a12e6 |
360 | =over 4 |
361 | |
362 | =item * |
363 | |
364 | The C code has been made much more C<gcc -Wall> clean. Some warning |
365 | messages still remain, though, so if you are compiling with gcc you |
366 | will see some warnings about dubious practices. The warnings are |
367 | being worked on. |
368 | |
369 | =item * |
370 | |
371 | In AFS installations one can configure the root of the AFS to be |
372 | somewhere else than the default F</afs> by using the Configure |
373 | parameter C<-Dafsroot=/some/where/else>. |
374 | |
375 | =item * |
376 | |
377 | The version of Berkeley DB used when the Perl (and, presumably, the |
378 | DB_File extension) was built is now available as |
379 | C<@Config{qw(db_version_major db_version_minor db_version_patch)}> |
380 | from Perl and as C<DB_VERSION_MAJOR_CFG DB_VERSION_MINOR_CFG |
381 | DB_VERSION_PATCH_CFG> from C. |
382 | |
383 | =item * |
384 | |
699e893f |
385 | The Thread extension is now not built at all under ithreads |
386 | (C<Configure -Duseithreads>) because it wouldn't work anyway (the |
387 | Thread extension requires being Configured with C<-Duse5005threads>). |
267a12e6 |
388 | |
389 | =item * |
390 | |
391 | The C<B::Deparse> compiler backend has been so significantly improved |
392 | that almost the whole Perl test suite passes after being deparsed. A |
393 | make target has been added to help in further testing: C<make test.deparse>. |
394 | |
395 | =back |
396 | |
43d4bbc8 |
397 | =head1 Selected Bug Fixes |
398 | |
699e893f |
399 | =over 5 |
400 | |
401 | =item * |
402 | |
403 | The autouse pragma didn't work for Multi::Part::Function::Names. |
404 | |
405 | =item * |
406 | |
407 | The behaviour of non-decimal but numeric string constants such as |
408 | "0x23" was platform-dependent: in some platforms that was seen as 35, |
409 | in some as 0, in some as a floating point number (don't ask). This |
410 | was caused by Perl using the operating system libraries in a situation |
411 | where the result of the string to number conversion is undefined: now |
412 | Perl consistently handles such strings as zero in numeric contexts. |
413 | |
414 | =item * |
415 | |
416 | L<dprofpp> -R didn't work. |
417 | |
418 | =item * |
419 | |
420 | PERL5OPT with embedded spaces didn't work. |
421 | |
422 | =item * |
423 | |
424 | L<Sys::Syslog> ignored the C<LOG_AUTH> constant. |
425 | |
426 | =back |
427 | |
43d4bbc8 |
428 | =head2 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes |
429 | |
267a12e6 |
430 | =over 4 |
431 | |
432 | =item * |
433 | |
434 | Some versions of glibc have a broken modfl(). This affects builds |
435 | with C<-Duselongdouble>. This version of Perl detects this brokenness |
436 | and has a workaround for it. The glibc release 2.2.2 is known to have |
437 | fixed the modfl() bug. |
438 | |
439 | =back |
440 | |
43d4bbc8 |
441 | =head1 New or Changed Diagnostics |
442 | |
267a12e6 |
443 | =over 4 |
444 | |
445 | =item * |
446 | |
447 | In the regular expression diagnostics the C<E<lt>E<lt> HERE> marker |
448 | introduced in 5.7.0 has been changed to be C<E<lt>-- HERE> since too |
449 | many people found the C<E<lt>E<lt>> to be too similar to here-document |
450 | starters. |
451 | |
452 | =item * |
453 | |
454 | If you try to L<perlfunc/pack> a number less than 0 or larger than 255 |
455 | using the C<"C"> format you will get an optional warning. Similarly |
456 | for the C<"c"> format and a number less than -128 or more than 127. |
457 | |
458 | =item * |
459 | |
460 | Certain regex modifiers such as C<(?o)> make sense only if applied to |
461 | the entire regex. You will an optional warning if you try to do otherwise. |
462 | |
463 | =item * |
464 | |
465 | Using arrays or hashes as references (e.g. C<%foo->{bar}> has been |
466 | deprecated for a while. Now you will get an optional warning. |
467 | |
468 | =back |
469 | |
43d4bbc8 |
470 | =head1 Changed Internals |
471 | |
472 | =head2 Regex pre-/post-compilation items matched up |
473 | |
474 | The regex compiler now maintains a structure that identifies nodes in |
475 | the compiled bytecode with the corresponding syntactic features of the |
476 | original regex expression. The information is attached to the new |
477 | C<offsets> member of the C<struct regexp>. See L<perldebguts> for more |
478 | complete information. |
479 | |
480 | =head1 New Tests |
481 | |
267a12e6 |
482 | Several new tests have been added, especially for the F<lib> subsection. |
483 | |
699e893f |
484 | The tests are now reported in a different order than in earlier Perls. |
485 | (This happens because the test scripts from under t/lib have been moved |
486 | to be closer to the library/extension they are testing.) |
267a12e6 |
487 | |
43d4bbc8 |
488 | =head1 Known Problems |
489 | |
490 | Note that unlike other sections in this document (which describe |
491 | changes since 5.7.0) this section is cumulative containing known |
492 | problems for all the 5.7 releases. |
493 | |
81633404 |
494 | =head2 AIX |
495 | |
496 | =over 4 |
497 | |
498 | =item * |
499 | |
500 | If Perl is configured to use long doubles the op/int subtests 13 and |
501 | 14 and the ext/POSIX subtest 14 may fail. |
502 | |
503 | =item * |
504 | |
505 | If Perl is configured to use threads the op/magic subtest 28 may fail. |
506 | |
507 | =item * |
508 | |
509 | vac 5.0.0.0 May Produce Buggy Code For Perl |
43d4bbc8 |
510 | |
511 | The AIX C compiler vac version 5.0.0.0 may produce buggy code, |
512 | resulting in few random tests failing, but when the failing tests |
513 | are run by hand, they succeed. We suggest upgrading to at least |
514 | vac version 5.0.1.0, that has been known to compile Perl correctly. |
515 | "lslpp -L|grep vac.C" will tell you the vac version. |
516 | |
81633404 |
517 | =back |
518 | |
d7b629d9 |
519 | =head2 Amiga Perl Invoking Mystery |
520 | |
521 | One cannot call Perl using the C<volume:> syntax, that is, C<perl -v> |
522 | works, but for example C<bin:perl -v> doesn't. The exact reason is |
523 | known but the current suspect is the F<ixemul> library. |
524 | |
43d4bbc8 |
525 | =head2 lib/ftmp-security tests warn 'system possibly insecure' |
526 | |
527 | Don't panic. Read INSTALL 'make test' section instead. |
528 | |
19d94770 |
529 | =head2 Cygwin intermittent failures of lib/Memoize/t/expire_file 11 and 12 |
81633404 |
530 | |
531 | The subtests 11 and 12 sometimes fail and sometimes work. |
532 | |
533 | =head2 HP-UX lib/io_multihomed Fails When LP64-Configur |
43d4bbc8 |
534 | |
535 | The lib/io_multihomed test may hang in HP-UX if Perl has been |
536 | configured to be 64-bit. Because other 64-bit platforms do not hang in |
537 | this test, HP-UX is suspect. All other tests pass in 64-bit HP-UX. The |
538 | test attempts to create and connect to "multihomed" sockets (sockets |
539 | which have multiple IP addresses). |
540 | |
81633404 |
541 | =head2 HP-UX lib/posix Subtest 9 Fails When LP64-Configured |
43d4bbc8 |
542 | |
543 | If perl is configured with -Duse64bitall, the successful result of the |
544 | subtest 10 of lib/posix may arrive before the successful result of the |
545 | subtest 9, which confuses the test harness so much that it thinks the |
546 | subtest 9 failed. |
547 | |
43d4bbc8 |
548 | =head2 Linux With Sfio Fails op/misc Test 48 |
549 | |
550 | No known fix. |
551 | |
c4b279ff |
552 | =head2 op/sprintf tests 129 and 130 |
43d4bbc8 |
553 | |
554 | The op/sprintf tests 129 and 130 are known to fail on some platforms. |
555 | Examples include any platform using sfio, and Compaq/Tandem's NonStop-UX. |
556 | The failing platforms do not comply with the ANSI C Standard, line |
557 | 19ff on page 134 of ANSI X3.159 1989 to be exact. (They produce |
558 | something else than "1" and "-1" when formatting 0.6 and -0.6 using |
559 | the printf format "%.0f", most often they produce "0" and "-0".) |
560 | |
561 | =head2 Failure of Thread tests |
562 | |
45215428 |
563 | B<Note that support for 5.005-style threading remains experimental.> |
564 | |
565 | The following tests are known to fail due to fundamental problems in |
566 | the 5.005 threading implementation. These are not new failures--Perl |
567 | 5.005_0x has the same bugs, but didn't have these tests. |
568 | |
c4b279ff |
569 | lib/autouse.t 4 |
570 | t/lib/thr5005.t 19-20 |
571 | |
81633404 |
572 | =head2 UNICOS |
573 | |
574 | =over 4 |
575 | |
576 | =item * |
577 | |
578 | ext/POSIX/sigaction subtests 6 and 13 may fail. |
579 | |
580 | =item * |
581 | |
582 | lib/ExtUtils may spuriously claim that subtest 28 failed, |
583 | which is interesting since the test only has 27 tests. |
584 | |
585 | =item * |
586 | |
587 | Numerous numerical test failures |
c4b279ff |
588 | |
589 | op/numconvert 209,210,217,218 |
81633404 |
590 | op/override 7 |
c4b279ff |
591 | ext/Time/HiRes/HiRes 9 |
592 | lib/Math/BigInt/t/bigintpm 1145 |
593 | lib/Math/Trig 25 |
594 | |
595 | These tests fail because of yet unresolved floating point inaccuracies. |
596 | |
81633404 |
597 | =back |
598 | |
599 | =head2 UNICOS/mk ext/IPC/SysV/t/sem test 8 |
c4b279ff |
600 | |
601 | No known fix. |
43d4bbc8 |
602 | |
81633404 |
603 | =head2 UTS |
604 | |
605 | Many floating point inaccuracies: |
606 | |
0aa7ccc3 |
607 | op/numconvert 511,657,658,659,665-667,831,991,1151 |
608 | op/pack 10,22,149,156 |
609 | op/sprintf 8,10,13,102-107,134-135,146-153,159-162 |
610 | lib/Math/BigInt/bigintpm 1145,1183 |
611 | lib/Math/Complex 250,257,514,521,722-724, |
612 | 934,935,945,949,955,956,975,976 |
613 | ext/POSIX/POSIX 14 |
614 | |
615 | =head2 VMS |
616 | |
617 | DEC C V5.3-006 on OpenVMS VAX V6.2 |
618 | |
619 | [-.ext.list.util.t]tainted..............FAILED on test 3 |
620 | [-.ext.posix]sigaction..................FAILED on test 7 |
621 | [-.ext.time.hires]hires.................FAILED on test 3 |
622 | [-.lib.file.find]taint..................FAILED on test 17 |
623 | [-.lib.math.bigint.t]bigintpm...........FAILED on test 1183 |
624 | [-.lib.test.simple.t]exit...............FAILED on test 1 |
625 | [.lib]vmsish............................FAILED on test 13 |
626 | [.op]sprintf............................FAILED on test 12 |
627 | Failed 8/399 tests, 91.23% okay. |
628 | |
629 | DEC C V6.0-001 on OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1 |
630 | |
631 | [-.ext.list.util.t]tainted..............FAILED on test 3 |
632 | [-.lib.file.find]taint..................FAILED on test 17 |
633 | [-.lib.test.simple.t]exit...............FAILED on test 1 |
634 | [.lib]vmsish............................FAILED on test 13 |
635 | Failed 4/399 tests, 92.48% okay. |
81633404 |
636 | |
43d4bbc8 |
637 | =head2 Localising a Tied Variable Leaks Memory |
638 | |
639 | use Tie::Hash; |
640 | tie my %tie_hash => 'Tie::StdHash'; |
641 | |
642 | ... |
643 | |
644 | local($tie_hash{Foo}) = 1; # leaks |
645 | |
646 | Code like the above is known to leak memory every time the local() |
647 | is executed. |
648 | |
649 | =head2 Self-tying of Arrays and Hashes Is Forbidden |
650 | |
651 | Self-tying of arrays and hashes is broken in rather deep and |
652 | hard-to-fix ways. As a stop-gap measure to avoid people from getting |
653 | frustrated at the mysterious results (core dumps, most often) it is |
654 | for now forbidden (you will get a fatal error even from an attempt). |
655 | |
699e893f |
656 | =head2 Variable Attributes are not Currently Usable for Tieing |
657 | |
658 | This limitation will hopefully be fixed in future. (Subroutine |
659 | attributes work fine for tieing, see L<Attribute::Handlers>). |
660 | |
43d4bbc8 |
661 | =head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles |
662 | |
663 | Some extensions like mod_perl are known to have issues with |
664 | `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in which file offsets |
665 | default to 64 bits wide, where supported. Modules may fail to compile |
666 | at all or compile and work incorrectly. Currently there is no good |
667 | solution for the problem, but Configure now provides appropriate |
668 | non-largefile ccflags, ldflags, libswanted, and libs in the %Config |
669 | hash (e.g., $Config{ccflags_nolargefiles}) so the extensions that are |
670 | having problems can try configuring themselves without the |
671 | largefileness. This is admittedly not a clean solution, and the |
672 | solution may not even work at all. One potential failure is whether |
673 | one can (or, if one can, whether it's a good idea) link together at |
674 | all binaries with different ideas about file offsets, all this is |
675 | platform-dependent. |
676 | |
677 | =head2 The Compiler Suite Is Still Experimental |
678 | |
679 | The compiler suite is slowly getting better but is nowhere near |
680 | working order yet. |
681 | |
81633404 |
682 | =head2 The Long Double Support is Still Experimental |
683 | |
684 | The ability to configure Perl's numbers to use "long doubles", |
685 | floating point numbers of hopefully better accuracy, is still |
686 | experimental. The implementations of long doubles are not yet |
687 | widespread and the existing implementations are not quite mature |
688 | or standardised, therefore trying to support them is a rare |
689 | and moving target. The gain of more precision may also be offset |
690 | by slowdown in computations (more bits to move around, and the |
691 | operations are more likely to be executed by less optimised |
692 | libraries). |
693 | |
43d4bbc8 |
694 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
695 | |
696 | If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles |
697 | recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl |
698 | bug database at http://bugs.perl.org. There may also be |
699 | information at http://www.perl.com/perl/, the Perl Home Page. |
700 | |
701 | If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug> |
702 | program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down |
703 | to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the |
704 | output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be |
705 | analysed by the Perl porting team. |
706 | |
707 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
708 | |
709 | The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed. |
710 | |
711 | The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl. |
712 | |
713 | The F<README> file for general stuff. |
714 | |
715 | The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information. |
716 | |
717 | =head1 HISTORY |
718 | |
719 | Written by Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>, with many contributions |
720 | from The Perl Porters and Perl Users submitting feedback and patches. |
721 | |
722 | Send omissions or corrections to <F<perlbug@perl.org>>. |
723 | |
724 | =cut |