[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / pod / perl586delta.pod

=head1 NAME

perl586delta - what is new for perl v5.8.6

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document describes differences between the 5.8.5 release and
the 5.8.6 release.

=head1 Incompatible Changes

There are no changes incompatible with 5.8.5.

=head1 Core Enhancements

The perl interpreter is now more tolerant of UTF-16-encoded scripts.

On Win32, Perl can now use non-IFS compatible LSPs, which allows Perl to
work in conjunction with firewalls such as McAfee Guardian. For full details
see the file F<README.win32>, particularly if you're running Win95.

=head1 Modules and Pragmata

=over 4

=item *

With the C<base> pragma, an intermediate class with no fields used to messes
up private fields in the base class. This has been fixed.

=item *

Cwd upgraded to version 3.01 (as part of the new PathTools distribution)

=item *

Devel::PPPort upgraded to version 3.03

=item *

File::Spec upgraded to version 3.01 (as part of the new PathTools distribution)

=item *

Encode upgraded to version 2.08

=item *

ExtUtils::MakeMaker remains at version 6.17, as later stable releases currently
available on CPAN have some issues with core modules on some core platforms.

=item *

I18N::LangTags upgraded to version 0.35

=item *

Math::BigInt upgraded to version 1.73

=item *

Math::BigRat upgraded to version 0.13

=item *

MIME::Base64 upgraded to version 3.05

=item *

POSIX::sigprocmask function can now retrieve the current signal mask without
also setting it.

=item *

Time::HiRes upgraded to version 1.65

=back

=head1 Utility Changes

Perl has a new -dt command-line flag, which enables threads support in the
debugger.

=head1 Performance Enhancements

C<reverse sort ...> is now optimized to sort in reverse, avoiding the
generation of a temporary intermediate list.

C<for (reverse @foo)> now iterates in reverse, avoiding the generation of a
temporary reversed list.

=head1 Selected Bug Fixes

The regexp engine is now more robust when given invalid utf8 input, as is
sometimes generated by buggy XS modules.

C<foreach> on threads::shared array used to be able to crash Perl. This bug
has now been fixed.

A regexp in C<STDOUT>'s destructor used to coredump, because the regexp pad
was already freed. This has been fixed.

C<goto &> is now more robust - bugs in deep recursion and chained C<goto &>
have been fixed.

Using C<delete> on an array no longer leaks memory. A C<pop> of an item from a
shared array reference no longer causes a leak.

C<eval_sv()> failing a taint test could corrupt the stack - this has been
fixed.

On platforms with 64 bit pointers numeric comparison operators used to
erroneously compare the addresses of references that are overloaded, rather
than using the overloaded values. This has been fixed.

C<read> into a UTF8-encoded buffer with an offset off the end of the buffer
no longer mis-calculates buffer lengths.

Although Perl has promised since version 5.8 that C<sort()> would be
stable, the two cases C<sort {$b cmp $a}> and C<< sort {$b <=> $a} >> could
produce non-stable sorts.   This is corrected in perl5.8.6.

Localising C<$^D> no longer generates a diagnostic message about valid -D
flags.

=head1 New or Changed Diagnostics

For -t and -T,
   Too late for "-T" option
has been changed to the more informative
   "-T" is on the #! line, it must also be used on the command line

=head1 Changed Internals

From now on all applications embedding perl will behave as if perl
were compiled with -DPERL_USE_SAFE_PUTENV.  See "Environment access" in
the F<INSTALL> file for details.

Most C<C> source files now have comments at the top explaining their purpose,
which should help anyone wishing to get an overview of the implementation.

=head1 New Tests

There are significantly more tests for the C<B> suite of modules.

=head1 Reporting Bugs

If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
bug database at http://bugs.perl.org.  There may also be
information at http://www.perl.org, the Perl Home Page.

If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug>
program included with your release.  Be sure to trim your bug down
to a tiny but sufficient test case.  Your bug report, along with the
output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be
analysed by the Perl porting team.  You can browse and search
the Perl 5 bugs at http://bugs.perl.org/

=head1 SEE ALSO

The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed.

The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.

The F<README> file for general stuff.

The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.

=cut
Commit	Line	Data
bab9b098	1	=head1 NAME
	2
	3	perl586delta - what is new for perl v5.8.6
	4
	5	=head1 DESCRIPTION
	6
	7	This document describes differences between the 5.8.5 release and
	8	the 5.8.6 release.
	9
	10	=head1 Incompatible Changes
	11
	12	There are no changes incompatible with 5.8.5.
	13
	14	=head1 Core Enhancements
	15
	16	The perl interpreter is now more tolerant of UTF-16-encoded scripts.
	17
	18	On Win32, Perl can now use non-IFS compatible LSPs, which allows Perl to
	19	work in conjunction with firewalls such as McAfee Guardian. For full details
	20	see the file F<README.win32>, particularly if you're running Win95.
	21
	22	=head1 Modules and Pragmata
	23
	24	=over 4
	25
	26	=item *
	27
	28	With the C<base> pragma, an intermediate class with no fields used to messes
	29	up private fields in the base class. This has been fixed.
	30
	31	=item *
	32
	33	Cwd upgraded to version 3.01 (as part of the new PathTools distribution)
	34
	35	=item *
	36
	37	Devel::PPPort upgraded to version 3.03
	38
	39	=item *
	40
	41	File::Spec upgraded to version 3.01 (as part of the new PathTools distribution)
	42
	43	=item *
	44
	45	Encode upgraded to version 2.08
	46
	47	=item *
	48
	49	ExtUtils::MakeMaker remains at version 6.17, as later stable releases currently
	50	available on CPAN have some issues with core modules on some core platforms.
	51
	52	=item *
	53
	54	I18N::LangTags upgraded to version 0.35
	55
	56	=item *
	57
	58	Math::BigInt upgraded to version 1.73
	59
	60	=item *
	61
	62	Math::BigRat upgraded to version 0.13
	63
	64	=item *
65
66	MIME::Base64 upgraded to version 3.05
67
68	=item *
69
70	POSIX::sigprocmask function can now retrieve the current signal mask without
71	also setting it.
72
73	=item *
74
75	Time::HiRes upgraded to version 1.65
76
77	=back
78
79	=head1 Utility Changes
80
81	Perl has a new -dt command-line flag, which enables threads support in the
82	debugger.
83
84	=head1 Performance Enhancements
85
86	C<reverse sort ...> is now optimized to sort in reverse, avoiding the
87	generation of a temporary intermediate list.
88
89	C<for (reverse @foo)> now iterates in reverse, avoiding the generation of a
90	temporary reversed list.
91
92	=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
93
94	The regexp engine is now more robust when given invalid utf8 input, as is
95	sometimes generated by buggy XS modules.
96
97	C<foreach> on threads::shared array used to be able to crash Perl. This bug
98	has now been fixed.
99
100	A regexp in C<STDOUT>'s destructor used to coredump, because the regexp pad
101	was already freed. This has been fixed.
102
103	C<goto &> is now more robust - bugs in deep recursion and chained C<goto &>
104	have been fixed.
105
106	Using C<delete> on an array no longer leaks memory. A C<pop> of an item from a
107	shared array reference no longer causes a leak.
108
109	C<eval_sv()> failing a taint test could corrupt the stack - this has been
110	fixed.
111
112	On platforms with 64 bit pointers numeric comparison operators used to
113	erroneously compare the addresses of references that are overloaded, rather
114	than using the overloaded values. This has been fixed.
115
116	C<read> into a UTF8-encoded buffer with an offset off the end of the buffer
117	no longer mis-calculates buffer lengths.
118
119	Although Perl has promised since version 5.8 that C<sort()> would be
120	stable, the two cases C<sort {$b cmp $a}> and C<< sort {$b <=> $a} >> could
121	produce non-stable sorts. This is corrected in perl5.8.6.
122
123	Localising C<$^D> no longer generates a diagnostic message about valid -D
124	flags.
125
126	=head1 New or Changed Diagnostics
127
128	For -t and -T,
129	Too late for "-T" option
130	has been changed to the more informative
131	"-T" is on the #! line, it must also be used on the command line
132
133	=head1 Changed Internals
134
135	From now on all applications embedding perl will behave as if perl
136	were compiled with -DPERL_USE_SAFE_PUTENV. See "Environment access" in
137	the F<INSTALL> file for details.
138
139	Most C<C> source files now have comments at the top explaining their purpose,
140	which should help anyone wishing to get an overview of the implementation.
141
142	=head1 New Tests
143
144	There are significantly more tests for the C<B> suite of modules.
145
146	=head1 Reporting Bugs
147
148	If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
149	recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
150	bug database at http://bugs.perl.org. There may also be
151	information at http://www.perl.org, the Perl Home Page.
152
153	If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug>
154	program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
155	to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
156	output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be
157	analysed by the Perl porting team. You can browse and search
158	the Perl 5 bugs at http://bugs.perl.org/
159
160	=head1 SEE ALSO
161
162	The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed.
163
164	The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
165
166	The F<README> file for general stuff.
167
168	The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.
169
170	=cut