Commit | Line | Data |
c11a53c6 |
1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
70693193 |
3 | perl588delta - what is new for perl v5.8.8 |
c11a53c6 |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
6 | |
7 | This document describes differences between the 5.8.7 release and |
8 | the 5.8.8 release. |
9 | |
10 | =head1 Incompatible Changes |
11 | |
12 | There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.8.7. If any exist, |
13 | they are bugs and reports are welcome. |
14 | |
15 | =head1 Core Enhancements |
16 | |
17 | =over |
18 | |
19 | =item * |
20 | |
21 | C<chdir>, C<chmod> and C<chown> can now work on filehandles as well as |
22 | filenames, if the system supports respectively C<fchdir>, C<fchmod> and |
23 | C<fchown>, thanks to a patch provided by Gisle Aas. |
24 | |
25 | =back |
26 | |
27 | =head1 Modules and Pragmata |
28 | |
29 | =over |
30 | |
31 | =item * |
32 | |
33 | C<Attribute::Handlers> upgraded to version 0.78_02 |
34 | |
35 | =over |
36 | |
37 | =item * |
38 | |
39 | Documentation typo fix |
40 | |
41 | =back |
42 | |
43 | =item * |
44 | |
45 | C<attrs> upgraded to version 1.02 |
46 | |
47 | =over |
48 | |
49 | =item * |
50 | |
51 | Internal cleanup only |
52 | |
53 | =back |
54 | |
55 | =item * |
56 | |
57 | C<autouse> upgraded to version 1.05 |
58 | |
59 | =over |
60 | |
61 | =item * |
62 | |
63 | Simplified implementation |
64 | |
65 | =back |
66 | |
67 | =item * |
68 | |
69 | C<B> upgraded to version 1.09_01 |
70 | |
71 | =over |
72 | |
73 | =item * |
74 | |
75 | The inheritance hierarchy of the C<B::> modules has been corrected; |
76 | C<B::NV> now inherits from C<B::SV> (instead of C<B::IV>). |
77 | |
78 | =back |
79 | |
80 | =item * |
81 | |
82 | C<blib> upgraded to version 1.03 |
83 | |
84 | =over |
85 | |
86 | =item * |
87 | |
88 | Documentation typo fix |
89 | |
90 | =back |
91 | |
92 | =item * |
93 | |
94 | C<ByteLoader> upgraded to version 0.06 |
95 | |
96 | =over |
97 | |
98 | =item * |
99 | |
100 | Internal cleanup |
101 | |
102 | =back |
103 | |
104 | =item * |
105 | |
106 | C<CGI> upgraded to version 3.15 |
107 | |
108 | =over |
109 | |
110 | =item * |
111 | |
112 | Extraneous "?" from C<self_url()> removed |
113 | |
114 | =item * |
115 | |
116 | C<scrolling_list()> select attribute fixed |
117 | |
118 | =item * |
119 | |
120 | C<virtual_port> now works properly with the https protocol |
121 | |
122 | =item * |
123 | |
124 | C<upload_hook()> and C<append()> now works in function-oriented mode |
125 | |
126 | =item * |
127 | |
128 | C<POST_MAX> doesn't cause the client to hang any more |
129 | |
130 | =item * |
131 | |
132 | Automatic tab indexes are now disabled and new C<-tabindex> pragma has |
133 | been added to turn automatic indexes back on |
134 | |
135 | =item * |
136 | |
137 | C<end_form()> doesn't emit empty (and non-validating) C<< <div> >> |
138 | |
139 | =item * |
140 | |
141 | C<CGI::Carp> works better in certain mod_perl configurations |
142 | |
143 | =item * |
144 | |
145 | Setting C<$CGI::TMPDIRECTORY> is now effective |
146 | |
147 | =item * |
148 | |
149 | Enhanced documentation |
150 | |
151 | =back |
152 | |
153 | =item * |
154 | |
155 | C<charnames> upgraded to version 1.05 |
156 | |
157 | =over |
158 | |
159 | =item * |
160 | |
161 | C<viacode()> now accept hex strings and has been optimized. |
162 | |
163 | =back |
164 | |
165 | =item * |
166 | |
167 | C<CPAN> upgraded to version 1.76_02 |
168 | |
169 | =over |
170 | |
171 | =item * |
172 | |
173 | 1 minor bug fix for Win32 |
174 | |
175 | =back |
176 | |
177 | =item * |
178 | |
179 | C<Cwd> upgraded to version 3.12 |
180 | |
181 | =over |
182 | |
183 | =item * |
184 | |
185 | C<canonpath()> on Win32 now collapses F<foo\..> sections correctly. |
186 | |
187 | =item * |
188 | |
189 | Improved behaviour on Symbian OS. |
190 | |
191 | =item * |
192 | |
193 | Enhanced documentation and typo fixes |
194 | |
195 | =item * |
196 | |
197 | Internal cleanup |
198 | |
199 | =back |
200 | |
201 | =item * |
202 | |
203 | C<Data::Dumper> upgraded to version 2.121_08 |
204 | |
205 | =over |
206 | |
207 | =item * |
208 | |
209 | A problem where C<Data::Dumper> would sometimes update the iterator state |
210 | of hashes has been fixed |
211 | |
212 | =item * |
213 | |
214 | Numeric labels now work |
215 | |
216 | =item * |
217 | |
218 | Internal cleanup |
219 | |
220 | =back |
221 | |
222 | =item * |
223 | |
224 | C<DB> upgraded to version 1.01 |
225 | |
226 | =over |
227 | |
228 | =item * |
229 | |
230 | A problem where the state of the regexp engine would sometimes get clobbered when running |
231 | under the debugger has been fixed. |
232 | |
233 | =back |
234 | |
235 | =item * |
236 | |
237 | C<DB_File> upgraded to version 1.814 |
238 | |
239 | =over |
240 | |
241 | =item * |
242 | |
243 | Adds support for Berkeley DB 4.4. |
244 | |
245 | =back |
246 | |
247 | =item * |
248 | |
249 | C<Devel::DProf> upgraded to version 20050603.00 |
250 | |
251 | =over |
252 | |
253 | =item * |
254 | |
255 | Internal cleanup |
256 | |
257 | =back |
258 | |
259 | =item * |
260 | |
261 | C<Devel::Peek> upgraded to version 1.03 |
262 | |
263 | =over |
264 | |
265 | =item * |
266 | |
267 | Internal cleanup |
268 | |
269 | =back |
270 | |
271 | =item * |
272 | |
273 | C<Devel::PPPort> upgraded to version 3.06_01 |
274 | |
275 | =over |
276 | |
277 | =item * |
278 | |
279 | C<--compat-version> argument checking has been improved |
280 | |
281 | =item * |
282 | |
283 | Files passed on the command line are filtered by default |
284 | |
285 | =item * |
286 | |
287 | C<--nofilter> option to override the filtering has been added |
288 | |
289 | =item * |
290 | |
291 | Enhanced documentation |
292 | |
293 | =back |
294 | |
295 | =item * |
296 | |
297 | C<diagnostics> upgraded to version 1.15 |
298 | |
299 | =over |
300 | |
301 | =item * |
302 | |
303 | Documentation typo fix |
304 | |
305 | =back |
306 | |
307 | =item * |
308 | |
309 | C<Digest> upgraded to version 1.14 |
310 | |
311 | =over |
312 | |
313 | =item * |
314 | |
315 | The constructor now knows which module implements SHA-224 |
316 | |
317 | =item * |
318 | |
319 | Documentation tweaks and typo fixes |
320 | |
321 | =back |
322 | |
323 | =item * |
324 | |
325 | C<Digest::MD5> upgraded to version 2.36 |
326 | |
327 | =over |
328 | |
329 | =item * |
330 | |
331 | C<XSLoader> is now used for faster loading |
332 | |
333 | =item * |
334 | |
335 | Enhanced documentation including MD5 weaknesses discovered lately |
336 | |
337 | =back |
338 | |
339 | =item * |
340 | |
341 | C<Dumpvalue> upgraded to version 1.12 |
342 | |
343 | =over |
344 | |
345 | =item * |
346 | |
347 | Documentation fix |
348 | |
349 | =back |
350 | |
351 | =item * |
352 | |
353 | C<DynaLoader> upgraded but unfortunately we're not able to increment its version number :-( |
354 | |
355 | =over |
356 | |
357 | =item * |
358 | |
359 | Implements C<dl_unload_file> on Win32 |
360 | |
361 | =item * |
362 | |
363 | Internal cleanup |
364 | |
365 | =item * |
366 | |
367 | C<XSLoader> 0.06 incorporated; small optimisation for calling |
368 | C<bootstrap_inherit()> and documentation enhancements. |
369 | |
370 | =back |
371 | |
372 | =item * |
373 | |
374 | C<Encode> upgraded to version 2.12 |
375 | |
376 | =over |
377 | |
378 | =item * |
379 | |
380 | A coderef is now acceptable for C<CHECK>! |
381 | |
382 | =item * |
383 | |
384 | 3 new characters added to the ISO-8859-7 encoding |
385 | |
386 | =item * |
387 | |
388 | New encoding C<MIME-Header-ISO_2022_JP> added |
389 | |
390 | =item * |
391 | |
392 | Problem with partial characters and C<< encoding(utf-8-strict) >> fixed. |
393 | |
394 | =item * |
395 | |
396 | Documentation enhancements and typo fixes |
397 | |
398 | =back |
399 | |
400 | =item * |
401 | |
402 | C<English> upgraded to version 1.02 |
403 | |
404 | =over |
405 | |
406 | =item * |
407 | |
408 | the C<< $COMPILING >> variable has been added |
409 | |
410 | =back |
411 | |
412 | =item * |
413 | |
414 | C<ExtUtils::Constant> upgraded to version 0.17 |
415 | |
416 | =over |
417 | |
418 | =item * |
419 | |
420 | Improved compatibility with older versions of perl |
421 | |
422 | =back |
423 | |
424 | =item * |
425 | |
426 | C<ExtUtils::MakeMaker> upgraded to version 6.30 (was 6.17) |
427 | |
428 | =over |
429 | |
430 | =item * |
431 | |
432 | Too much to list here; see L<http://search.cpan.org/src/MSCHWERN/ExtUtils-MakeMaker-6.30/Changes> |
433 | |
434 | =back |
435 | |
436 | =item * |
437 | |
438 | C<File::Basename> upgraded to version 2.74, with changes contributed by Michael Schwern. |
439 | |
440 | =over |
441 | |
442 | =item * |
443 | |
444 | Documentation clarified and errors corrected. |
445 | |
446 | =item * |
447 | |
448 | C<basename> now strips trailing path separators before processing the name. |
449 | |
450 | =item * |
451 | |
452 | C<basename> now returns C</> for parameter C</>, to make C<basename> |
453 | consistent with the shell utility of the same name. |
454 | |
455 | =item * |
456 | |
457 | The suffix is no longer stripped if it is identical to the remaining characters |
458 | in the name, again for consistency with the shell utility. |
459 | |
460 | =item * |
461 | |
462 | Some internal code cleanup. |
463 | |
464 | =back |
465 | |
466 | =item * |
467 | |
468 | C<File::Copy> upgraded to version 2.09 |
469 | |
470 | =over |
471 | |
472 | =item * |
473 | |
474 | Copying a file onto itself used to fail. |
475 | |
476 | =item * |
477 | |
478 | Moving a file between file systems now preserves the access and |
479 | modification time stamps |
480 | |
481 | =back |
482 | |
483 | =item * |
484 | |
485 | C<File::Find> upgraded to version 1.10 |
486 | |
487 | =over |
488 | |
489 | =item * |
490 | |
491 | Win32 portability fixes |
492 | |
493 | =item * |
494 | |
495 | Enhanced documentation |
496 | |
497 | =back |
498 | |
499 | =item * |
500 | |
501 | C<File::Glob> upgraded to version 1.05 |
502 | |
503 | =over |
504 | |
505 | =item * |
506 | |
507 | Internal cleanup |
508 | |
509 | =back |
510 | |
511 | =item * |
512 | |
513 | C<File::Path> upgraded to version 1.08 |
514 | |
515 | =over |
516 | |
517 | =item * |
518 | |
519 | C<mkpath> now preserves C<errno> when C<mkdir> fails |
520 | |
521 | =back |
522 | |
523 | =item * |
524 | |
525 | C<File::Spec> upgraded to version 3.12 |
526 | |
527 | =over |
528 | |
529 | =item * |
530 | |
531 | C<File::Spec->rootdir()> now returns C<\> on Win32, instead of C</> |
532 | |
533 | =item * |
534 | |
535 | C<$^O> could sometimes become tainted. This has been fixed. |
536 | |
537 | =item * |
538 | |
539 | C<canonpath> on Win32 now collapses C<foo/..> (or C<foo\..>) sections |
540 | correctly, rather than doing the "misguided" work it was previously doing. |
541 | Note that C<canonpath> on Unix still does B<not> collapse these sections, as |
542 | doing so would be incorrect. |
543 | |
544 | =item * |
545 | |
546 | Some documentation improvements |
547 | |
548 | =item * |
549 | |
550 | Some internal code cleanup |
551 | |
552 | =back |
553 | |
554 | =item * |
555 | |
556 | C<FileCache> upgraded to version 1.06 |
557 | |
558 | =over |
559 | |
560 | =item * |
561 | |
562 | POD formatting errors in the documentation fixed |
563 | |
564 | =back |
565 | |
566 | =item * |
567 | |
568 | C<Filter::Simple> upgraded to version 0.82 |
569 | |
570 | =item * |
571 | |
572 | C<FindBin> upgraded to version 1.47 |
573 | |
574 | =over |
575 | |
576 | =item * |
577 | |
578 | Now works better with directories where access rights are more |
579 | restrictive than usual. |
580 | |
581 | =back |
582 | |
583 | =item * |
584 | |
585 | C<GDBM_File> upgraded to version 1.08 |
586 | |
587 | =over |
588 | |
589 | =item * |
590 | |
591 | Internal cleanup |
592 | |
593 | =back |
594 | |
595 | =item * |
596 | |
597 | C<Getopt::Long> upgraded to version 2.35 |
598 | |
599 | =over |
600 | |
601 | =item * |
602 | |
603 | C<prefix_pattern> has now been complemented by a new configuration |
604 | option C<long_prefix_pattern> that allows the user to specify what |
605 | prefix patterns should have long option style semantics applied. |
606 | |
607 | =item * |
608 | |
609 | Options can now take multiple values at once (experimental) |
610 | |
611 | =item * |
612 | |
613 | Various bug fixes |
614 | |
615 | =back |
616 | |
617 | =item * |
618 | |
619 | C<if> upgraded to version 0.05 |
620 | |
621 | =over |
622 | |
623 | =item * |
624 | |
625 | Give more meaningful error messages from C<if> when invoked with a |
626 | condition in list context. |
627 | |
628 | =item * |
629 | |
630 | Restore backwards compatibility with earlier versions of perl |
631 | |
632 | =back |
633 | |
634 | =item * |
635 | |
636 | C<IO> upgraded to version 1.22 |
637 | |
638 | =over |
639 | |
640 | =item * |
641 | |
642 | Enhanced documentation |
643 | |
644 | =item * |
645 | |
646 | Internal cleanup |
647 | |
648 | =back |
649 | |
650 | =item * |
651 | |
652 | C<IPC::Open2> upgraded to version 1.02 |
653 | |
654 | =over |
655 | |
656 | =item * |
657 | |
658 | Enhanced documentation |
659 | |
660 | =back |
661 | |
662 | =item * |
663 | |
664 | C<IPC::Open3> upgraded to version 1.02 |
665 | |
666 | =over |
667 | |
668 | =item * |
669 | |
670 | Enhanced documentation |
671 | |
672 | =back |
673 | |
674 | =item * |
675 | |
676 | C<List::Util> upgraded to version 1.18 (was 1.14) |
677 | |
678 | =over |
679 | |
680 | =item * |
681 | |
682 | Fix pure-perl version of C<refaddr> to avoid blessing an un-blessed reference |
683 | |
684 | =item * |
685 | |
686 | Use C<XSLoader> for faster loading |
687 | |
688 | =item * |
689 | |
690 | Fixed various memory leaks |
691 | |
692 | =item * |
693 | |
694 | Internal cleanup and portability fixes |
695 | |
696 | =back |
697 | |
698 | =item * |
699 | |
700 | C<Math::Complex> upgraded to version 1.35 |
701 | |
702 | =over |
703 | |
704 | =item * |
705 | |
706 | C<atan2(0, i)> now works, as do all the (computable) complex argument cases |
707 | |
708 | =item * |
709 | |
710 | Fixes for certain bugs in C<make> and C<emake> |
711 | |
712 | =item * |
713 | |
714 | Support returning the I<k>th root directly |
715 | |
716 | =item * |
717 | |
718 | Support C<[2,-3pi/8]> in C<emake> |
719 | |
720 | =item * |
721 | |
722 | Support C<inf> for C<make>/C<emake> |
723 | |
724 | =item * |
725 | |
726 | Document C<make>/C<emake> more visibly |
727 | |
728 | =back |
729 | |
730 | =item * |
731 | |
732 | C<Math::Trig> upgraded to version 1.03 |
733 | |
734 | =over |
735 | |
736 | =item * |
737 | |
738 | Add more great circle routines: C<great_circle_waypoint> and |
739 | C<great_circle_destination> |
740 | |
741 | =back |
742 | |
743 | =item * |
744 | |
745 | C<MIME::Base64> upgraded to version 3.07 |
746 | |
747 | =over |
748 | |
749 | =item * |
750 | |
751 | Use C<XSLoader> for faster loading |
752 | |
753 | =item * |
754 | |
755 | Enhanced documentation |
756 | |
757 | =item * |
758 | |
759 | Internal cleanup |
760 | |
761 | =back |
762 | |
763 | =item * |
764 | |
765 | C<NDBM_File> upgraded to version 1.06 |
766 | |
767 | =over |
768 | |
769 | =item * |
770 | |
771 | Enhanced documentation |
772 | |
773 | =back |
774 | |
775 | =item * |
776 | |
777 | C<ODBM_File> upgraded to version 1.06 |
778 | |
779 | =over |
780 | |
781 | =item * |
782 | |
783 | Documentation typo fixed |
784 | |
785 | =item * |
786 | |
787 | Internal cleanup |
788 | |
789 | =back |
790 | |
791 | =item * |
792 | |
793 | C<Opcode> upgraded to version 1.06 |
794 | |
795 | =over |
796 | |
797 | =item * |
798 | |
799 | Enhanced documentation |
800 | |
801 | =item * |
802 | |
803 | Internal cleanup |
804 | |
805 | =back |
806 | |
807 | =item * |
808 | |
809 | C<open> upgraded to version 1.05 |
810 | |
811 | =over |
812 | |
813 | =item * |
814 | |
815 | Enhanced documentation |
816 | |
817 | =back |
818 | |
819 | =item * |
820 | |
821 | C<overload> upgraded to version 1.04 |
822 | |
823 | =over |
824 | |
825 | =item * |
826 | |
827 | Enhanced documentation |
828 | |
829 | =back |
830 | |
831 | =item * |
832 | |
833 | C<PerlIO> upgraded to version 1.04 |
834 | |
835 | =over |
836 | |
837 | =item * |
838 | |
839 | C<PerlIO::via> iterate over layers properly now |
840 | |
841 | =item * |
842 | |
843 | C<PerlIO::scalar> understands C<< $/ = "" >> now |
844 | |
845 | =item * |
846 | |
847 | C<encoding(utf-8-strict)> with partial characters now works |
848 | |
849 | =item * |
850 | |
851 | Enhanced documentation |
852 | |
853 | =item * |
854 | |
855 | Internal cleanup |
856 | |
857 | =back |
858 | |
859 | =item * |
860 | |
861 | C<Pod::Functions> upgraded to version 1.03 |
862 | |
863 | =over |
864 | |
865 | =item * |
866 | |
867 | Documentation typos fixed |
868 | |
869 | =back |
870 | |
871 | =item * |
872 | |
873 | C<Pod::Html> upgraded to version 1.0504 |
874 | |
875 | =over |
876 | |
877 | =item * |
878 | |
879 | HTML output will now correctly link |
880 | to C<=item>s on the same page, and should be valid XHTML. |
881 | |
882 | =item * |
883 | |
884 | Variable names are recognized as intended |
885 | |
886 | =item * |
887 | |
888 | Documentation typos fixed |
889 | |
890 | =back |
891 | |
892 | =item * |
893 | |
894 | C<Pod::Parser> upgraded to version 1.32 |
895 | |
896 | =over |
897 | |
898 | =item * |
899 | |
900 | Allow files that start with C<=head> on the first line |
901 | |
902 | =item * |
903 | |
904 | Win32 portability fix |
905 | |
906 | =item * |
907 | |
908 | Exit status of C<pod2usage> fixed |
909 | |
910 | =item * |
911 | |
912 | New C<-noperldoc> switch for C<pod2usage> |
913 | |
914 | =item * |
915 | |
916 | Arbitrary URL schemes now allowed |
917 | |
918 | =item * |
919 | |
920 | Documentation typos fixed |
921 | |
922 | =back |
923 | |
924 | =item * |
925 | |
926 | C<POSIX> upgraded to version 1.09 |
927 | |
928 | =over |
929 | |
930 | =item * |
931 | |
932 | Documentation typos fixed |
933 | |
934 | =item * |
935 | |
936 | Internal cleanup |
937 | |
938 | =back |
939 | |
940 | =item * |
941 | |
942 | C<re> upgraded to version 0.05 |
943 | |
944 | =over |
945 | |
946 | =item * |
947 | |
948 | Documentation typo fixed |
949 | |
950 | =back |
951 | |
952 | =item * |
953 | |
954 | C<Safe> upgraded to version 2.12 |
955 | |
956 | =over |
957 | |
958 | =item * |
959 | |
960 | Minor documentation enhancement |
961 | |
962 | =back |
963 | |
964 | =item * |
965 | |
966 | C<SDBM_File> upgraded to version 1.05 |
967 | |
968 | =over |
969 | |
970 | =item * |
971 | |
972 | Documentation typo fixed |
973 | |
974 | =item * |
975 | |
976 | Internal cleanup |
977 | |
978 | =back |
979 | |
980 | =item * |
981 | |
982 | C<Socket> upgraded to version 1.78 |
983 | |
984 | =over |
985 | |
986 | =item * |
987 | |
988 | Internal cleanup |
989 | |
990 | =back |
991 | |
992 | =item * |
993 | |
994 | C<Storable> upgraded to version 2.15 |
995 | |
996 | =over |
997 | |
998 | =item * |
999 | |
1000 | This includes the C<STORABLE_attach> hook functionality added by |
1001 | Adam Kennedy, and more frugal memory requirements when storing under C<ithreads>, by |
1002 | using the C<ithreads> cloning tracking code. |
1003 | |
1004 | =back |
1005 | |
1006 | =item * |
1007 | |
1008 | C<Switch> upgraded to version 2.10_01 |
1009 | |
1010 | =over |
1011 | |
1012 | =item * |
1013 | |
1014 | Documentation typos fixed |
1015 | |
1016 | =back |
1017 | |
1018 | =item * |
1019 | |
1020 | C<Sys::Syslog> upgraded to version 0.13 |
1021 | |
1022 | =over |
1023 | |
1024 | =item * |
1025 | |
1026 | Now provides numeric macros and meaningful C<Exporter> tags. |
1027 | |
1028 | =item * |
1029 | |
1030 | No longer uses C<Sys::Hostname> as it may provide useless values in |
1031 | unconfigured network environments, so instead uses C<INADDR_LOOPBACK> directly. |
1032 | |
1033 | =item * |
1034 | |
1035 | C<syslog()> now uses local timestamp. |
1036 | |
1037 | =item * |
1038 | |
1039 | C<setlogmask()> now behaves like its C counterpart. |
1040 | |
1041 | =item * |
1042 | |
1043 | C<setlogsock()> will now C<croak()> as documented. |
1044 | |
1045 | =item * |
1046 | |
1047 | Improved error and warnings messages. |
1048 | |
1049 | =item * |
1050 | |
1051 | Improved documentation. |
1052 | |
1053 | =back |
1054 | |
1055 | =item * |
1056 | |
1057 | C<Term::ANSIColor> upgraded to version 1.10 |
1058 | |
1059 | =over |
1060 | |
1061 | =item * |
1062 | |
1063 | Fixes a bug in C<colored> when C<$EACHLINE> is set that caused it to not color |
1064 | lines consisting solely of 0 (literal zero). |
1065 | |
1066 | =item * |
1067 | |
1068 | Improved tests. |
1069 | |
1070 | =back |
1071 | |
1072 | =item * |
1073 | |
1074 | C<Term::ReadLine> upgraded to version 1.02 |
1075 | |
1076 | =over |
1077 | |
1078 | =item * |
1079 | |
1080 | Documentation tweaks |
1081 | |
1082 | =back |
1083 | |
1084 | =item * |
1085 | |
1086 | C<Test::Harness> upgraded to version 2.56 (was 2.48) |
1087 | |
1088 | =over |
1089 | |
1090 | =item * |
1091 | |
1092 | The C<Test::Harness> timer is now off by default. |
1093 | |
1094 | =item * |
1095 | |
1096 | Now shows elapsed time in milliseconds. |
1097 | |
1098 | =item * |
1099 | |
1100 | Various bug fixes |
1101 | |
1102 | =back |
1103 | |
1104 | =item * |
1105 | |
1106 | C<Test::Simple> upgraded to version 0.62 (was 0.54) |
1107 | |
1108 | =over |
1109 | |
1110 | =item * |
1111 | |
1112 | C<is_deeply()> no longer fails to work for many cases |
1113 | |
1114 | =item * |
1115 | |
1116 | Various minor bug fixes |
1117 | |
1118 | =item * |
1119 | |
1120 | Documentation enhancements |
1121 | |
1122 | =back |
1123 | |
1124 | =item * |
1125 | |
1126 | C<Text::Tabs> upgraded to version 2005.0824 |
1127 | |
1128 | =over |
1129 | |
1130 | =item * |
1131 | |
1132 | Provides a faster implementation of C<expand> |
1133 | |
1134 | =back |
1135 | |
1136 | =item * |
1137 | |
1138 | C<Text::Wrap> upgraded to version 2005.082401 |
1139 | |
1140 | =over |
1141 | |
1142 | =item * |
1143 | |
1144 | Adds C<$Text::Wrap::separator2>, which allows you to preserve existing newlines |
1145 | but add line-breaks with some other string. |
1146 | |
1147 | =back |
1148 | |
1149 | =item * |
1150 | |
1151 | C<threads> upgraded to version 1.07 |
1152 | |
1153 | =over |
1154 | |
1155 | =item * |
1156 | |
1157 | C<threads> will now honour C<no warnings 'threads'> |
1158 | |
1159 | =item * |
1160 | |
1161 | A thread's interpreter is now freed after C<< $t->join() >> rather than after |
1162 | C<undef $t>, which should fix some C<ithreads> memory leaks. (Fixed by Dave |
1163 | Mitchell) |
1164 | |
1165 | =item * |
1166 | |
1167 | Some documentation typo fixes. |
1168 | |
1169 | =back |
1170 | |
1171 | =item * |
1172 | |
1173 | C<threads::shared> upgraded to version 0.94 |
1174 | |
1175 | =over |
1176 | |
1177 | =item * |
1178 | |
1179 | Documentation changes only |
1180 | |
1181 | =item * |
1182 | |
1183 | Note: An improved implementation of C<threads::shared> is available on |
1184 | CPAN - this will be merged into 5.8.9 if it proves stable. |
1185 | |
1186 | =back |
1187 | |
1188 | =item * |
1189 | |
1190 | C<Tie::Hash> upgraded to version 1.02 |
1191 | |
1192 | =over |
1193 | |
1194 | =item * |
1195 | |
1196 | Documentation typo fixed |
1197 | |
1198 | =back |
1199 | |
1200 | =item * |
1201 | |
1202 | C<Time::HiRes> upgraded to version 1.86 (was 1.66) |
1203 | |
1204 | =over |
1205 | |
1206 | =item * |
1207 | |
1208 | C<clock_nanosleep()> and C<clock()> functions added |
1209 | |
1210 | =item * |
1211 | |
1212 | Support for the POSIX C<clock_gettime()> and C<clock_getres()> has been added |
1213 | |
1214 | =item * |
1215 | |
1216 | Return C<undef> or an empty list if the C C<gettimeofday()> function fails |
1217 | |
1218 | =item * |
1219 | |
1220 | Improved C<nanosleep> detection |
1221 | |
1222 | =item * |
1223 | |
1224 | Internal cleanup |
1225 | |
1226 | =item * |
1227 | |
1228 | Enhanced documentation |
1229 | |
1230 | =back |
1231 | |
1232 | =item * |
1233 | |
1234 | C<Unicode::Collate> upgraded to version 0.52 |
1235 | |
1236 | =over |
1237 | |
1238 | =item * |
1239 | |
1240 | Now implements UCA Revision 14 (based on Unicode 4.1.0). |
1241 | |
1242 | =item * |
1243 | |
1244 | C<Unicode::Collate->new> method no longer overwrites user's C<$_> |
1245 | |
1246 | =item * |
1247 | |
1248 | Enhanced documentation |
1249 | |
1250 | =back |
1251 | |
1252 | =item * |
1253 | |
1254 | C<Unicode::UCD> upgraded to version 0.24 |
1255 | |
1256 | =over |
1257 | |
1258 | =item * |
1259 | |
1260 | Documentation typos fixed |
1261 | |
1262 | =back |
1263 | |
1264 | =item * |
1265 | |
1266 | C<User::grent> upgraded to version 1.01 |
1267 | |
1268 | =over |
1269 | |
1270 | =item * |
1271 | |
1272 | Documentation typo fixed |
1273 | |
1274 | =back |
1275 | |
1276 | =item * |
1277 | |
1278 | C<utf8> upgraded to version 1.06 |
1279 | |
1280 | =over |
1281 | |
1282 | =item * |
1283 | |
1284 | Documentation typos fixed |
1285 | |
1286 | =back |
1287 | |
1288 | =item * |
1289 | |
1290 | C<vmsish> upgraded to version 1.02 |
1291 | |
1292 | =over |
1293 | |
1294 | =item * |
1295 | |
1296 | Documentation typos fixed |
1297 | |
1298 | =back |
1299 | |
1300 | =item * |
1301 | |
1302 | C<warnings> upgraded to version 1.05 |
1303 | |
1304 | =over |
1305 | |
1306 | =item * |
1307 | |
1308 | Gentler messing with C<Carp::> internals |
1309 | |
1310 | =item * |
1311 | |
1312 | Internal cleanup |
1313 | |
1314 | =item * |
1315 | |
1316 | Documentation update |
1317 | |
1318 | =back |
1319 | |
1320 | =item * |
1321 | |
1322 | C<Win32> upgraded to version 0.2601 |
1323 | |
1324 | =for cynics And how many perl 5.8.x versions can I release ahead of Vista? |
1325 | |
1326 | =over |
1327 | |
1328 | =item * |
1329 | |
1330 | Provides Windows Vista support to C<Win32::GetOSName> |
1331 | |
1332 | =item * |
1333 | |
1334 | Documentation enhancements |
1335 | |
1336 | =back |
1337 | |
1338 | =item * |
1339 | |
1340 | C<XS::Typemap> upgraded to version 0.02 |
1341 | |
1342 | =over |
1343 | |
1344 | =item * |
1345 | |
1346 | Internal cleanup |
1347 | |
1348 | =back |
1349 | |
1350 | =back |
1351 | |
1352 | =head1 Utility Changes |
1353 | |
1354 | =head2 C<h2xs> enhancements |
1355 | |
1356 | C<h2xs> implements new option C<--use-xsloader> to force use of |
1357 | C<XSLoader> even in backwards compatible modules. |
1358 | |
1359 | The handling of authors' names that had apostrophes has been fixed. |
1360 | |
1361 | Any enums with negative values are now skipped. |
1362 | |
1363 | =head2 C<perlivp> enhancements |
1364 | |
1365 | C<perlivp> implements new option C<-a> and will not check for F<*.ph> |
1366 | files by default any more. Use the C<-a> option to run I<all> tests. |
1367 | |
1368 | =head1 New Documentation |
1369 | |
1370 | The L<perlglossary> manpage is a glossary of terms used in the Perl |
1371 | documentation, technical and otherwise, kindly provided by O'Reilly Media, |
1372 | inc. |
1373 | |
1374 | =head1 Performance Enhancements |
1375 | |
1376 | =over 4 |
1377 | |
1378 | =item * |
1379 | |
1380 | Weak reference creation is now I<O(1)> rather than I<O(n)>, courtesy of |
1381 | Nicholas Clark. Weak reference deletion remains I<O(n)>, but if deletion only |
1382 | happens at program exit, it may be skipped completely. |
1383 | |
1384 | =item * |
1385 | |
1386 | Salvador Fandiño provided improvements to reduce the memory usage of C<sort> |
1387 | and to speed up some cases. |
1388 | |
1389 | =item * |
1390 | |
1391 | Jarkko Hietaniemi and Andy Lester worked to mark as much data as possible in |
1392 | the C source files as C<static>, to increase the proportion of the executable |
1393 | file that the operating system can share between process, and thus reduce |
1394 | real memory usage on multi-user systems. |
1395 | |
1396 | =back |
1397 | |
1398 | =head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements |
1399 | |
1400 | Parallel makes should work properly now, although there may still be problems |
1401 | if C<make test> is instructed to run in parallel. |
1402 | |
1403 | Building with Borland's compilers on Win32 should work more smoothly. In |
1404 | particular Steve Hay has worked to side step many warnings emitted by their |
1405 | compilers and at least one C compiler internal error. |
1406 | |
1407 | C<Configure> will now detect C<clearenv> and C<unsetenv>, thanks to a patch |
1408 | from Alan Burlison. It will also probe for C<futimes> and whether C<sprintf> |
1409 | correctly returns the length of the formatted string, which will both be used |
1410 | in perl 5.8.9. |
1411 | |
1412 | There are improved hints for next-3.0, vmesa, IX, Darwin, Solaris, Linux, |
1413 | DEC/OSF, HP-UX and MPE/iX |
1414 | |
1415 | Perl extensions on Windows now can be statically built into the Perl DLL, |
1416 | thanks to a work by Vadim Konovalov. (This improvement was actually in 5.8.7, |
1417 | but was accidentally omitted from L<perl587delta>). |
1418 | |
1419 | =head1 Selected Bug Fixes |
1420 | |
1421 | =head2 no warnings 'category' works correctly with -w |
1422 | |
1423 | Previously when running with warnings enabled globally via C<-w>, selective |
1424 | disabling of specific warning categories would actually turn off all warnings. |
1425 | This is now fixed; now C<no warnings 'io';> will only turn off warnings in the |
1426 | C<io> class. Previously it would erroneously turn off all warnings. |
1427 | |
1428 | This bug fix may cause some programs to start correctly issuing warnings. |
1429 | |
1430 | =head2 Remove over-optimisation |
1431 | |
1432 | Perl 5.8.4 introduced a change so that assignments of C<undef> to a |
1433 | scalar, or of an empty list to an array or a hash, were optimised away. As |
1434 | this could cause problems when C<goto> jumps were involved, this change |
1435 | has been backed out. |
1436 | |
1437 | =head2 sprintf() fixes |
1438 | |
1439 | Using the sprintf() function with some formats could lead to a buffer |
1440 | overflow in some specific cases. This has been fixed, along with several |
1441 | other bugs, notably in bounds checking. |
1442 | |
1443 | In related fixes, it was possible for badly written code that did not follow |
1444 | the documentation of C<Sys::Syslog> to have formatting vulnerabilities. |
1445 | C<Sys::Syslog> has been changed to protect people from poor quality third |
1446 | party code. |
1447 | |
1448 | =head2 Debugger and Unicode slowdown |
1449 | |
1450 | It had been reported that running under perl's debugger when processing |
1451 | Unicode data could cause unexpectedly large slowdowns. The most likely cause |
1452 | of this was identified and fixed by Nicholas Clark. |
1453 | |
1454 | =head2 Smaller fixes |
1455 | |
1456 | =over 4 |
1457 | |
1458 | =item * |
1459 | |
1460 | C<FindBin> now works better with directories where access rights are more |
1461 | restrictive than usual. |
1462 | |
1463 | =item * |
1464 | |
1465 | Several memory leaks in ithreads were closed. An improved implementation of |
1466 | C<threads::shared> is available on CPAN - this will be merged into 5.8.9 if |
1467 | it proves stable. |
1468 | |
1469 | =item * |
1470 | |
1471 | Trailing spaces are now trimmed from C<$!> and C<$^E>. |
1472 | |
1473 | =item * |
1474 | |
1475 | Operations that require perl to read a process' list of groups, such as reads |
1476 | of C<$(> and C<$)>, now dynamically allocate memory rather than using a |
1477 | fixed sized array. The fixed size array could cause C stack exhaustion on |
1478 | systems configured to use large numbers of groups. |
1479 | |
1480 | =item * |
1481 | |
1482 | C<PerlIO::scalar> now works better with non-default C<$/> settings. |
1483 | |
1484 | =item * |
1485 | |
1486 | You can now use the C<x> operator to repeat a C<qw//> list. This used |
1487 | to raise a syntax error. |
1488 | |
1489 | =item * |
1490 | |
1491 | The debugger now traces correctly execution in eval("")uated code that |
1492 | contains #line directives. |
1493 | |
1494 | =item * |
1495 | |
1496 | The value of the C<open> pragma is no longer ignored for three-argument |
1497 | opens. |
1498 | |
1499 | =item * |
1500 | |
1501 | The optimisation of C<for (reverse @a)> introduced in perl 5.8.6 could |
1502 | misbehave when the array had undefined elements and was used in LVALUE |
1503 | context. Dave Mitchell provided a fix. |
1504 | |
1505 | =item * |
1506 | |
1507 | Some case insensitive matches between UTF-8 encoded data and 8 bit regexps, |
1508 | and vice versa, could give malformed character warnings. These have been |
1509 | fixed by Dave Mitchell and Yves Orton. |
1510 | |
1511 | =item * |
1512 | |
1513 | C<lcfirst> and C<ucfirst> could corrupt the string for certain cases where |
1514 | the length UTF-8 encoding of the string in lower case, upper case or title |
1515 | case differed. This was fixed by Nicholas Clark. |
1516 | |
1517 | =item * |
1518 | |
1519 | Perl will now use the C library calls C<unsetenv> and C<clearenv> if present |
1520 | to delete keys from C<%ENV> and delete C<%ENV> entirely, thanks to a patch |
1521 | from Alan Burlison. |
1522 | |
1523 | =back |
1524 | |
1525 | =head1 New or Changed Diagnostics |
1526 | |
1527 | =head2 Attempt to set length of freed array |
1528 | |
1529 | This is a new warning, produced in situations such as this: |
1530 | |
1531 | $r = do {my @a; \$#a}; |
1532 | $$r = 503; |
1533 | |
1534 | =head2 Non-string passed as bitmask |
1535 | |
1536 | This is a new warning, produced when number has been passed as a argument to |
1537 | select(), instead of a bitmask. |
1538 | |
1539 | # Wrong, will now warn |
1540 | $rin = fileno(STDIN); |
1541 | ($nfound,$timeleft) = select($rout=$rin, undef, undef, $timeout); |
1542 | |
1543 | # Should be |
1544 | $rin = ''; |
1545 | vec($rin,fileno(STDIN),1) = 1; |
1546 | ($nfound,$timeleft) = select($rout=$rin, undef, undef, $timeout); |
1547 | |
1548 | =head2 Search pattern not terminated or ternary operator parsed as search pattern |
1549 | |
1550 | This syntax error indicates that the lexer couldn't find the final |
1551 | delimiter of a C<?PATTERN?> construct. Mentioning the ternary operator in |
1552 | this error message makes it easier to diagnose syntax errors. |
1553 | |
1554 | =head1 Changed Internals |
1555 | |
1556 | There has been a fair amount of refactoring of the C<C> source code, partly to |
1557 | make it tidier and more maintainable. The resulting object code and the |
1558 | C<perl> binary may well be smaller than 5.8.7, in particular due to a change |
1559 | contributed by Dave Mitchell which reworked the warnings code to be |
1560 | significantly smaller. Apart from being smaller and possibly faster, there |
1561 | should be no user-detectable changes. |
1562 | |
1563 | Andy Lester supplied many improvements to determine which function |
1564 | parameters and local variables could actually be declared C<const> to the C |
1565 | compiler. Steve Peters provided new C<*_set> macros and reworked the core to |
1566 | use these rather than assigning to macros in LVALUE context. |
1567 | |
1568 | Dave Mitchell improved the lexer debugging output under C<-DT> |
1569 | |
1570 | Nicholas Clark changed the string buffer allocation so that it is now rounded |
1571 | up to the next multiple of 4 (or 8 on platforms with 64 bit pointers). This |
1572 | should reduce the number of calls to C<realloc> without actually using any |
1573 | extra memory. |
1574 | |
1575 | The C<HV>'s array of C<HE*>s is now allocated at the correct (minimal) size, |
1576 | thanks to another change by Nicholas Clark. Compile with |
1577 | C<-DPERL_USE_LARGE_HV_ALLOC> to use the old, sloppier, default. |
1578 | |
1579 | For XS or embedding debugging purposes, if perl is compiled with |
1580 | C<-DDEBUG_LEAKING_SCALARS_FORK_DUMP> in addition to |
1581 | C<-DDEBUG_LEAKING_SCALARS> then a child process is C<fork>ed just before |
1582 | global destruction, which is used to display the values of any scalars |
1583 | found to have leaked at the end of global destruction. Without this, the |
1584 | scalars have already been freed sufficiently at the point of detection that |
1585 | it is impossible to produce any meaningful dump of their contents. This |
1586 | feature was implemented by the indefatigable Nicholas Clark, based on an idea |
1587 | by Mike Giroux. |
1588 | |
1589 | =head1 Platform Specific Problems |
1590 | |
1591 | The optimiser on HP-UX 11.23 (Itanium 2) is currently partly disabled (scaled |
1592 | down to +O1) when using HP C-ANSI-C; the cause of problems at higher |
1593 | optimisation levels is still unclear. |
1594 | |
1595 | There are a handful of remaining test failures on VMS, mostly due to |
1596 | test fixes and minor module tweaks with too many dependencies to |
1597 | integrate into this release from the development stream, where they have |
1598 | all been corrected. The following is a list of expected failures with |
1599 | the patch number of the fix where that is known: |
1600 | |
1601 | ext/Devel/PPPort/t/ppphtest.t #26913 |
1602 | ext/List/Util/t/p_tainted.t #26912 |
1603 | lib/ExtUtils/t/PL_FILES.t #26813 |
1604 | lib/ExtUtils/t/basic.t #26813 |
1605 | t/io/fs.t |
1606 | t/op/cmp.t |
1607 | |
1608 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
1609 | |
1610 | If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles |
1611 | recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl |
1612 | bug database at http://bugs.perl.org. There may also be |
1613 | information at http://www.perl.org, the Perl Home Page. |
1614 | |
1615 | If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug> |
1616 | program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down |
1617 | to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the |
1618 | output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be |
1619 | analysed by the Perl porting team. You can browse and search |
1620 | the Perl 5 bugs at http://bugs.perl.org/ |
1621 | |
1622 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
1623 | |
1624 | The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed. |
1625 | |
1626 | The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl. |
1627 | |
1628 | The F<README> file for general stuff. |
1629 | |
1630 | The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information. |
1631 | |
1632 | =cut |