Also under djgpp the timestamps are funky.
[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / pod / perldelta.pod
CommitLineData
cc0fca54 1=head1 NAME
2
53080bb1 3perldelta - what's new for perl v5.7.0
cc0fca54 4
5=head1 DESCRIPTION
6
53080bb1 7This document describes differences between the 5.6.0 release and
8the 5.7.0 release.
cc0fca54 9
d4ad863d 10=head1 Security Vulnerability
11
12A potential security vulnerability in the optional suidperl component
13of Perl has been identified. The suidperl is neither built nor
14installed by default. As of August the 20th, 2000, the only known
15vulnerable platform is Linux, most likely all Linux distributions.
16The CERT and various vendors have been alerted about the vulnerability.
17
18The problem was caused by Perl trying to report a suspected security
19exploit attempt using an external program, /bin/mail. In Linux
20platforms the /bin/mail program had an undocumented feature which gave
21access to a root shell, resulting in a serious compromise, instead of
22reporting the exploit attempt. If you don't have /bin/mail or if you
23have 'safe suid scripts' or if you haven't installed the suidperl, you
24are safe.
25
26The exploit attempt reporting feature has been completely removed from
27the Perl 5.7.0 release, so that particular vulnerability isn't there
28anymore. However, further security vulnerabilities are,
29unfortunately, always possible. The suidperl code is being reviewed
30and if deemed too risky to continue being supported, in the extreme
31case it may be completely removed in future releases. In any case,
32suidperl should only be used by security experts who know exactly what
33they are doing and why they are using suidperl instead of some other solution.
34A good tool for similar needs is sudo: http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/
35
36=head1 Incompatible Changes
37
38=head2 Arrays Now Always Interpolate Into Double-Quoted Strings
39
40Constructs like "foo@bar" now always assume the C<@bar> to be an array,
41regardless of whether it is known that C<@bar> is an array.
42
43=head2 bless(REF, REF) is now a fatal error
44
45The semantics of bless(REF, REF) were unclear and until someone proves
46it to make some sense, it is forbidden.
47
48=head2 The eg/* Directory Removed
49
50The very dusty examples in the eg/ directory have been removed.
51Suggestions for new shiny examples welcome but the main issue is that
52the examples need to be documented, tested, and--most importantly--maintained.
53
54=head2 The lib/chat2.pl
55
56The obsolete chat2 library that should never have been allowed
57to escape the laboratory has been decommissioned.
58
59=head2 Unimplemented (But Recognized) POSIX Regex Features Now Fatal
60
61The unimplemented POSIX regex features [[.cc.]] and [[=c=]] are still
62recognized but now cause fatal errors. The previous behaviour of
63ignoring them by default and warning if requested was unacceptable
64since it, in a way, falsely promised that the features could be used.
65
66=head2 lstat(FILEHANDLE) now warns
67
68lstat(FILEHANDLE) now gives a warning because the operation makes no sense.
69In future releases this may become a fatal error.
70
71=head2 Obsolete String Comparison Operators Removed
72
73The long since deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison
74operators (EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE, GT) have now been removed.
75
76=head2 The Regular Expression Submatches Are Now Unset When Backtracking
77
78The regular expression captured submatches ($1, $2, ...) are now
79consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false
80data lying around in them.
81
82=head2 tr///CU Removed, Not To Return
83
84The tr///C and tr///U features have been removed and will not return;
85the interface was a mistake. Sorry about that. For similar
86functionality, see pack('U0', ...) and pack('C0', ...).
87
cc0fca54 88=head1 Core Enhancements
89
53080bb1 90=over 4
91
92=item *
93
94C<perl -d:Module=arg,arg,arg> now works (previously one couldn't pass
95in multiple arguments.)
96
97=item *
98
53080bb1 99my __PACKAGE__ now works.
100
101=item *
102
103no Module; now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module.
104
105=item *
106
d4ad863d 107The numerical comparison operators return C<undef> if either operand
108is a NaN. Previously the behaviour was unspecified.
53080bb1 109
110=item *
111
112C<pack('U0a*', ...)> can now be used to force the string to UTF8.
113
114=item *
115
116prototype(\&) is now available.
117
53080bb1 118=back
119
cc0fca54 120=head1 Modules and Pragmata
121
53080bb1 122=head2 New Modules
123
d4ad863d 124=over 4
125
126=item *
127
128File::Temp, version 0.10, allows one to create temporary files
129and directories in an easy, portable, and secure way.
130
131=item *
132
133The Storable extension, version 0.7.2, released the 14th of August
53080bb1 1342000, has been added to the Perl distribution. Storable gives
d4ad863d 135persistence to Perl data structures by allowing the storage and
136retrieval of Perl data to and from files in a fast and compact binary
137format.
138
139=back
53080bb1 140
141=head2 Updated And Improved Modules and Pragmata
142
143=over 4
144
145=item *
146
147The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments.
148
149=item *
150
151AutoLoader can now be `stopped' by
152
153 no AutoLoader;
154
155=item *
156
157B::Deparse now understands sub attributes.
158
159=item *
160
161Data::Dumper now works on negative number on 32-bit platforms where IV
162(the Perl's integer datatype) is greater than 32 bits. Also, large
163unsigned numbers are now dumped as such, not as large negative numbers.
164
165=item *
166
167CGI has been updated to version 2.72, released
168the 20th of August 2000.
169
170=item *
171
172CPAN has been updated to version 1.57, released
173the 16th of August 2000.
174
175=item *
176
177DB_File has been updated to version 1.73, released the
17827th of April 2000.
179
180=item *
181
182The English module can now be used without the infamous performance
183hit by saying
184
185 use English '-no_performance_hit';
186
187(Assuming, of course, that one doesn't need the troublesome variables
188C<$`>, C<$&>, or C<$'>.) Also, introduce C<@LAST_MATCH_START> and
189C<@LAST_MATCH_END> English aliases for C<@-> and C<@+>.
190
191=item *
192
193File::Find now has pre- and postprocessing callbacks.
194It also correctly changes directories when chasing symbolic links.
195Callbacks doing (naughtily) "next;" instead of "return;" now work.
196
197=item *
198
d4ad863d 199File::Glob::glob() renamed to File::Glob::bsd_glob() to avoid
53080bb1 200prototype mismatch with CORE::glob().
201
202=item *
203
204File::Spec has been updated to version 0.82, released the
2051st of July 2000.
206
207=item *
208
53080bb1 209Getopt::Long has been updated to version 2.23_05, released the 2nd of
210August 2000.
211
212=item *
213
214IO::Poll has been thoroughly fixed.
215
216=item *
217
218IO::Socket::INET now works when given an unknown service name with
219a port number.
220
221=item *
222
d4ad863d 223IPC::Open3 now allows the use of numeric file descriptors.
53080bb1 224
225=item *
226
227use lib now works identically to @INC. Removing directories
228with 'no lib' now works.
229
230=item *
231
d4ad863d 232Math::BigFloat now more robust (fewer "uninitialized" warnings).
53080bb1 233
234=item *
235
d4ad863d 236Math::Complex now handles extreme values (e.g. cplx(1E20, 1E30)) more
53080bb1 237gracefully.
238
239=item *
240
241The podlators bundle has been updated to version 1.02, released the
24225th of April 2000. It contains the modules Pod::Man 1.04, Pod::Text
2432.04, and modules Pod::Text::Color and Pod::Text::Termcap (no version
244numbers).
245
246=item *
247
d4ad863d 248Pod::LaTeX has been updated to version 0.52, released the 15th of May
2492000. Note that this is a complete rewrite which translates pod much
250better, has many more options and much better documentation. It also
251now uses the Pod::Parser backend, meaning that Pod::LaTeX will stay
252abreast other pod translators.
53080bb1 253
254=item *
255
256Pod::Parser has been updated to version 1.17, released the 25th of
257July 2000. It contains the modules Pod::Checker 1.20, Pod::Find 0.21,
258Pod::InputObjects 1.13, Pod::ParseUtils 0.22, Pod::Parser 1.12,
259Pod::Select 1.13, and Pod::Usage 1.13.
260
261=item *
262
d4ad863d 263The 'debug' subpragma the 're' pragma now produces cleaner output.
53080bb1 264
265=item *
266
267C<%INC> now localized in a Safe compartment so that use/require work.
268
269=item *
270
d4ad863d 271SelfLoader no longer loses C<$@> in AUTOLOAD.
53080bb1 272
273=item *
274
275The Shell module now has an OO interface.
276
277=item *
278
279Sys::Syslog now works on domain sockets. Also, a forked child
280now exits correctly if it fails to open /dev/console.
281
282=item *
283
284Term::ANSIColor has been updated to version 1.03, released the 6th of
285August 2000.
286
287=item *
288
289The Test module has been updated to version 1.14, released the 21st of June
2901999. This is for all practical purposes identical to the previous release
291of Test included with the Perl distribution, 1.13, but upgrading the module
292stops the CPAN module from suggesting an upgrade.
293
294=item *
295
296Test::Harness output now prettier on failed test.
297
298=item *
299
300Text::Wrap::wtbrap now handles multiline strings properly.
301
302=item *
303
d4ad863d 304UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly.
53080bb1 305
306=back
307
cc0fca54 308=head1 Utility Changes
309
53080bb1 310=head2 cperl-mode version 4.31
311
312The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version 4.31.
313
314=head2 perlbug
315
316Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to perl.org,
317not perl.com.
318
319=head2 perlcc now more cc-like and more robust
320
321The perlcc utility has been rewritten and its user interface (that is,
322command line) is much more like that of the UNIX C compiler, cc.
323
324=head2 xsubpp now understands embedded pod
325
326The xsubpp utility for extension writers now understands POD
327documentation embedded in the *.xs files.
328
cc0fca54 329=head1 Improved Documentation
330
53080bb1 331=over 4
332
333=item *
334
335In many places say "alphanumeric characters" instead of "word
336characters" because that was what was meant.
337
338=item *
339
340Eradicate "array context" from the documentation and diagnostics.
341
342=item *
343
d4ad863d 344The return values of failing backticks (`, qx{}) are now documented
53080bb1 345in perlop.
346
347=item *
348
349caller() return values now better documented.
350
351=item *
352
353SDBM_File, NDBM_File, ODBM_File, now tell about tying instead of
354glossing over.
355
356=item *
357
358Document that the C<$(> special variable does not interpolate
359in regular expressions.
360
361=item *
362
53080bb1 363The timeout unit of IO::Select is now documented to be identical
364to the timeout unit of the 4-arg select(), that is, (optionally
365fractional) seconds, or an undef to wait indefinitely.
366
367=item *
368
369Document the C<D> and C<d> magic types.
370
371=item *
372
d4ad863d 373The ordering of PODs in perl.pod is now more sensible.
53080bb1 374
375=item *
376
d4ad863d 377perlbook now only mentions the Camel III; all other book references
378have been moved to perlfaq2; some good known books added.
53080bb1 379
380=item *
381
382Numerous missing warning/error messages added to perldiag.
383
384=item *
385
d4ad863d 386Changed the description of perl6 in perlfaq1.
53080bb1 387
388=item *
389
390perlhack much extended.
391
392=item *
393
394perltrap cleaned up.
395
396=item *
397
398Add perlxstut example for passing/returning refs to arrays.
399
400=item *
401
402POSIX module documentation embellished.
403
404=item *
405
d4ad863d 406Clarified the status of shadow password support.
53080bb1 407
408=item *
409
d4ad863d 410Reminded that preprocessors and source filters can alter
53080bb1 411your code before Perl sees it and therefore debugging
412can be somewhat surprising. ("I didn't write *that*!")
413
414=item *
415
d4ad863d 416Removed incorrect documentation about implicit split to @_
53080bb1 417in list context, which never really worked in Perl 5 anyway.
418
419=item *
420
d4ad863d 421Explain that split /^/ is split /^/m.
53080bb1 422
423=item *
424
d4ad863d 425Added many more sprintf() examples in perlfunc.
53080bb1 426
427=item *
428
d4ad863d 429Documented the handling of negative indices to tied arrays.
53080bb1 430
431=item *
432
433The C<$yday> in localtime()/gmtime() is 0..364, not 1..365.
434
435=item *
436
d4ad863d 437Documented that tr() is not tr(1): that is, do not expect regular expressions.
53080bb1 438
439=item *
440
441Warn about the vagaries of UDP.
442
443=item *
444
445The uninitialized variable warnings now say "concat or string" or
446"join or string" instead of just "concat" or "join" since many users
447found the "concat" a bit surprising when they were doing "just"
448variable interpolation.
449
450=item *
451
d4ad863d 452Documented that the values() are aliases, not copies.
53080bb1 453
454=back
455
456=head2 New Documentation
457
458=over 4
459
460=item *
461
462perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the
d4ad863d 4635.6.0 release.
53080bb1 464
465=item *
466
d4ad863d 467perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
53080bb1 468
469=item *
470
471perlebcdic contains considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms.
472Note that unfortunately EBCDIC platforms that used to supported back in
d4ad863d 473Perl 5.005 are still unsupported by Perl 5.7.0; the plan, however, is to
53080bb1 474bring them back to the fold.
475
476=item *
477
478perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
479
480=item *
481
482perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform
483(a mainframe platform).
484
485=item *
486
487perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
488
489=item *
490
d4ad863d 491perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide.
53080bb1 492Yes, much quicker than perlretut.
493
494=item *
495
496perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
497distribution.
498
499=back
500
53080bb1 501=head1 Performance Enhancements
502
503map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster.
cc0fca54 504
505=head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
506
53080bb1 507=head2 INSTALL now explains 64-bit configuration.
508
509In some platforms Perl can be configured to use 64-bit integers,
510allowing 4 billion times better...sorry, switched accidentally to
511marketdroid mode for a moment in there. (In platforms which are
512natively 64-bit this makes no difference.)
513
514=head2 Policy.sh policy change
515
d4ad863d 516If you are reusing a Policy.sh file (see INSTALL) and you use
53080bb1 517Configure -Dprefix=/foo/bar and in the old Policy $prefix eq
d4ad863d 518$siteprefix and $prefix eq $vendorprefix, all of them will now be
519changed to the new prefix, /foo/bar. (Previously only $prefix
520changed.) If you do not like this new behaviour, specify prefix,
521siteprefix, and vendorprefix explicitly.
53080bb1 522
523=head2 Additional Library Locations
524
525A new optional location for Perl libraries, otherlibdirs, is available.
526It can be used for example for vendor add-ons without disturbing Perl's
527own library directories.
528
6a5ada23 529=head2 gcc automatically tried if 'cc' does not seem to be working
530
531In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to
532build Perl (basically, the 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems
533to be the case and the 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler
534'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead.
535
d4ad863d 536=head2 If gcc seems to be from a different operating system release ...
53080bb1 537
538gcc needs to closely track the operating system release because gcc
539wants to have its own versions of the operating system header files
540fixed to be clean enough for gcc's tastes. Therefore using a gcc
541compiled for a different release of the operating system is often a
542bad idea. If Configure can find out the operating system release that
543was used to compile the gcc and that release is different from the one
544being used now, gcc gives a clearly visible warning that trouble may
545lie ahead.
546
d4ad863d 547=head2 If no binary compatibility with 5.005 wanted, no 5.005 modules, either
53080bb1 548
549If no binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is wanted, Configure
550does not suggest including the 5.005 modules in the @INC.
551
552=head2 Configuration and Installation fixes
553
554=over 4
555
556=item *
557
558Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively
559
560=item *
561
562configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them
563
564=item *
565
566installperl now outputs everything to STDERR
567
568=item *
569
570$Config{byteorder} is now computed dynamically (this is more robust
571with "fat binaries" where an executable image contains binaries for
572more than one binary platform.)
573
574=back
575
576=head1 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
577
578=head2 BSDI 4.*
579
580Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes.
581
582=head2 All BSDs
583
d4ad863d 584Setting the C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details).
53080bb1 585
586=head2 Cygwin
587
588=over 4
589
590=item *
591
592Numerous updates; currently synchronized with Cygwin 1.1.4.
593
594=back
595
596=head2 EPOC
597
598EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. The EPOC port home page is at
599http://members.linuxstart.com/~oflebbe/perl/perl5.html
600
601=head2 FreeBSD 3.*
602
603Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs.
604
605=head2 HP-UX
606
607=over 4
608
609=item *
610
611Document that the C<perl -P> causes problems if one uses C<s/foo//>
612(because the HP C compiler does funny things to that // thinking it
613to be C++), document also the workaround.
614
615=item *
616
617C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works (one failing test).
618
619=back
620
621=head2 IRIX
622
623=over 4
624
625=item *
626
627Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements.
628
629=item *
630
631Accidental mixing of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt)
632made much harder.
633
634=back
635
636=head2 Linux
637
638=over 4
639
640=item *
641
642Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL).
643
644=back
645
646=head2 MacOS Classic
647
648=over 4
649
650=item *
651
652Compilation of the standard Perl distribution in MacOS Classic should
653now work--assuming you have the Metrowerks development environment and
654the missing Mac-specific toolkit bits, contact the macperl mailing
655list for details.
656
657=back
658
659=head2 MPE/iX
660
661MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. The Perl/iX home page is at
662http://www.bixby.org/mark/perlix.html
663
664=head2 NetBSD/sparc
665
666Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc.
667
668=head2 OS/2
669
670=over 4
671
672=item *
673
674Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL).
675
676=back
677
678=head2 Solaris
679
680=over 4
681
682=item *
683
68464-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works.
685
686=back
687
688=head2 Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1)
689
690=over 4
691
692=item *
693
694Allow compiling with gcc (previously explicitly forbidden). Compiling
695with gcc still not recommended because buggy code results, even with
696gcc 2.95.2.
697
698=item *
699
700The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}.
701
702=back
703
704=head2 Unicos
705
706=over 4
707
708=item *
709
710Fixed various alignment problems that lead into core dumps either
711during build or later.
712
713=item *
714
d4ad863d 715no longer dying on math errors in runtime.
53080bb1 716
717=item *
718
719Now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using
b84d4f81 720only 46 bit integers for speed.
53080bb1 721
722=back
723
724=head2 VMS
725
726=over 4
727
728=item *
729
730chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug.
731
732=item *
733
734Now works with MULTIPLICITY (see INSTALL).
735
736=item *
737
738Now works with Perl's malloc.
739
740=back
741
742=head2 Windows
743
744=over 4
745
746=item *
747
d4ad863d 748accept() no longer leaks memory.
53080bb1 749
750=item *
751
752Better chdir() return value for a non-existent directory.
753
754=item *
755
756New %ENV entries now propagate to subprocesses.
757
758=item *
759
760$ENV{LIB} now used to search for libs under Visual C.
761
762=item *
763
764A failed (pseudo)fork now returns undef and sets errno to EAGAIN.
765
766=item *
767
768Allow REG_EXPAND_SZ keys in the registry.
769
770=item *
771
772Can now send() from all threads, not just the first one.
773
774=item *
775
776Fake signal handling reenabled, bugs and all.
777
778=item *
779
780Less stack reserved per thread so that more threads can run
781concurrently. (still 16M perl thread)
782
783=item *
784
785C<File::Spec->tmpdir()> now prefers C:/temp over /tmp
786(works better when perl running as service).
787
788=item *
789
790Better UNC path handling under ithreads.
791
792=item *
793
794wait() and waitpid() now work much better.
795
796=item *
797
798winsock handle leak fixed.
799
800=back
801
802=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
803
804The following is by no means a comprehensive list of all the
805numerous bug fixes.
806
807=over 4
808
809=item *
810
811Redefining constant subroutines using eval (again) warns.
812
813=item *
814
815Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code,
816condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks
d4ad863d 817line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now
53080bb1 818goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set.
819
820=item *
821
822C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works.
823
824=item *
825
826Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes.
827
828=item *
829
830Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works.
831
832=item *
833
834Module name now mandatory after the C<-M> switch.
835
836=item *
837
838Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "".
839
840=item *
841
d4ad863d 842Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to
53080bb1 843return 27406, instead of 27047).
844
845=item *
846
d4ad863d 847msgrcv() no longer warns about uninitialized input scalar.
53080bb1 848
849=item *
850
d4ad863d 851Some "not a number" warnings introduced in 5.6.0 eliminated to be
852more compatible with 5.005. Infinity is now recognized as a number.
53080bb1 853
854=item *
855
d4ad863d 856our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings
53080bb1 857
858=item *
859
d4ad863d 860pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with an "\0".
53080bb1 861
862=item *
863
864Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms
865(e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry.
866
867=item *
868
869POSIX::STDERR_FILENO (not POSIX::STRERR_FILENO).
870
871=item *
872
d4ad863d 873printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C".
53080bb1 874
875=item *
876
877C<q(a\\b)> now parses as C<'a\\b'>.
878
879=item *
cc0fca54 880
53080bb1 881In quad (64-bit) platforms numbers now stay integers longer
882(as opposed to converting automatically to floating point numbers).
883
884=item *
885
d4ad863d 886Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf works now
53080bb1 887without q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform).
888
889=item *
890
891Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
892
893=item *
894
895Multiline matching of C<"a\nxb\n" =~ /(?!\A)x/m> now works.
896
897=item *
898
899C</(?i)/> now works.
900
901=item *
902
903C</x{ab}/> now works.
904
905=item *
906
d4ad863d 907scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context.
53080bb1 908
909=item *
910
d4ad863d 911All the documented Shell.pm examples now work.
53080bb1 912
913=item *
914
915sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context
d4ad863d 916(they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself).
53080bb1 917
918=item *
919
920Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very
921rare) vertical tabulator character. Added a new POSIX-ish character
d4ad863d 922class C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently,
53080bb1 923the space and the tabulator).
924
925=item *
926
927sprintf() format specs like C<%v-*d> now work.
928
929=item *
930
931The (nonsensical) C<%#p> format made illegal.
932
933=item *
934
935C<${$1}> now works (again).
936
937=item *
938
939$AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses
940in multiple thread simultaneously are now thread-safe.
941
942=item *
943
d4ad863d 944Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///.
53080bb1 945
946=item *
947
948Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect).
949
950BOMs (byte order marks) in the beginning of Perl files
951(scripts, modules) should now be transparently skipped.
d4ad863d 952UTF16 encoded Perl files should now be read correctly.
53080bb1 953
954The character tables have been updated to new Unicode 3.0 features.
955
956chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use
957utf8.
958
959Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into
960utf8.
961
962C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase.
963
964Concatenation with the C<.> operator or via variable interpolation,
965C<eq>, C<substr>, C<reverse>, C<quotemeta>, the C<x> operator,
966substitution with C<s///>, single-quoted UTF8, should now work--in
967theory.
968
969The C<tr///> operator now works I<slightly> better but is still rather
970broken. Note that the C<tr///CU> functionality has been removed (but
d4ad863d 971see pack('U0', ...)).
53080bb1 972
973Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>.
974
975=item *
976
977Unsignedness could disappear from a scalar causing later numeric
978comparisons to fail.
979
980=item *
981
982vec() now drops numericalness.
983
984=back
cc0fca54 985
986=head1 New or Changed Diagnostics
987
53080bb1 988All regular expression compilation error messages are now hopefully
989easier to understand both because the error message now comes before
990the failed regex and because the point of failure is now clearly
991marked.
992
993The various "opened only for", "on closed", "never opened" warnings
994drop the C<main::> prefix for filehandles in the C<main> package,
995for example C<STDIN> instead of <main::STDIN>.
996
c1899e02 997=over 4
998
53080bb1 999=item *
1000
1001(perhaps you forgot to load "%s"?)
c1899e02 1002
1003(F) This is an educated guess made in conjunction with the message
1004"Can't locate object method \"%s\" via package \"%s\"". It often means
1005that a method requires a package that has not been loaded.
1006
53080bb1 1007=item *
1008
1009Ambiguous range in transliteration operator
6a5ada23 1010
1011(F) You wrote something like C<tr/a-z-0//> which doesn't mean anything at
1012all. To include a C<-> character in a transliteration, put it either
1013first or last. (In the past, C<tr/a-z-0//> was synonymous with
1014C<tr/a-y//>, which was probably not what you would have expected.)
1015
53080bb1 1016=item *
1017
d4ad863d 1018The "Unrecognized escape" warning has been extended to include C<\8>,
1019C<\9>, and C<\_>. There is no need to escape any of the C<\w> characters.
53080bb1 1020
c1899e02 1021=back
1022
cc0fca54 1023=head1 New tests
1024
53080bb1 1025=over 4
1026
1027=item *
1028
1029lib/b tests the various compiler backends (see L<perlcompile>).
1030
1031=item *
1032
1033lib/cgi-pretty tests CGI pretty printing.
1034
1035=item *
1036
1037lib/ftmp-*.t test File::Temp.
1038
1039=item *
1040
1041lib/gol-oo tests Getopt::Long objected-oriented interface.
1042
1043=item *
1044
1045lib/peek tests Devel::Peek.
1046
1047=item *
1048
1049lib/selfloader tests SelfLoader.
1050
1051=item *
1052
1053lib/syslog tests Sys::Syslog.
1054
1055=item *
1056
1057op/bless tests bless().
1058
1059=item *
1060
1061op/stash tests the "my Package ..." feature.
1062
1063=item *
1064
1065op/regmesg exercises all various regex errors.
1066
1067=item *
1068
1069pod/find tests Pod::Find.
1070
1071=back
1072
1073=head2 Improved Tests
1074
1075=over 4
1076
1077=item *
1078
d4ad863d 1079op/sprintf coverage is now much more comprehensive.
53080bb1 1080
1081=item *
1082
1083op/taint now continues on failed shmget().
1084
1085=item *
1086
d4ad863d 1087lib/sysfs.t now continues even if SIXFSZ happens.
53080bb1 1088
1089=item *
1090
1091lib/syslog.t now works without sockets.
1092
1093=back
1094
53080bb1 1095=head1 Changed Internals
1096
1097=head2 apidoc
1098
d4ad863d 1099perlapi.pod (a companion to perlguts) now attempts to document the
1100internal API.
53080bb1 1101
1102=head2 microperl
1103
d4ad863d 1104There is now a way to build a really minimal perl called microperl.
1105Building microperl does not require even running Configure;
1106C<make -f Makefile.micro> should be enough. Beware: microperl makes
1107many assumptions, some of which may be too bold; the resulting
1108executable may crash or otherwise misbehave in wondrous ways. For
1109careful hackers only.
53080bb1 1110
1111=head2 Publicize More Functions
1112
1113Added rsignal(), whichsig(), do_join() to the publicized API.
1114
1115=head2 Propagating Exception Objects via Perl_croak() IN XS code
1116
1117Made possible to propagate customized exceptions via croak()ing.
1118
1119=head2 UTF8 Interfaces
1120
1121Added is_utf8_char(), is_utf8_string(), bytes_to_utf8(), and utf8_to_bytes().
1122
1123=head2 xsub attributes
1124
1125Now xsubs can have attributes just like subs.
1126
cc0fca54 1127=head1 Known Problems
1128
53080bb1 1129=head2 Unicode Support Still Far From Perfect
1130
1131We're working on it. Stay tuned.
1132
1133=head2 EBCDIC Still A Lost Platform
1134
1135The plan is to bring them back.
1136
1137=head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles
1138
1139Certain extensions like mod_perl and BSD::Resource are known to have
1140issues with `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in where file
1141offsets are by default 64 bits wide (assuming the platform supports
1142such large files). Modules may fail to compile at all or compile and
1143work incorrectly. Currently there is no good solution for the problem
d4ad863d 1144but Configure now stores the flags and libraries that affect the
53080bb1 1145largefileness to the %Config hash, the extensions that are having
1146problems can try configuring themselves without the largefileness.
1147This is admittedly not a clean solution.
1148
cc0fca54 1149=head1 Obsolete Diagnostics
1150
1151=head1 Reporting Bugs
1152
d4ad863d 1153If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
1154recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
1155bug database at http://bugs.perl.org. There may also be
1156information at http://www.perl.com/perl/, the Perl Home Page.
cc0fca54 1157
1158If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug>
1159program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
1160to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
d4ad863d 1161output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be
cc0fca54 1162analysed by the Perl porting team.
1163
1164=head1 SEE ALSO
1165
1166The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed.
1167
1168The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
1169
1170The F<README> file for general stuff.
1171
1172The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.
1173
1174=head1 HISTORY
1175
53080bb1 1176Written by Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>, with many contributions
1177from The Perl Porters and Perl Users submitting feedback and patches.
cc0fca54 1178
d4ad863d 1179Send omissions or corrections to <F<perlbug@perl.org>>.
cc0fca54 1180
1181=cut