1 =head1 How to write a perldelta
3 This is intended as a guide for how to write a perldelta. There has never
4 been a formal specification - the working rule is "fake up a document that
5 looks something close to the existing perldeltas". So if it's unclear how
6 do to do something, see if it's been done before, and if the approach works
11 Pod is more a physical markup language, rather than a logical markup language.
12 Despite that it has some built in conventions. B<Stick to them>:
16 =item * C<FE<lt>E<gt>> is for File
18 =item * C<CE<lt>E<gt>> is for Code
20 =item * C<LE<lt>E<gt>> is for Link
24 Whilst modules could also be links, usually in the context of the perldelta
25 the reference is to code C<use>ing them, rather than something within their
28 Be consistent in how bugs are referenced. One style is
34 C<RT #43010> inline, but enclose in square brackets after a sentence.
39 C<http://bugs.activestate.com/show_bug.cgi?id=72443>
51 In a list, either make every item a note, or a full sentence. Either end
52 every item with a full stop, or ensure that no item ends with one.
56 Historically, the perldelta has consisted of a sequence of C<=head1>
57 sections, usually in the same order. Un-needed sections are deleted,
58 and if something doesn't fit nicely into the existing sections, a new
59 more appropriate section is created.
67 perl5104delta - what is new for perl v5.10.4
71 For a release on a stable branch, follows this formula:
73 This document describes differences between the 5.10.3 release and
76 For the start of a new stable branch, follows this formula:
78 This document describes differences between the 5.12.0 release and
81 Clearly this sets the scope of which changes are to be summarised in the rest
86 There was a I<Notice> section in L<perl589delta>, to carry an important
89 =item Incompatible Changes
91 For a release on a stable branch, this section aspires to be
93 There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.10.3. If any exist,
94 they are bugs and reports are welcome.
96 =item Core Enhancements
98 New core language features go here. Summarise user-visible core language
99 enhancements. Particularly prominent performance optimisations could go
100 here, but most should go in the L</Performance Enhancements> section.
102 Feature inside modules (pure-Perl and XS) go in L</Modules and Pragmata>
106 List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous
107 versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/>
108 directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the
111 =item Modules and Pragmata
113 All changes to installed files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> go here, in a list
114 ordered by distribution name. Minimally it should be the module version,
115 but it's more useful to the end user to give a paragraph's summary of the
116 module's changes. In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a
117 F<Changes> file that could be cribbed.
119 Whilst this section could be built by incrementally working through change
120 descriptions applying to files, this is prone to error. It's better to
121 collate changes to F<ext/> and F<lib/> by module, and then summarise all
122 changes to a module as a group. This can be done by partitioning directories
123 within F<ext/> and F<lib/> to a number of people.
125 =item Utility Changes
127 Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go here. Most
128 of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>.
130 =item New Documentation
132 Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here.
134 =item Changes to Existing Documentation
136 Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here.
137 Any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in
138 L</New or Changed Diagnostics>.
140 =item Performance Enhancements
142 Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here. There
143 may well be none in a stable release.
145 =item Installation and Configuration Improvements
147 Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools
150 =item Selected Bug Fixes
152 Important bug fixes in the core language are summarised here.
153 Bug fixes in files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarised in
154 L</Modules and Pragmata>.
156 =item New or Changed Diagnostics
158 New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here.
160 =item Changed Internals
162 Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here.
166 Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here. Changes to existing files
167 in F<t/> aren't worth summarising, although the bugs that they represent
172 Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any
173 tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here, unless
174 they were specific to a particular platform (see below).
176 =item Platform Specific Notes
178 Any changes specific to a particular platform. VMS and Win32 are the usual
179 stars here. It's probably best to group changes under the same section layout
180 as the main perldelta.
184 If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary
187 =item Acknowledgements
189 The list of people to thank goes here.
193 This doesn't usually need to be changed from the previous perldelta.
197 This doesn't usually need to be changed from the previous perldelta.