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 Note there is a file F<Porting/perldelta_template> which contains a
12 skeleton version of a perldelta.pod file, which should normally be copied
13 in at the start of a new release.
17 Pod is more a physical markup language, rather than a logical markup language.
18 Despite that it has some built in conventions. B<Stick to them>:
22 =item * C<FE<lt>E<gt>> is for File
24 =item * C<CE<lt>E<gt>> is for Code
26 =item * C<LE<lt>E<gt>> is for Link
30 Whilst modules could also be links, usually in the context of the perldelta
31 the reference is to code C<use>ing them, rather than something within their
34 Be consistent in how bugs are referenced. One style is
40 C<RT #43010> inline, but enclose in square brackets after a sentence.
45 C<http://bugs.activestate.com/show_bug.cgi?id=72443>
57 In a list, either make every item a note, or a full sentence. Either end
58 every item with a full stop, or ensure that no item ends with one. I<regex>
59 B<xor> I<regexp> - choose exactly one, and stick to it.
63 Historically, the perldelta has consisted of a sequence of C<=head1>
64 sections, usually in the same order. Un-needed sections are deleted,
65 and if something doesn't fit nicely into the existing sections, a new
66 more appropriate section is created.
74 perl5104delta - what is new for perl v5.10.4
78 For a release on a stable branch, follows this formula:
80 This document describes differences between the 5.10.3 release and
83 For the start of a new stable branch, follows this formula:
85 This document describes differences between the 5.12.0 release and
88 Clearly this sets the scope of which changes are to be summarised in the rest
93 There was a I<Notice> section in L<perl589delta>, to carry an important
96 =item Incompatible Changes
98 For a release on a stable branch, this section aspires to be
100 There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.10.3. If any exist,
101 they are bugs and reports are welcome.
103 =item Core Enhancements
105 New core language features go here. Summarise user-visible core language
106 enhancements. Particularly prominent performance optimisations could go
107 here, but most should go in the L</Performance Enhancements> section.
109 Feature inside modules (pure-Perl and XS) go in L</Modules and Pragmata>
113 List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous
114 versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/>
115 directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the
118 =item Modules and Pragmata
120 All changes to installed files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> go here, in a list
121 ordered by distribution name. Minimally it should be the module version,
122 but it's more useful to the end user to give a paragraph's summary of the
123 module's changes. In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a
124 F<Changes> file that could be cribbed.
126 Whilst this section could be built by incrementally working through change
127 descriptions applying to files, this is prone to error. It's better to
128 collate changes to F<ext/> and F<lib/> by module, and then summarise all
129 changes to a module as a group. This can be done by partitioning directories
130 within F<ext/> and F<lib/> to a number of people.
132 =item Utility Changes
134 Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go here. Most
135 of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>.
137 =item New Documentation
139 Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here.
141 =item Changes to Existing Documentation
143 Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here.
144 Any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in
145 L</New or Changed Diagnostics>.
147 =item Performance Enhancements
149 Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here. There
150 may well be none in a stable release.
152 =item Installation and Configuration Improvements
154 Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools
157 =item Selected Bug Fixes
159 Important bug fixes in the core language are summarised here.
160 Bug fixes in files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarised in
161 L</Modules and Pragmata>.
163 =item New or Changed Diagnostics
165 New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here.
167 =item Changed Internals
169 Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here.
173 Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here. Changes to existing files
174 in F<t/> aren't worth summarising, although the bugs that they represent
179 Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any
180 tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here, unless
181 they were specific to a particular platform (see below).
185 Add any new known deprecations here.
187 =item Platform Specific Notes
189 Any changes specific to a particular platform. VMS and Win32 are the usual
190 stars here. It's probably best to group changes under the same section layout
191 as the main perldelta.
195 If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary
198 =item Acknowledgements
200 The list of people to thank goes here.
204 This doesn't usually need to be changed from the previous perldelta.
208 This doesn't usually need to be changed from the previous perldelta.