3 release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x
5 As of August 2009, this file is mostly complete, although it is missing
6 some detail on doing a major release (e.g. 5.10.0 -> 5.12.0). Note that
7 things change at each release, so there may be new things not covered
8 here, or tools may need updating.
12 This document describes the series of tasks required - some automatic, some
13 manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a snaphot,
14 release candidate, or final, numbered release of maint or blead.
16 The release process has traditionally been executed by the current
17 pumpking. Blead releases from 5.11.0 forward are made each month on the
18 20th by a non-pumpking release engineer. The release engineer roster
19 and schedule can be found in Porting/release_schedule.pod.
21 This document both helps as a check-list for the release engineer
22 and is a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated
25 The outline of a typical release cycle is as follows:
27 (5.10.1 is released, and post-release actions have been done)
31 an occasional snapshot is released, that still identifies itself as
36 a few weeks before the release, a number of steps are performed,
37 including bumping the version to 5.10.2
39 ...a few weeks passes...
41 perl-5.10.2-RC1 is released
43 perl-5.10.2 is released
45 post-release actions are performed, including creating new
48 ... the cycle continues ...
52 Some of the tasks described below apply to all four types of
53 release of Perl. (snapshot, RC, final release of maint, final
54 release of blead). Some of these tasks apply only to a subset
55 of these release types. If a step does not apply to a given
56 type of release, you will see a notation to that effect at
57 the beginning of the step.
65 A snapshot is intended to encourage in-depth testing from time-to-time,
66 for example after a key point in the stabilisation of a branch. It
67 requires fewer steps than a full release, and the version number of perl in
68 the tarball will usually be the same as that of the previous release.
70 =item Release Candidate (RC)
72 A release candidate is an attempt to produce a tarball that is a close as
73 possible to the final release. Indeed, unless critical faults are found
74 during the RC testing, the final release will be identical to the RC
75 barring a few minor fixups (updating the release date in F<perlhist.pod>,
76 removing the RC status from F<patchlevel.h>, etc). If faults are found,
77 then the fixes should be put into a new release candidate, never directly
80 =item Stable/Maint release
82 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
85 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
86 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
90 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
91 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
97 Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
98 hoops you need to jump through:
104 I<SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
106 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
107 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
109 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
111 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: goto
112 https://pause.perl.org/, login, then select 'upload file to CPAN'; there
113 should be a "For pumpkings only: Send a CC" tickbox. If not, ask Andreas
114 König to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something
115 called perl. You can find Andreas' email address at:
117 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
121 Some release engineering steps require a full mirror of the CPAN.
122 Work to fall back to using a remote mirror via HTTP is incomplete
123 but ongoing. (No, a minicpan mirror is not sufficient)
125 =item git checkout and commit bit
127 You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
128 git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
129 with perl and git, see F<pod/perlrepository.pod>.
131 If you are not yet a perl committer, you won't be able to make a
132 release. Have a chat with whichever evil perl porter tried to talk
133 you into the idea in the first place to figure out the best way to
137 =item Quotation for release announcement epigraph
139 I<SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT and RC>
141 For a numbered blead or maint release of perl, you will need a quotation
142 to use as an epigraph to your release announcement. (There's no harm
143 in having one for a snapshot, but it's not required).
149 =head2 Building a release - advance actions
151 The work of building a release candidate for a numbered release of
152 perl generally starts several weeks before the first release candidate.
153 Some of the following steps should be done regularly, but all I<must> be
154 done in the run up to a release.
160 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
162 Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
165 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
167 to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
168 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
169 C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
170 C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads.
172 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
174 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
176 If you are making a maint release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
177 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
178 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
179 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
180 have some extra changes.
184 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
186 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
188 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
189 did it fail identically on $previous?
190 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
191 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
193 attempt to group failure causes
195 for each failure cause
196 is that a regression?
197 if yes, figure out how to fix it
198 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
200 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
201 should the existing behaviour stay?
202 yes - goto "regression"
203 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
204 (also, try to inform the module's author)
208 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
210 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
214 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
216 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
221 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
223 Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
224 previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
225 numbers but different contents, e.g.:
227 $ cd ~/some-perl-root
228 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
230 then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
231 changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
232 number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
233 then compare against both.
235 Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
236 to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
237 make sure you edit the correct file!
239 Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.
241 Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
246 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
248 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
250 Peruse F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
251 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
252 edit the whole document.
256 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
258 A week or two before the first release candidate, bump the perl version
259 number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1), to allow sufficient time for testing
260 and smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
261 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary
262 to bump the version further.
264 There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
265 First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
266 edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
267 scan the source directory looking for likely candidates. The command line
268 arguments are the old and new version numbers, and -s means scan:
270 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
272 This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, e.g.:
276 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
277 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
279 i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
280 Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
281 want changing. You can also edit just the C<+> line to change the
282 suggested replacement text. Remember that this tool is largely just
283 grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be
284 careful not change text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
286 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
288 which will update all the files shown; then commit the changes.
290 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
291 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
292 some of which need to be left unchanged. Also note that this tool
293 currently only detects a single substitution per line: so in particular,
294 this line in README.vms needs special handling:
296 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
301 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
303 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
304 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
308 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
310 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
311 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
312 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
314 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl-5.12.0
316 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
317 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
318 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
319 if C<git log> produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
320 right time period (you may find C<git log --pretty=oneline | wc> useful).
324 Check some more build configurations. The check that setuid builds and
325 installs is for < 5.11.0 only.
327 $ sh Configure -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y -Uinstallusrbinperl \
328 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
330 $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` make test # or similar for useshrplib
333 $ su -c 'make install'
334 $ ls -l .../bin/sperl
335 -rws--x--x 1 root root 69974 2009-08-22 21:55 .../bin/sperl
337 (Then delete the installation directory.)
339 XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
343 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
345 Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
346 necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings for porters
347 already in F<AUTHORS>
349 $ git log | perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --acknowledged AUTHORS -
353 =head2 Building a release - on the day
355 This section describes the actions required to make a release (or snapshot
356 etc) that are performed on the actual day.
362 Review all the items in the previous section,
363 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
368 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
370 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
371 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
372 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
373 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
375 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perl5101delta.pod
376 $ spell pod/perl5101delta.pod
378 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
381 $ perl pod/pod2html pod/perl5101delta.pod > /tmp/perl5101delta.html
385 Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
386 unpushed commits etc):
392 If not already built, Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile
395 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
399 Check that files managed by F<regen.pl> and friends are up to date. From
400 within your working directory:
407 If any of the files managed by F<regen.pl> have changed, then you should
408 re-make perl to check that it's okay, then commit the updated versions:
410 $ git commit -a -m 'make regen; make regen_perly'
420 XXX it would be nice to make Porting/makemeta use regen_lib.pl
421 to get the same 'update the file if its changed' functionality
422 we get with 'make regen' etc.
424 Commit META.yml if it has changed:
426 $ git commit -m 'Update META.yml' META.yml
430 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
432 Update C<Module::Corelist> with module version data for the new release.
434 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
435 from the maint directory, but commit the C<Corelist.pm> changes in
436 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it.
438 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
439 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
440 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely.
442 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
443 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
445 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
449 If this not the first update for this version, first edit
450 F<ext/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
451 entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
452 they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
454 XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
455 be fixed to handle this automatically.
457 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
459 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
463 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
465 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
466 badly-indexed CPABN modules unreltaed to the modules actually in core.
467 Assuming all goes well, it will update
468 F<ext/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
470 Check that file over carefully:
472 $ git diff ext/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
474 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
475 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
476 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
478 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
479 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
481 In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
487 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
491 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
495 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
496 (unless this is for maint; in which case commit it blead first, then
497 cherry-pick it back).
499 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
503 Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
507 $ git clean -xdf # This shouldn't be necessary if distclean is correct
508 $ perl Porting/manicheck
511 Commit MANIFEST if it has changed:
513 $ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
517 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
519 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.:
521 David 5.10.1-RC1 2009-Aug-06
523 Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
524 if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
525 sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
526 C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
528 Be sure to commit your changes:
530 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
534 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
536 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
537 a final release, remove it. For example:
539 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
542 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
544 Be sure to commit your change:
546 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
550 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
553 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
555 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
556 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
562 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
563 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
564 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
565 paths. Note that as they have been been built from a git working
566 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
569 Then delete the temporary installation.
573 If this is maint release, make sure F<Porting/mergelog> is saved and
578 Push all your recent commits:
580 $ git push origin ....
585 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
589 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m'First release of the v5.11 series!'
591 It is VERY important that from this point forward, you not push
592 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
593 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
594 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
595 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
599 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
600 the tarball and directory name:
602 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
604 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
605 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
607 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
608 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
609 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
611 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
612 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
613 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
614 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
617 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
622 Clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
624 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
628 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
633 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
634 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
635 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
636 to find willing victims.
640 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
642 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
646 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
649 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
654 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
655 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
658 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
659 which is why you should test from the tarball.
663 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility:
667 All tests successful.
672 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
673 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
674 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
675 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
676 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
679 cd installdir-5.10.0/
680 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
681 cd installdir-5.10.1/
682 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
687 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
689 $ bin/perl -MCPAN -e'shell'
693 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
694 has dependencies; for example:
699 Check that your perl can run this:
701 $ bin/perl -lwe 'use Inline C => "int f() { return 42;} "; print f'
707 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
713 Install an XS module, for example:
717 $ bin/perl -MDBI -e 1
722 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
724 Check that the C<perlbug> utility works. Try the following:
728 Subject: test bug report
729 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
735 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
736 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
737 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
739 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
740 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
741 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
742 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
746 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
748 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
749 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
751 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
757 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
759 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
760 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
761 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
763 https://pause.perl.org/
765 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
767 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
771 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
774 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
775 time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo:
777 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
781 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
783 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
785 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
788 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
790 Be sure to commit your change:
792 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
793 $ git push origin ....
798 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
802 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
804 Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
805 (if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
810 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
812 Ask Jarkko to add the tarball to http://www.cpan.org/src/
816 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
818 Ask Jarkko to update the descriptions of which tarballs are current in
819 http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html, and Rafael to update
820 http://dev.perl.org/perl5/
824 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC>
826 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
831 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC>
833 Bump the perlXYZ version number.
835 First, create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
836 see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
838 You should be able to do this by just copying in a skeleton template and
839 then doing a quick fix up of the version numbers, e.g.
841 $ cp -i Porting/perldelta_template pod/perl5102delta.pod
843 $ git add pod/perl5102delta.pod
845 Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'D', and unflag the previous
846 entry from being 'D'; for example:
848 -D perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
849 +D perl5102delta Perl changes in version 5.10.2
850 + perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
852 Run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the F<perldelta> version in
859 vms/descrip_mms.template
864 Then manually edit (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> to bump the version
865 in the following entry:
867 [.pod]perldelta.pod : [.pod]perl5101delta.pod
869 XXX this previous step needs to fixed to automate it in pod/buildtoc.
871 Manually update references to the perlNNNdelta version in these files:
876 Edit the previous delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta>
879 These two lists of files probably aren't exhaustive; do a recursive grep
880 on the previous filename to look for suitable candidates that may have
885 $ git commit -a -m 'create perlXXXdelta'
887 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
888 see if they look similar. See commit ca8de22071 for an example of a
889 previous version bump.
893 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
895 If this was a maint release, then edit F<Porting/mergelog> to change
896 all the C<d> (deferred) flags to C<.> (needs review).
900 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
902 If this was a major release (5.x.0), then create a new maint branch
903 based on the commit tagged as the current release and bump the version
904 in the blead branch in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
906 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
909 XXX need a git recipe
913 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
915 Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
918 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perl5101delta.pod pod/ # for example
919 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
921 Edit F<pod.lst> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
923 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
925 Then rebuild various files:
927 $ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
931 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
935 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
937 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
938 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
941 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
942 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
947 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some much-needed
948 rest and relaxation>.
950 Thanks for releasing perl!
957 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
958 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.