3 Catalyst::Delta - Overview of changes between versions of Catalyst
7 This is an overview of the user-visible changes to Catalyst between major
10 =head2 VERSION 5.90080+
12 The biggest change in this release is that UTF8 encoding is now enabled by
13 default. So you no longer need any plugins (such as L<Catalyst::Plugin::Unicode::Encoding>)
14 which you can just no go ahead and remove. You also don't need to set
15 the encoding configuration (__PACKAGE__->config(encoding=>'UTF-8')) anymore
16 as well (although its presence hurts nothing).
18 If this change causes you trouble, you can disable it:
20 __PACKAGE__->config(encoding=>undef);
22 For further information, please see L<Catalyst::UTF8>
24 But please report bugs. You will find that a number of common Views have been
25 updated for this release (such as L<Catalyst::View::TT>). In all cases that the
26 author is aware of these updates were to fix test cases only. You shouldn't
27 need to update unless you are installing fresh and want tests to pass.
29 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Compress> was updated to be compatible with this release.
30 You will need to upgrade if you are using this plugin. L<Catalyst::Upgrading>
33 A small change is that the configuration setting C<using_frontend_proxy>
34 was not doing the right thing if you started your application with C<psgi_app>
35 and did not apply the default middleware. This setting is now honored in
36 all the ways an application may be started. This could cause trouble if you
37 are using the configuration value and also adding the proxy middleware
38 manually with a custom application startup. The solution is that you only
39 need the configuration value set, or the middleware manually added (not both).
41 =head2 VERSION 5.90060+
43 =head3 Catalyst::Log object autoflush on by default
45 Starting in 5.90065, the Catalyst::Log object has 'autoflush' which is on
46 by default. This causes all messages to be written to the log immediately
47 instead of at the end of startup and then at the end of each request. In
48 order to access the old behavior, you must now call:
50 $c->log->autoflush(0);
52 =head3 Deprecate Catalyst::Utils::ensure_class_loaded
54 Going forward we recommend you use L<Module::Runtime>. In fact we will
55 be converting all uses of L<Class::Load> to L<Module::Runtime>. We will
56 also convert L<Catalyst::Utils\ensure_class_loaded> to be based on
57 L<Module::Runtime> to allow some time for you to update code, however at
58 some future point this method will be removed so you should stop
61 =head3 Support passing Body filehandles directly to your Plack server.
63 We changed the way we return body content (from response) to whatever
64 Plack handler you are using (Starman, FastCGI, etc.) We no longer
65 always use the streaming interface for the cases when the body is a
66 simple scalar, object or filehandle like. In those cases we now just
67 pass the simple response on to the plack handler. This might lead to
68 some minor differences in how streaming is handled. For example, you
69 might notice that streaming starts properly supporting chunked encoding when
70 on a server that supports that, or that previously missing headers
71 (possible content-length) might appear suddenly correct. Also, if you
72 are using middleware like L<Plack::Middleware::XSendfile> and are using
73 a filehandle that sets a readable path, your server might now correctly
74 handle the file (rather than as before where Catalyst would stream it
75 very likely very slowly).
77 In other words, some things might be meaninglessly different and some
78 things that were broken codewise but worked because of Catalyst being
79 incorrect might suddenly be really broken. The behavior is now more
80 correct in that Catalyst plays better with features that Plack offers
81 but if you are making heavy use of the streaming interface there could
82 be some differences so you should test carefully (this is probably not
83 the vast majority of people). In particular if you are developing
84 using one server but deploying using a different one, differences in
85 what those server do with streaming should be noted.
87 Please see note below about changes to filehandle support and existing
88 Plack middleware to aid in backwards compatibility.
90 =head3 Distinguish between body null versus undef.
92 We also now more carefully distingush the different between a body set
93 to '' and a body that is undef. This might lead to situations where
94 again you'll get a content-length were you didn't get one before or
95 where a supporting server will start chunking output. If this is an
96 issue you can apply the middleware L<Plack::Middleware::BufferedStreaming>
97 or report specific problems to the dev team.
99 =head3 More Catalyst Middleware
101 We have started migrating code in Catalyst to equivilent Plack
102 Middleware when such exists and is correct to do so. For example we now use
103 L<Plack::Middleware::ContentLength> to determine content length of a response
104 when none is provided. This replaces similar code inlined with L<Catalyst>
105 The main advantages to doing this is 1) more similar Catalyst core that is
106 focused on the Catalyst special sauce, 2) Middleware is more broadly shared
107 so we benefit from better collaboration with developers outside Catalyst, 3)
108 In the future you'll be able to change or trim the middleware stack to get
109 additional performance when you don't need all the checks and constraints.
111 =head3 Deprecate Filehandle like objects that do read but not getline
113 We also deprecated setting the response body to an object that does 'read'
114 but not 'getline'. If you are using a custom IO-Handle like object for
115 response you should verify that 'getline' is supported in your interface.
116 Unless we here this case is a major issue for people, we will be removing support
117 in a near future release of Catalyst. When the code encounters this it
118 will issue a warning. You also may run into this issue with L<MogileFS::Client>
119 which does read but not getline. For now we will just warn when encountering
120 such an object and fallback to the previous behavior (where L<Catalyst::Engine>
121 itself unrolls the filehandle and performs blocking streams). However
122 this backwards compatibility will be removed in an upcoming release so you should either
123 rewrite your custom filehandle objects to support getline or start using the
124 middleware that adapts read for getline L<Plack::Middleware::AdaptFilehandleRead>.
126 =head3 Response->headers become read-only after finalizing
128 Once the response headers are finalized, trying to change them is not allowed
129 (in the past you could change them and this would lead to unexpected results).
131 =head3 Officially deprecate L<Catalyst::Engine::PSGI>
133 L<Catalyst::Engine::PSGI> is also officially no longer supported. We will
134 no long run test cases against this and can remove backwards compatibility code for it
135 as deemed necessary for the evolution of the platform. You should simply
136 discontinue use of this engine, as L<Catalyst> has been PSGI at the core for
139 =head3 Officially deprecate finding the PSGI $env anyplace other than Request
141 A few early releases of Cataplack had the PSGI $env in L<Catalyst::Engine>.
142 Code has been maintained here for backwards compatibility reasons. This is no
143 longer supported and will be removed in upcoming release, so you should update
144 your code and / or upgrade to a newer version of L<Catalyst>
146 =head3 Deprecate setting Response->body after using write/write_fh
148 Setting $c->res->body to a filehandle after using $c->res->write or
149 $c->res->write_fh is no longer considered allowed, since we can't send
150 the filehandle to the underlying Plack handler. For now we will continue
151 to support setting body to a simple value since this is possible, but at
152 some future release a choice to use streaming indicates that you will do
153 so for the rest of the request.
156 =head2 VERSION 5.90053
158 We are now clarifying the behavior of log, plugins and configuration during
159 the setup phase. Since Plugins might require a log during setup, setup_log
160 must run BEFORE setup_plugins. This has the unfortunate side effect that
161 anyone using the popular ConfigLoader plugin will not be able to supply
162 configuration to custom logs since the configuration is not yet finalized
163 when setup_log is run (when using ConfigLoader, which is a plugin and is
164 not loaded until later.)
166 As a workaround, you can supply custom log configuration directly into
173 my_custom_log_info => { %custom_args },
178 If you wish to configure the custom logger differently based on ENV, you can
187 Catalyst::Utils::merge_hashes(
188 +{ my_custom_log_info => { %base_custom_args } },
189 +{ do __PACKAGE__->path_to( $ENV{WHICH_CONF}."_conf.pl") },
195 Or create a standalone Configuration class that does the right thing.
197 Basically if you want to configure a logger via Catalyst global configuration
198 you can't use ConfigLoader because it will always be loaded too late to be of
199 any use. Patches and workaround options welcomed!
201 =head2 VERSION 5.9XXXX 'cataplack'
203 The Catalyst::Engine sub-classes have all been removed and deprecated,
204 to be replaced with Plack handlers.
206 Plack is an implementation of the L<PSGI> specification, which is
207 a standard interface between web servers and application frameworks.
209 This should be no different for developers, and you should not have to
210 migrate your applications unless you are using a custom engine already.
212 This change benefits Catalyst significantly by reducing the amount of
213 code inside the framework, and means that the framework gets upstream
214 bug fixes in L<Plack>, and automatically gains support for any web server
215 which a L<PSGI> compliant handler is written for.
217 It also allows you more flexibility with your application, and allows
218 the use of cross web framework 'middleware'.
220 Developers are recommended to read L<Catalyst::Upgrading> for notes about
221 upgrading, especially if you are using an unusual deployment method.
223 Documentation for how to take advantage of L<PSGI> can be found in
224 L<Catalyst::PSGI>, and information about deploying your application
225 has been moved to L<Catalyst::Manual::Deployment>.
227 =head3 Updated modules:
229 A number of modules have been updated to pass their tests or not
230 produce deprecation warnings with the latest version of Catalyst.
231 It is recommended that you upgrade any of these that you are using
232 after installing this version of Catalyst.
234 These extensions are:
238 =item L<Catalyst::Engine::HTTP::Prefork>
240 This is now deprecated, see L<Catalyst::Upgrading>.
242 =item L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>
244 Has been updated to not produce deprecation warnings, upgrade recommended.
246 =item Catalyst::ActionRole::ACL
248 Has been updated to fix failing tests (although older versions still
249 function perfectly with this version of Catalyst).
251 =item Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::DBIC
253 Has been updated to fix failing tests (although older versions still
254 function perfectly with this version of Catalyst).
256 =item Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication
258 Has been updated to fix failing tests (although older versions still
259 function perfectly with this version of Catalyst).
263 =head1 PREVIOUS VERSIONS
265 =head2 VERSION 5.8XXXX 'catamoose'
269 Please see L<Catalyst::Upgrading> for a full description of how changes in the
270 framework may affect your application.
272 Below is a brief list of features which have been deprecated in this release:
276 =item ::[MVC]:: style naming scheme has been deprecated and will warn
278 =item NEXT is deprecated for all applications and components, use MRO::Compat
280 =item Dispatcher methods which are an implementation detail made private, public versions now warn.
282 =item MyApp->plugin method is deprecated, use L<Catalyst::Model::Adaptor> instead.
284 =item __PACKAGE__->mk_accessors() is supported for backwards compatibility only, use Moose attributes instead in new code.
286 =item Use of Catalyst::Base now warns
296 =item Fix forwarding to Catalyst::Action objects.
298 =item Add the dispatch_type method
304 The development server restarter has been improved to be compatible with
305 immutable Moose classes, and also to optionally use
306 L<B::Hooks::OP::Check::StashChange> to handle more complex application layouts
309 =head3 $c->uri_for_action method.
311 Give a private path to the Catalyst action you want to create a URI for.
315 Log levels have been made additive.
317 =head3 L<Catalyst::Test>
321 =item Change to use L<Sub::Exporter>.
323 =item Support mocking multiple virtual hosts
325 =item New methods like action_ok and action_redirect to write more compact tests
329 =head3 Catalyst::Response
335 New print method which prints @data to the output stream, separated by $,.
336 This lets you pass the response object to functions that want to write to an
341 Added code method as an alias for C<< $res->status >>
345 =head3 Consequences of the Moose back end
351 Components are fully compatible with Moose, and all Moose features, such as
352 method modifiers, attributes, roles, BUILD and BUILDARGS methods are fully
353 supported and may be used in components and applications.
357 Many reusable extensions which would previously have been plugins or base
358 classes are better implemented as Moose roles.
362 L<MooseX::MethodAttributes::Role::AttrContainer::Inheritable> is used to contain action
363 attributes. This means that attributes are represented in the MOP, and
364 decouples action creation from attributes.
368 There is a reasonable API in Catalyst::Controller for working with
369 and registering actions, allowing a controller sub-class to replace
370 subroutine attributes for action declarations with an alternate
375 Refactored capturing of $app from L<Catalyst::Controller> into
376 L<Catalyst::Component::ApplicationAttribute> for easier reuse in other
381 Your application class is forced to become immutable at the end of compilation.
391 Don't ignore SIGCHLD while handling requests with the development server, so that
392 system() and other ways of creating child processes work as expected.
396 Fixes for FastCGI when used with IIS 6.0
400 Fix a bug in uri_for which could cause it to generate paths with multiple
405 Fix a bug in Catalyst::Stats, stopping garbage being inserted into
406 the stats if a user calls begin => but no end