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 presense hurts nothing).
18 If this change causes you trouble, you can disable it:
20 __PACKAGE__->config(encoding=>undef);
22 But please report bugs. You will find that a number of common Views have been
23 updated for this release (such as L<Catalyst::View::TT>). In all cases that the
24 author is aware of these updates were to fix test cases only. You shouldn't
25 need to update unless you are installing fresh and want tests to pass.
27 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Compress> was updated to be compatible with this release.
28 You will need to upgrade if you are using this plugin. L<Catalyst::Upgrading>
31 A small change is that the configuration setting C<using_frontend_proxy>
32 was not doing the right thing if you started your application with C<psgi_app>
33 and dod not apply the default middleware. This setting is now honored in
34 all the ways an application may be started. This could cause trouble if you
35 are using the configuration value and also adding the proxy middleware
36 manually with a custom application startup. The solution is that you only
37 need the configuration value set, or the middleware manually added (not both).
39 =head2 VERSION 5.90060+
41 =head3 Catalyst::Log object autoflush on by default
43 Starting in 5.90065, the Catalyst::Log object has 'autoflush' which is on
44 by default. This causes all messages to be written to the log immediately
45 instead of at the end of startup and then at the end of each request. In
46 order to access the old behavior, you must now call:
48 $c->log->autoflush(0);
50 =head3 Deprecate Catalyst::Utils::ensure_class_loaded
52 Going forward we recommend you use L<Module::Runtime>. In fact we will
53 be converting all uses of L<Class::Load> to L<Module::Runtime>. We will
54 also convert L<Catalyst::Utils\ensure_class_loaded> to be based on
55 L<Module::Runtime> to allow some time for you to update code, however at
56 some future point this method will be removed so you should stop
59 =head3 Support passing Body filehandles directly to your Plack server.
61 We changed the way we return body content (from response) to whatever
62 Plack handler you are using (Starman, FastCGI, etc.) We no longer
63 always use the streaming interface for the cases when the body is a
64 simple scalar, object or filehandle like. In those cases we now just
65 pass the simple response on to the plack handler. This might lead to
66 some minor differences in how streaming is handled. For example, you
67 might notice that streaming starts properly supporting chunked encoding when
68 on a server that supports that, or that previously missing headers
69 (possible content-length) might appear suddenly correct. Also, if you
70 are using middleware like L<Plack::Middleware::XSendfile> and are using
71 a filehandle that sets a readable path, your server might now correctly
72 handle the file (rather than as before where Catalyst would stream it
73 very likely very slowly).
75 In other words, some things might be meaninglessly different and some
76 things that were broken codewise but worked because of Catalyst being
77 incorrect might suddenly be really broken. The behavior is now more
78 correct in that Catalyst plays better with features that Plack offers
79 but if you are making heavy use of the streaming interface there could
80 be some differences so you should test carefully (this is probably not
81 the vast majority of people). In particular if you are developing
82 using one server but deploying using a different one, differences in
83 what those server do with streaming should be noted.
85 Please see note below about changes to filehandle support and existing
86 Plack middleware to aid in backwards compatibility.
88 =head3 Distinguish between body null versus undef.
90 We also now more carefully distingush the different between a body set
91 to '' and a body that is undef. This might lead to situations where
92 again you'll get a content-length were you didn't get one before or
93 where a supporting server will start chunking output. If this is an
94 issue you can apply the middleware L<Plack::Middleware::BufferedStreaming>
95 or report specific problems to the dev team.
97 =head3 More Catalyst Middleware
99 We have started migrating code in Catalyst to equivilent Plack
100 Middleware when such exists and is correct to do so. For example we now use
101 L<Plack::Middleware::ContentLength> to determine content length of a response
102 when none is provided. This replaces similar code inlined with L<Catalyst>
103 The main advantages to doing this is 1) more similar Catalyst core that is
104 focused on the Catalyst special sauce, 2) Middleware is more broadly shared
105 so we benefit from better collaboration with developers outside Catalyst, 3)
106 In the future you'll be able to change or trim the middleware stack to get
107 additional performance when you don't need all the checks and constraints.
109 =head3 Deprecate Filehandle like objects that do read but not getline
111 We also deprecated setting the response body to an object that does 'read'
112 but not 'getline'. If you are using a custom IO-Handle like object for
113 response you should verify that 'getline' is supported in your interface.
114 Unless we here this case is a major issue for people, we will be removing support
115 in a near future release of Catalyst. When the code encounters this it
116 will issue a warning. You also may run into this issue with L<MogileFS::Client>
117 which does read but not getline. For now we will just warn when encountering
118 such an object and fallback to the previous behavior (where L<Catalyst::Engine>
119 itself unrolls the filehandle and performs blocking streams). However
120 this backwards compatibility will be removed in an upcoming release so you should either
121 rewrite your custom filehandle objects to support getline or start using the
122 middleware that adapts read for getline L<Plack::Middleware::AdaptFilehandleRead>.
124 =head3 Response->headers become read-only after finalizing
126 Once the response headers are finalized, trying to change them is not allowed
127 (in the past you could change them and this would lead to unexpected results).
129 =head3 Officially deprecate L<Catalyst::Engine::PSGI>
131 L<Catalyst::Engine::PSGI> is also officially no longer supported. We will
132 no long run test cases against this and can remove backwards compatibility code for it
133 as deemed necessary for the evolution of the platform. You should simply
134 discontinue use of this engine, as L<Catalyst> has been PSGI at the core for
137 =head3 Officially deprecate finding the PSGI $env anyplace other than Request
139 A few early releases of Cataplack had the PSGI $env in L<Catalyst::Engine>.
140 Code has been maintained here for backwards compatibility reasons. This is no
141 longer supported and will be removed in upcoming release, so you should update
142 your code and / or upgrade to a newer version of L<Catalyst>
144 =head3 Deprecate setting Response->body after using write/write_fh
146 Setting $c->res->body to a filehandle after using $c->res->write or
147 $c->res->write_fh is no longer considered allowed, since we can't send
148 the filehandle to the underlying Plack handler. For now we will continue
149 to support setting body to a simple value since this is possible, but at
150 some future release a choice to use streaming indicates that you will do
151 so for the rest of the request.
154 =head2 VERSION 5.90053
156 We are now clarifying the behavior of log, plugins and configuration during
157 the setup phase. Since Plugins might require a log during setup, setup_log
158 must run BEFORE setup_plugins. This has the unfortunate side effect that
159 anyone using the popular ConfigLoader plugin will not be able to supply
160 configuration to custom logs since the configuration is not yet finalized
161 when setup_log is run (when using ConfigLoader, which is a plugin and is
162 not loaded until later.)
164 As a workaround, you can supply custom log configuration directly into
171 my_custom_log_info => { %custom_args },
176 If you wish to configure the custom logger differently based on ENV, you can
185 Catalyst::Utils::merge_hashes(
186 +{ my_custom_log_info => { %base_custom_args } },
187 +{ do __PACKAGE__->path_to( $ENV{WHICH_CONF}."_conf.pl") },
193 Or create a standalone Configuration class that does the right thing.
195 Basically if you want to configure a logger via Catalyst global configuration
196 you can't use ConfigLoader because it will always be loaded too late to be of
197 any use. Patches and workaround options welcomed!
199 =head2 VERSION 5.9XXXX 'cataplack'
201 The Catalyst::Engine sub-classes have all been removed and deprecated,
202 to be replaced with Plack handlers.
204 Plack is an implementation of the L<PSGI> specification, which is
205 a standard interface between web servers and application frameworks.
207 This should be no different for developers, and you should not have to
208 migrate your applications unless you are using a custom engine already.
210 This change benefits Catalyst significantly by reducing the amount of
211 code inside the framework, and means that the framework gets upstream
212 bug fixes in L<Plack>, and automatically gains support for any web server
213 which a L<PSGI> compliant handler is written for.
215 It also allows you more flexibility with your application, and allows
216 the use of cross web framework 'middleware'.
218 Developers are recommended to read L<Catalyst::Upgrading> for notes about
219 upgrading, especially if you are using an unusual deployment method.
221 Documentation for how to take advantage of L<PSGI> can be found in
222 L<Catalyst::PSGI>, and information about deploying your application
223 has been moved to L<Catalyst::Manual::Deployment>.
225 =head3 Updated modules:
227 A number of modules have been updated to pass their tests or not
228 produce deprecation warnings with the latest version of Catalyst.
229 It is recommended that you upgrade any of these that you are using
230 after installing this version of Catalyst.
232 These extensions are:
236 =item L<Catalyst::Engine::HTTP::Prefork>
238 This is now deprecated, see L<Catalyst::Upgrading>.
240 =item L<Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst>
242 Has been updated to not produce deprecation warnings, upgrade recommended.
244 =item Catalyst::ActionRole::ACL
246 Has been updated to fix failing tests (although older versions still
247 function perfectly with this version of Catalyst).
249 =item Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::DBIC
251 Has been updated to fix failing tests (although older versions still
252 function perfectly with this version of Catalyst).
254 =item Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication
256 Has been updated to fix failing tests (although older versions still
257 function perfectly with this version of Catalyst).
261 =head1 PREVIOUS VERSIONS
263 =head2 VERSION 5.8XXXX 'catamoose'
267 Please see L<Catalyst::Upgrading> for a full description of how changes in the
268 framework may affect your application.
270 Below is a brief list of features which have been deprecated in this release:
274 =item ::[MVC]:: style naming scheme has been deprecated and will warn
276 =item NEXT is deprecated for all applications and components, use MRO::Compat
278 =item Dispatcher methods which are an implementation detail made private, public versions now warn.
280 =item MyApp->plugin method is deprecated, use L<Catalyst::Model::Adaptor> instead.
282 =item __PACKAGE__->mk_accessors() is supported for backwards compatibility only, use Moose attributes instead in new code.
284 =item Use of Catalyst::Base now warns
294 =item Fix forwarding to Catalyst::Action objects.
296 =item Add the dispatch_type method
302 The development server restarter has been improved to be compatible with
303 immutable Moose classes, and also to optionally use
304 L<B::Hooks::OP::Check::StashChange> to handle more complex application layouts
307 =head3 $c->uri_for_action method.
309 Give a private path to the Catalyst action you want to create a URI for.
313 Log levels have been made additive.
315 =head3 L<Catalyst::Test>
319 =item Change to use L<Sub::Exporter>.
321 =item Support mocking multiple virtual hosts
323 =item New methods like action_ok and action_redirect to write more compact tests
327 =head3 Catalyst::Response
333 New print method which prints @data to the output stream, separated by $,.
334 This lets you pass the response object to functions that want to write to an
339 Added code method as an alias for C<< $res->status >>
343 =head3 Consequences of the Moose back end
349 Components are fully compatible with Moose, and all Moose features, such as
350 method modifiers, attributes, roles, BUILD and BUILDARGS methods are fully
351 supported and may be used in components and applications.
355 Many reusable extensions which would previously have been plugins or base
356 classes are better implemented as Moose roles.
360 L<MooseX::MethodAttributes::Role::AttrContainer::Inheritable> is used to contain action
361 attributes. This means that attributes are represented in the MOP, and
362 decouples action creation from attributes.
366 There is a reasonable API in Catalyst::Controller for working with
367 and registering actions, allowing a controller sub-class to replace
368 subroutine attributes for action declarations with an alternate
373 Refactored capturing of $app from L<Catalyst::Controller> into
374 L<Catalyst::Component::ApplicationAttribute> for easier reuse in other
379 Your application class is forced to become immutable at the end of compilation.
389 Don't ignore SIGCHLD while handling requests with the development server, so that
390 system() and other ways of creating child processes work as expected.
394 Fixes for FastCGI when used with IIS 6.0
398 Fix a bug in uri_for which could cause it to generate paths with multiple
403 Fix a bug in Catalyst::Stats, stopping garbage being inserted into
404 the stats if a user calls begin => but no end