3 perldelta - what's new for perl5.006 (as of 5.005_54)
7 This document describes differences between the 5.005 release and this one.
9 =head1 Incompatible Changes
11 =head2 Perl Source Incompatibilities
13 None known at this time.
15 =head2 C Source Incompatibilities
21 Release 5.005 grandfathered old global symbol names by providing preprocessor
22 macros for extension source compatibility. As of release 5.006, these
23 preprocessor definitions are not available by default. You need to explicitly
24 compile perl with C<-DPERL_POLLUTE> in order to get these definitions.
26 =item C<PL_na> and C<dTHR> Issues
28 The C<PL_na> global is now thread local, so a C<dTHR> declaration is needed
29 in the scope in which it appears. XSUBs should handle this automatically,
30 but if you have used C<PL_na> in support functions, you either need to
31 change the C<PL_na> to a local variable (which is recommended), or put in
36 =head2 Binary Incompatibilities
38 This release is not binary compatible with the 5.005 release and its
43 The length argument of C<syswrite()> is now optional.
45 Better 64-bit support -- but full support still a distant goal. One
46 must Configure with -Duse64bits to get Configure to probe for the
47 extent of 64-bit support. Depending on the platform (hints file) more
48 or less 64-awareness becomes available. As of 5.005_54 at least
49 somewhat 64-bit aware platforms are HP-UX 11 or better, Solaris 2.6 or
50 better, IRIX 6.2 or better. Naturally 64-bit platforms like Digital
51 UNIX and UNICOS also have 64-bit support.
53 =head1 Supported Platforms
55 VM/ESA is now supported.
57 Siemens BS200 is now supported.
59 The Mach CThreads (NeXTstep) are now supported by the Thread extension.
67 IO constants (SEEK_*, _IO*).
71 Directory-related IO methods (new, read, close, rewind, tied delete).
73 =item op/io_multihomed
75 INET sockets with multi-homed hosts.
91 Guard against lexicals leaking (internal stuff).
95 =head1 Modules and Pragmata
97 Lexical warnings pragma, "use warning;", to control optional warnings.
99 Filetest pragma, to control the behaviour of filetests (C<-r> C<-w> ...).
100 Currently only one subpragma implemented, "use filetest 'access';",
101 that enables the use of access(2) or equivalent to check the
102 permissions instead of using stat(2) as usual. This matters
103 in filesystems where there are ACLs (access control lists), the
104 stat(2) might lie, while access(2) knows better.
108 =head1 Utility Changes
112 =head1 Documentation Changes
116 =head1 New Diagnostics
118 =item /%s/: Unrecognized escape \\%c passed through
120 (W) You used a backslash-character combination which is not recognized
121 by Perl. This combination appears in an interpolated variable or a
122 C<'>-delimited regular expression.
124 =item Unrecognized escape \\%c passed through
126 (W) You used a backslash-character combination which is not recognized
129 =head1 Obsolete Diagnostics
135 If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the headers of
136 recently posted articles in the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup.
137 There may also be information at http://www.perl.com/perl/, the Perl
140 If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug>
141 program included with your release. Make sure you trim your bug down
142 to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
143 output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to <F<perlbug@perl.com>> to be
144 analysed by the Perl porting team.
148 The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed.
150 The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
152 The F<README> file for general stuff.
154 The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.
158 Written by Gurusamy Sarathy <F<gsar@umich.edu>>, with many contributions
159 from The Perl Porters.
161 Send omissions or corrections to <F<perlbug@perl.com>>.