5 perlhist - the Perl history records
9 # $Id: perlhist.pod,v 1.41 1998/06/09 15:20:18 jhi Exp $
15 This document aims to record the Perl source code releases.
19 Perl history in brief, by Larry Wall:
21 Perl 0 introduced Perl to my officemates.
22 Perl 1 introduced Perl to the world, and changed /\(...\|...\)/ to
23 /(...|...)/. \(Dan Faigin still hasn't forgiven me. :-\)
24 Perl 2 introduced Henry Spencer's regular expression package.
25 Perl 3 introduced the ability to handle binary data (embedded nulls).
26 Perl 4 introduced the first Camel book. Really. We mostly just
27 switched version numbers so the book could refer to 4.000.
28 Perl 5 introduced everything else, including the ability to
29 introduce everything else.
31 =head1 THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN
33 Larry Wall, Andy Dougherty, Tom Christiansen, Charles Bailey, Nick
34 Ing-Simmons, Chip Salzenberg, Tim Bunce, Malcolm Beattie, Gurusamy
39 [from Porting/pumpkin.pod in the Perl source code distribution]
41 Chip Salzenberg gets credit for that, with a nod to his cow orker,
42 David Croy. We had passed around various names (baton, token, hot
43 potato) but none caught on. Then, Chip asked:
47 Who has the patch pumpkin?
49 To explain: David Croy once told me once that at a previous job,
50 there was one tape drive and multiple systems that used it for backups.
51 But instead of some high-tech exclusion software, they used a low-tech
52 method to prevent multiple simultaneous backups: a stuffed pumpkin.
53 No one was allowed to make backups unless they had the "backup pumpkin".
57 The name has stuck. The holder of the pumpkin is sometimes called
58 the pumpking (keeping the source afloat?) or the pumpkineer (pulling
63 Pump- Release Date Notes
68 ===========================================================================
70 Larry 0 Classified. Don't ask.
72 Larry 1.000 1987-Dec-18
77 Larry 2.000 1988-Jun-05
81 Larry 3.000 1989-Oct-18
91 3.019..27 1990-Aug-10 User subs.
100 Larry 4.000 1991-Mar-21
105 4.011..18 1991-Nov-05
106 4.019 1991-Nov-11 Stable.
107 4.020..33 1992-Jun-08
110 Larry 4.036 1993-Feb-05 Very stable.
112 5.000alpha1 1993-Jul-31
113 5.000alpha2 1993-Aug-16
114 5.000alpha3 1993-Oct-10
115 5.000alpha4 1993-???-??
116 5.000alpha5 1993-???-??
117 5.000alpha6 1994-Mar-18
118 5.003alpha7 1994-Mar-25
119 Andy 5.000alpha8 1994-Apr-04
120 Larry 5.000alpha9 1994-May-05 ext appears.
121 5.000alpha10 1994-???-??
122 5.000alpha11 1994-???-??
123 Andy 5.000a11a 1994-Jul-07 To fit 14.
124 5.000a11b 1994-Jul-14
125 5.000a11c 1994-Jul-19
126 5.000a11d 1994-Jul-22
127 Larry 5.000alpha12 1994-???-??
128 Andy 5.000a12a 1994-Aug-08
129 5.000a12b 1994-Aug-15
130 5.000a12c 1994-Aug-22
131 5.000a12d 1994-Aug-22
132 5.000a12e 1994-Aug-22
133 5.000a12f 1994-Aug-24
134 5.000a12g 1994-Aug-24
135 5.000a12h 1994-Aug-24
136 Larry 5.000beta1 1994-???-??
137 Andy 5.000b1a 1994-???-??
138 Larry 5.000beta2 1994-Sep-14 Core slushified.
139 Andy 5.000b2a 1994-Sep-14
142 Larry 5.000beta3 1994-Sep-??
143 Andy 5.000b3a 1994-Sep-18
150 Andy 5.000b3h 1994-Oct-07
152 Larry 5.000 1994-Oct-18
154 Andy 5.000a 1994-Dec-19
169 Larry 5.001 1995-Mar-13
171 Andy 5.001a 1995-Mar-15
175 5.001e 1995-Apr-18 Stable.
182 5.001l 1995-Jun-06 Stable.
183 5.001m 1995-Jul-02 Very stable.
184 5.001n 1995-Oct-31 Very unstable.
185 5.002beta1 1995-Nov-21
192 Tom 5.002b1g 1995-Dec-21 Doc release.
193 Andy 5.002b1h 1996-Jan-05
195 Larry 5.002b3 1996-Feb-02
196 Andy 5.002gamma 1996-Feb-11
197 Larry 5.002delta 1996-Feb-27
199 Larry 5.002 1996-Feb-29
201 Charles 5.002_01 1996-Mar-25
203 5.003 1996-Jun-25 Security release.
206 Nick 5.003_02 1996-Aug-10
207 Andy 5.003_03 1996-Aug-28
212 Chip 5.003_08 1996-Nov-19
233 5.003_90 1997-Feb-25 Ramping up to the 5.004 release.
240 5.003_97 1997-Apr-03 Fairly widely used.
241 5.003_97a 1997-Apr-05
242 5.003_97b 1997-Apr-08
243 5.003_97c 1997-Apr-10
244 5.003_97d 1997-Apr-13
245 5.003_97e 1997-Apr-15
246 5.003_97f 1997-Apr-17
247 5.003_97g 1997-Apr-18
248 5.003_97h 1997-Apr-24
249 5.003_97i 1997-Apr-25
250 5.003_97j 1997-Apr-28
253 5.003_99a 1997-May-09
254 p54rc1 1997-May-12 Release Candidates.
257 Chip 5.004 1997-May-15 A major maintenance release.
259 Tim 5.004_01 1997-Jun-13 The 5.004 maintenance track.
263 5.004m5t1 1998-Mar-04 Maintenance Trials (for 5.004_05).
264 5.004_04-m2 1997-May-01
265 5.004_04-m3 1998-May-15
267 Malcolm 5.004_50 1997-Sep-09 The 5.005 development track.
284 Sarathy 5.004_67 1998-Jun-15
288 =head2 SELECTED RELEASE SIZES
290 For example the notation "core: 212 29" in the release 1.000 means that
291 it had in the core 212 kilobytes, in 29 files. The "core".."doc" are
294 release core lib ext t doc
295 ======================================================================
297 1.000 212 29 - - - - 38 51 62 3
298 1.014 219 29 - - - - 39 52 68 4
299 2.000 309 31 2 3 - - 55 57 92 4
300 2.001 312 31 2 3 - - 55 57 94 4
301 3.000 508 36 24 11 - - 79 73 156 5
302 3.044 645 37 61 20 - - 90 74 190 6
303 4.000 635 37 59 20 - - 91 75 198 4
304 4.019 680 37 85 29 - - 98 76 199 4
305 4.036 709 37 89 30 - - 98 76 208 5
306 5.000alpha2 785 50 114 32 - - 112 86 209 5
307 5.000alpha3 801 50 117 33 - - 121 87 209 5
308 5.000alpha9 1022 56 149 43 116 29 125 90 217 6
309 5.000a12h 978 49 140 49 205 46 152 97 228 9
310 5.000b3h 1035 53 232 70 216 38 162 94 218 21
311 5.000 1038 53 250 76 216 38 154 92 536 62
312 5.001m 1071 54 388 82 240 38 159 95 544 29
313 5.002 1121 54 661 101 287 43 155 94 847 35
314 5.003 1129 54 680 102 291 43 166 100 853 35
315 5.003_07 1231 60 748 106 396 53 213 137 976 39
316 5.004 1351 60 1230 136 408 51 355 161 1587 55
317 5.004_01 1356 60 1258 138 410 51 358 161 1587 55
318 5.004_04 1375 60 1294 139 413 51 394 162 1629 55
319 5.004_51 1401 61 1260 140 413 53 358 162 1594 56
320 5.004_53 1422 62 1295 141 438 70 394 162 1637 56
321 5.004_56 1501 66 1301 140 447 74 408 165 1648 57
322 5.004_59 1555 72 1317 142 448 74 424 171 1678 58
323 5.004_62 1602 77 1327 144 629 92 428 173 1674 58
324 5.004_65 1626 77 1358 146 615 92 446 179 1698 60
326 The "core"..."doc" mean the following files from the Perl source code
327 distribution. The glob notation ** means recursively, (.) means
332 ext ext/**/*.{[hcyt],xs,pm}
334 doc {README*,INSTALL,*[_.]man{,.?},pod/**/*.pod}
336 Here are some statistics for the other subdirectories and one file in
337 the Perl source distribution for somewhat more selected releases.
339 ======================================================================
342 1.014 2.001 3.044 4.000 4.019 4.036
344 atarist - - - - - - - - - - 113 31
345 Configure 31 1 37 1 62 1 73 1 83 1 86 1
346 eg - - 34 28 47 39 47 39 47 39 47 39
347 emacs - - - - - - 67 4 67 4 67 4
348 h2pl - - - - 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
349 hints - - - - - - - - 5 42 11 56
350 msdos - - - - 41 13 57 15 58 15 60 15
351 os2 - - - - 63 22 81 29 81 29 113 31
352 usub - - - - 21 16 25 7 43 8 43 8
353 x2p 103 17 104 17 137 17 147 18 152 19 154 19
355 ======================================================================
357 5.000a2 5.000a12h 5.000b3h 5.000 5.001m 5.002 5.003
359 atarist 113 31 113 31 - - - - - - - - - -
360 bench - - 0 1 - - - - - - - - - -
361 Bugs 2 5 26 1 - - - - - - - - - -
362 dlperl 40 5 - - - - - - - - - - - -
363 do 127 71 - - - - - - - - - - - -
364 Configure - - 153 1 159 1 160 1 180 1 201 1 201 1
365 Doc - - 26 1 75 7 11 1 11 1 - - - -
366 eg 79 58 53 44 51 43 54 44 54 44 54 44 54 44
367 emacs 67 4 104 6 104 6 104 1 104 6 108 1 108 1
368 h2pl 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
369 hints 11 56 12 46 18 48 18 48 44 56 73 59 77 60
370 msdos 60 15 60 15 - - - - - - - - - -
371 os2 113 31 113 31 - - - - - - 84 17 56 10
372 U - - 62 8 112 42 - - - - - - - -
373 usub 43 8 - - - - - - - - - - - -
374 utils - - - - - - - - - - 87 7 88 7
375 vms - - 80 7 123 9 184 15 304 20 500 24 475 26
376 x2p 171 22 171 21 162 20 162 20 279 20 280 20 280 20
378 ======================================================================
380 5.003_07 5.004 5.004_04 5.004_62 5.004_65
382 beos - - - - - - - - 1 1
383 Configure 217 1 225 1 225 1 240 1 248 1
384 cygwin32 - - 23 5 23 5 23 5 24 5
385 djgpp - - - - - - 14 5 14 5
386 eg 54 44 81 62 81 62 81 62 81 62
387 emacs 143 1 194 1 204 1 212 2 212 2
388 h2pl 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
389 hints 90 62 129 69 132 71 144 72 151 74
390 os2 117 42 121 42 127 42 127 44 129 44
391 plan9 79 15 82 15 82 15 82 15 82 15
392 Porting 51 1 94 2 109 4 203 6 234 8
393 qnx - - 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
394 utils 97 7 112 8 118 8 124 8 156 9
395 vms 505 27 518 34 524 34 538 34 569 34
396 win32 - - 285 33 378 36 470 39 493 39
397 x2p 280 19 281 19 281 19 281 19 282 19
399 =head2 SELECTED PATCH SIZES
401 The "diff lines kb" means that for example the patch 5.003_08, to be
402 applied on top of the 5.003_07 (or whatever was before the 5.003_08)
403 added lines for 110 kilobytes, it removed lines for 19 kilobytes, and
404 changed lines for 424 kilobytes. Just the lines themselves are
405 counted, not their context. The "+ - !" become from the diff(1)s
406 context diff output format.
408 Pump- Release Date diff lines kB
410 ===========================================================================
412 Chip 5.003_08 1996-Nov-19 110 19 424
413 5.003_09 1996-Nov-26 38 9 248
414 5.003_10 1996-Nov-29 29 2 27
415 5.003_11 1996-Dec-06 73 12 165
416 5.003_12 1996-Dec-19 275 6 436
417 5.003_13 1996-Dec-20 95 1 56
418 5.003_14 1996-Dec-23 23 7 333
419 5.003_15 1996-Dec-23 0 0 1
420 5.003_16 1996-Dec-24 12 3 50
421 5.003_17 1996-Dec-27 19 1 14
422 5.003_18 1996-Dec-31 21 1 32
423 5.003_19 1997-Jan-04 80 3 85
424 5.003_20 1997-Jan-07 18 1 146
425 5.003_21 1997-Jan-15 38 10 221
426 5.003_22 1997-Jan-16 4 0 18
427 5.003_23 1997-Jan-25 71 15 119
428 5.003_24 1997-Jan-29 426 1 20
429 5.003_25 1997-Feb-04 21 8 169
430 5.003_26 1997-Feb-10 16 1 15
431 5.003_27 1997-Feb-18 32 10 38
432 5.003_28 1997-Feb-21 58 4 66
433 5.003_90 1997-Feb-25 22 2 34
434 5.003_91 1997-Mar-01 37 1 39
435 5.003_92 1997-Mar-06 16 3 69
436 5.003_93 1997-Mar-10 12 3 15
437 5.003_94 1997-Mar-22 407 7 200
438 5.003_95 1997-Mar-25 41 1 37
439 5.003_96 1997-Apr-01 283 5 261
440 5.003_97 1997-Apr-03 13 2 34
441 5.003_97a 1997-Apr-05 57 1 27
442 5.003_97b 1997-Apr-08 14 1 20
443 5.003_97c 1997-Apr-10 20 1 16
444 5.003_97d 1997-Apr-13 8 0 16
445 5.003_97e 1997-Apr-15 15 4 46
446 5.003_97f 1997-Apr-17 7 1 33
447 5.003_97g 1997-Apr-18 6 1 42
448 5.003_97h 1997-Apr-24 23 3 68
449 5.003_97i 1997-Apr-25 23 1 31
450 5.003_97j 1997-Apr-28 36 1 49
451 5.003_98 1997-Apr-30 171 12 539
452 5.003_99 1997-May-01 6 0 7
453 5.003_99a 1997-May-09 36 2 61
454 p54rc1 1997-May-12 8 1 11
455 p54rc2 1997-May-14 6 0 40
457 5.004 1997-May-15 4 0 4
459 Tim 5.004_01 1997-Jun-13 222 14 57
460 5.004_02 1997-Aug-07 112 16 119
461 5.004_03 1997-Sep-05 109 0 17
462 5.004_04 1997-Oct-15 66 8 173
464 =head1 THE KEEPERS OF THE RECORDS
466 Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>.
468 Thanks to the collective memory of the Perlfolk. In addition to the
469 Keepers of the Pumpkin also Alan Champion, Andreas König, John
470 Macdonald, Matthias Neeracher, Michael Peppler, Randal Schwartz, and
471 Paul D. Smith sent corrections and additions.