=head1 How are Perl Releases Numbered?
-Perl version numbers are floating point numbers, such as 5.004.
-(Observations about the imprecision of floating point numbers for
-representing reality probably have more relevance than you might
-imagine :-) The major version number is 5 and the '004' is the
-patchlevel. (Questions such as whether or not '004' is really a minor
-version number can safely be ignored.:)
+Beginning with v5.6.0, even versions will stand for maintenance releases
+and odd versions for development releases, i.e., v5.6.x for maintenance
+releases, and v5.7.x for development releases. Before v5.6.0, subversions
+_01 through _49 were reserved for bug-fix maintenance releases, and
+subversions _50 through _99 for unstable development versions.
-The version number is available as the magic variable $],
-and can be used in comparisons, e.g.
+For example, in v5.6.1, the revision number is 5, the version is 6,
+and 1 is the subversion.
- print "You've got an old perl\n" if $] < 5.002;
+For compatibility with the older numbering scheme the composite floating
+point version number continues to be available as the magic variable $],
+and amounts to C<$revision + $version/1000 + $subversion/1000000>. This
+can still be used in comparisons.
-You can also require particular version (or later) with
+ print "You've got an old perl\n" if $] < 5.005_03;
- use 5.002;
+In addition, the version is also available as a string in $^V.
-At some point in the future, we may need to decide what to call the
-next big revision. In the .package file used by metaconfig to
-generate Configure, there are two variables that might be relevant:
-$baserev=5.0 and $package=perl5. At various times, I have suggested
-we might change them to $baserev=5.1 and $package=perl5.1 if want
-to signify a fairly major update. Or, we might want to jump to perl6.
-Let's worry about that problem when we get there.
-
-=head2 Subversions
+ print "You've got a new perl\n" if $^V and $^V ge v5.6.0;
-In addition, there usually are sub-versions available. Sub-versions
-are numbered with sub-version numbers. For example, version 5.003_04
-is the 4'th developer version built on top of 5.003. It might include
-the _01, _02, and _03 changes, but it also might not. Sub-versions are
-allowed to be subversive. (But see the next section for recent
-changes.)
+You can also require particular version (or later) with:
-These sub-versions can also be used as floating point numbers, so
-you can do things such as
+ use 5.006;
- print "You've got an unstable perl\n" if $] == 5.00303;
+or using the new syntax available only from v5.6 onward:
-You can also require particular version (or later) with
+ use v5.6.0;
- use 5.003_03; # the "_" is optional
+At some point in the future, we may need to decide what to call the
+next big revision. In the .package file used by metaconfig to
+generate Configure, there are two variables that might be relevant:
+$baserev=5 and $package=perl5.
-Sub-versions produced by the members of perl5-porters are usually
+Perl releases produced by the members of perl5-porters are usually
available on CPAN in the F<src/5.0/maint> and F<src/5.0/devel>
directories.
=head2 Maintenance and Development Subversions
-Starting with version 5.004, subversions _01 through _49 are reserved
-for bug-fix maintenance releases, and subversions _50 through _99 for
-unstable development versions.
-
-The separate bug-fix track is being established to allow us an easy
-way to distribute important bug fixes without waiting for the
-developers to untangle all the other problems in the current
-developer's release. The first rule of maintenance work is "First, do
-no harm."
+The first rule of maintenance work is "First, do no harm."
Trial releases of bug-fix maintenance releases are announced on
perl5-porters. Trial releases use the new subversion number (to avoid
public consumption.
In general, the names of official distribution files for the public
-always match the regular expression
+always match the regular expression:
- ^perl5\.\d{3}(_[0-4]\d)?\.tar\.gz$
+ ^perl\d+\.(\d+)\.\d+(-MAINT_TRIAL_\d+)\.tar\.gz$
-Developer releases always match
-
- ^perl5\.\d{3}(_[5-9]\d)?\.tar\.gz$
-
-And the trial versions for a new maintainance release match
-
- ^perl5\.\d{3}(_[0-4]\d)-MAINT_TRIAL_\d+\.tar\.gz$
+C<$1> in the pattern is always an even number for maintenance
+versions, and odd for developer releases.
In the past it has been observed that pumkings tend to invent new
naming conventions on the fly. If you are a pumpking, before you
provide the trees of symlinks and the like. They will have to know
I<in advance> what you decide.
-=head2 Why such a complicated scheme?
-
-Two reasons, really. At least.
-
-First, we need some way to identify and release collections of patches
-that are known to have new features that need testing and exploration. The
-subversion scheme does that nicely while fitting into the
-C<use 5.004;> mold.
-
-Second, since most of the folks who help maintain perl do so on a
-free-time voluntary basis, perl development does not proceed at a
-precise pace, though it always seems to be moving ahead quickly.
-We needed some way to pass around the "patch pumpkin" to allow
-different people chances to work on different aspects of the
-distribution without getting in each other's way. It wouldn't be
-constructive to have multiple people working on incompatible
-implementations of the same idea. Instead what was needed was
-some kind of "baton" or "token" to pass around so everyone knew
-whose turn was next.
-
=head2 Why is it called the patch pumpkin?
Chip Salzenberg gets credit for that, with a nod to his cow orker,
You can also hand-tweak your config.h to try out different #ifdef
branches.
+=head1 Running Purify
+
+Purify is a commercial tool that is helpful in identifying memory
+overruns, wild pointers, memory leaks and other such badness. Perl
+must be compiled in a specific way for optimal testing with Purify.
+
+Use the following commands to test perl with Purify:
+
+ sh Configure -des -Doptimize=-g -Uusemymalloc -Dusemultiplicity \
+ -Accflags=-DPURIFY
+ setenv PURIFYOPTIONS "-chain-length=25"
+ make all pureperl
+ cd t
+ ln -s ../pureperl perl
+ setenv PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL 5
+ ./perl TEST
+
+Disabling Perl's malloc allows Purify to monitor allocations and leaks
+more closely; using Perl's malloc will make Purify report most leaks
+in the "potential" leaks category. Enabling the multiplicity option
+allows perl to clean up thoroughly when the interpreter shuts down, which
+reduces the number of bogus leak reports from Purify. The -DPURIFY
+enables any Purify-specific debugging code in the sources.
+
+Purify outputs messages in "Viewer" windows by default. If you don't have
+a windowing environment or if you simply want the Purify output to
+unobtrusively go to a log file instead of to the interactive window,
+use the following options instead:
+
+ setenv PURIFYOPTIONS "-chain-length=25 -windows=no -log-file=perl.log \
+ -append-logfile=yes"
+
+The only currently known leaks happen when there are compile-time errors
+within eval or require. (Fixing these is non-trivial, unfortunately, but
+they must be fixed eventually.)
+
=head1 Common Gotcha's
=over 4
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