=head1 NAME
-perldelta - what's new for perl v5.7.0
+perldelta - what will be new for perl v5.8.0
=head1 DESCRIPTION
-This document describes differences between the 5.6.0 release and
-the 5.7.0 release.
-
-=head1 Security Vulnerability Closed
-
-A potential security vulnerability in the optional suidperl component
-of Perl has been identified. suidperl is neither built nor installed
-by default. As of August the 20th, 2000, the only known vulnerable
-platform is Linux, most likely all Linux distributions. CERT and
-various vendors have been alerted about the vulnerability.
-
-The problem was caused by Perl trying to report a suspected security
-exploit attempt using an external program, /bin/mail. On Linux
-platforms the /bin/mail program had an undocumented feature which gave
-access to a root shell, resulting in a serious compromise instead of
-reporting the exploit attempt. If you don't have /bin/mail, or if you
-have 'safe setuid scripts', or if suidperl is not installed, you
-are safe.
-
-The exploit attempt reporting feature has been completely removed from
-the Perl 5.7.0 release, so that particular vulnerability isn't there
-anymore. However, further security vulnerabilities are,
-unfortunately, always possible. The suidperl code is being reviewed
-and if deemed too risky to continue to be supported, it may be
-completely removed from future releases. In any case, suidperl should
-only be used by security experts who know exactly what they are doing
-and why they are using suidperl instead of some other solution such as
-sudo (see http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/).
-
-=head1 Incompatible Changes
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-Arrays now always interpolate into double-quoted strings:
-constructs like "foo@bar" now always assume C<@bar> is an array,
-whether or not the compiler has seen use of C<@bar>.
-
-=item *
-
-The semantics of bless(REF, REF) were unclear and until someone proves
-it to make some sense, it is forbidden.
-
-=item *
-
-The very dusty examples in the eg/ directory have been removed.
-Suggestions for new shiny examples welcome but the main issue is that
-the examples need to be documented, tested and (most importantly)
-maintained.
-
-=item *
-
-The obsolete chat2 library that should never have been allowed
-to escape the laboratory has been decommissioned.
-
-=item *
-
-The unimplemented POSIX regex features [[.cc.]] and [[=c=]] are still
-recognised but now cause fatal errors. The previous behaviour of
-ignoring them by default and warning if requested was unacceptable
-since it, in a way, falsely promised that the features could be used.
-
-=item *
-
-lstat(FILEHANDLE) now gives a warning because the operation makes no sense.
-In future releases this may become a fatal error.
-
-=item *
-
-The long deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison
-operators (EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE, GT) have now been removed.
-
-=item *
-
-The regular expression captured submatches ($1, $2, ...) are now
-more consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false
-data lying around in them.
-
-=item *
-
-The tr///C and tr///U features have been removed and will not return;
-the interface was a mistake. Sorry about that. For similar
-functionality, see pack('U0', ...) and pack('C0', ...).
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Core Enhancements
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-C<perl -d:Module=arg,arg,arg> now works (previously one couldn't pass
-in multiple arguments.)
-
-=item *
-
-my __PACKAGE__ now works.
-
-=item *
-
-C<no Module;> now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module.
-
-=item *
-
-The numerical comparison operators return C<undef> if either operand
-is a NaN. Previously the behaviour was unspecified.
-
-=item *
-
-C<pack('U0a*', ...)> can now be used to force a string to UTF8.
-
-=item *
-
-prototype(\&) is now available.
-
-=item *
-
-There is now an UNTIE method.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Modules and Pragmata
-
-=head2 New Modules
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-File::Temp allows one to create temporary files and directories in an
-easy, portable, and secure way.
-
-=item *
-
-Storable gives persistence to Perl data structures by allowing the
-storage and retrieval of Perl data to and from files in a fast and
-compact binary format.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Updated And Improved Modules and Pragmata
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-The following independently supported modules have been updated to
-newer versions from CPAN: CGI, CPAN, DB_File, File::Spec, Getopt::Long,
-the podlators bundle, Pod::LaTeX, Pod::Parser, Term::ANSIColor, Test.
-
-=item *
-
-Bug fixes and minor enhancements have been applied to B::Deparse,
-Data::Dumper, IO::Poll, IO::Socket::INET, Math::BigFloat,
-Math::Complex, Math::Trig, re, SelfLoader, Sys::SysLog, Test::Harness,
-Text::Wrap, UNIVERSAL.
-
-=item *
-
-The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments.
-
-=item *
-
-AutoLoader can now be disabled with C<no AutoLoader;>,
-
-=item *
-
-The English module can now be used without the infamous performance
-hit by saying
-
- use English '-no_performance_hit';
-
-(Assuming, of course, that one doesn't need the troublesome variables
-C<$`>, C<$&>, or C<$'>.) Also, introduce C<@LAST_MATCH_START> and
-C<@LAST_MATCH_END> English aliases for C<@-> and C<@+>.
-
-=item *
-
-File::Find now has pre- and post-processing callbacks. It also
-correctly changes directories when chasing symbolic links. Callbacks
-(naughtily) exiting with "next;" instead of "return;" now work.
-
-=item *
-
-File::Glob::glob() renamed to File::Glob::bsd_glob() to avoid
-prototype mismatch with CORE::glob().
-
-=item *
-
-IPC::Open3 now allows the use of numeric file descriptors.
-
-=item *
-
-use lib now works identically to @INC. Removing directories
-with 'no lib' now works.
-
-=item *
-
-C<%INC> now localised in a Safe compartment so that use/require work.
-
-=item *
-
-The Shell module now has an OO interface.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Utility Changes
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version 4.31.
-
-=item *
-
-Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to perl.org,
-not perl.com.
-
-=item *
-
-The perlcc utility has been rewritten and its user interface (that is,
-command line) is much more like that of the UNIX C compiler, cc.
-
-=item *
-
-The xsubpp utility for extension writers now understands POD
-documentation embedded in the *.xs files.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 New Documentation
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the
-5.6.0 release.
-
-=item *
-
-perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
-
-=item *
-
-perlebcdic contains considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms.
-Note that unfortunately EBCDIC platforms that used to supported back in
-Perl 5.005 are still unsupported by Perl 5.7.0; the plan, however, is to
-bring them back to the fold.
-
-=item *
-
-perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
-
-=item *
-
-perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform
-(an EBCDIC mainframe platform).
-
-=item *
-
-perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
-
-=item *
-
-perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide.
-Yes, much quicker than perlretut.
-
-=item *
-
-perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
-distribution.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Performance Enhancements
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster.
-
-=item *
-
-sort() has been changed to use mergesort internally as opposed to the
-earlier quicksort. For very small lists this may result in slightly
-slower sorting times, but in general the speedup should be at least 20%.
-Additional bonuses are that the worst case behaviour of sort() is now
-better (in computer science terms it now runs in time O(N log N), as
-opposed to quicksorts Theta(N**2) worst-case run time behaviour), and
-that sort() is now stable (meaning that elements with identical keys
-will stay ordered as they were before the sort).
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
-
-=head2 Generic Improvements
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-INSTALL now explains how you can configure perl to use 64-bit
-integers even on non-64-bit platforms.
-
-=item *
-
-Policy.sh policy change: if you are reusing a Policy.sh file (see
-INSTALL) and you use Configure -Dprefix=/foo/bar and in the old
-Policy $prefix eq $siteprefix and $prefix eq $vendorprefix, all of
-them will now be changed to the new prefix, /foo/bar. (Previously
-only $prefix changed.) If you do not like this new behaviour,
-specify prefix, siteprefix, and vendorprefix explicitly.
-
-=item *
-
-A new optional location for Perl libraries, otherlibdirs, is available.
-It can be used for example for vendor add-ons without disturbing Perl's
-own library directories.
-
-=item *
-
-In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to
-build Perl (basically, 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems
-to be the case and 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler
-'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead.
-
-=item *
-
-gcc needs to closely track the operating system release to avoid
-build problems. If Configure finds that gcc was built for a different
-operating system release than is running, it now gives a clearly visible
-warning that there may be trouble ahead.
-
-=item *
-
-If binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is not wanted, Configure
-no longer suggests including the 5.005 modules in @INC.
-
-=item *
-
-Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively.
-
-=item *
-
-configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them.
-
-=item *
-
-installperl now outputs everything to STDERR.
-
-=item *
-
-$Config{byteorder} is now computed dynamically (this is more robust
-with "fat binaries" where an executable image contains binaries for
-more than one binary platform.)
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code,
-condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks
-line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now
-goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set.
-
-=item *
-
-C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works.
-
-=item *
-
-Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes.
-
-=item *
-
-Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works.
-
-=item *
-
-Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "".
-
-=item *
-
-Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to
-return 27406, instead of 27047).
-
-=item *
-
-Some "not a number" warnings introduced in 5.6.0 eliminated to be
-more compatible with 5.005. Infinity is now recognised as a number.
-
-=item *
-
-our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings.
-
-=item *
-
-pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with "\0".
-
-=item *
-
-Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms
-(e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry.
-
-=item *
-
-printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C".
-
-=item *
-
-C<q(a\\b)> now parses correctly as C<'a\\b'>.
-
-=item *
-
-Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf now works
-without the q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform).
-
-=item *
-
-Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
-
-=item *
-
-scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context.
-
-=item *
-
-sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context
-(they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself).
-
-=item *
-
-Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very
-rare) vertical tab character. Added a new POSIX-ish character class
-C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently,
-the space and the tab).
-
-=item *
-
-$AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses
-in multiple threads simultaneously are now thread-safe.
-
-=item *
-
-Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///.
-
-=item *
-
-Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect).
-
-=over 8
-
-=item *
-
-BOMs (byte order marks) in the beginning of Perl files
-(scripts, modules) should now be transparently skipped.
-UTF16 encoded Perl files should now be read correctly.
-
-=item *
-
-The character tables have been updated to new Unicode 3.0 features.
-
-=item *
-
-chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use
-utf8.
-
-=item *
-
-Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into
-utf8.
-
-=item *
-
-C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase.
-
-=item *
-
-Concatenation with the C<.> operator or via variable interpolation,
-C<eq>, C<substr>, C<reverse>, C<quotemeta>, the C<x> operator,
-substitution with C<s///>, single-quoted UTF8, should now work--in
-theory.
-
-=item *
-
-The C<tr///> operator now works I<slightly> better but is still rather
-broken. Note that the C<tr///CU> functionality has been removed (but
-see pack('U0', ...)).
-
-=item *
-
-Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>.
-
-=back
-
-=item *
-
-UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly. (This broke
-the Tk extension with 5.6.0.)
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-BSDI 4.*
-
-Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes.
-
-=item *
-
-All BSDs
-
-Setting C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details).
-
-=item *
-
-Cygwin
-
-Numerous updates; currently synchronised with Cygwin 1.1.4.
-
-=item *
-
-EPOC
-
-EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.epoc.
-
-=item *
-
-FreeBSD 3.*
-
-Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs.
-
-=item *
-
-HP-UX
-
-README.hpux updated; C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works.
-
-=item *
-
-IRIX
-
-Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements; accidental mixing
-of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt) made much harder.
-
-=item *
-
-Linux
-
-Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL).
-
-=item *
-
-MacOS Classic
-
-Compilation of the standard Perl distribution in MacOS Classic should
-now work if you have the Metrowerks development environment and
-the missing Mac-specific toolkit bits. Contact the macperl mailing
-list for details.
-
-=item *
-
-MPE/iX
-
-MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.mpeix.
-
-=item *
-
-NetBSD/sparc
-
-Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc.
-
-=item *
-
-OS/2
-
-Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL).
-
-=item *
-
-Solaris
-
-64-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works.
-
-=item *
-
-Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1)
-
-The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}.
-Allow compiling with gcc (previously explicitly forbidden). Compiling
-with gcc still not recommended because buggy code results, even with
-gcc 2.95.2.
-
-=item *
-
-Unicos
-
-Fixed various alignment problems that lead into core dumps either
-during build or later; no longer dies on math errors at runtime;
-now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using
-only 46 bit integers for speed.
-
-=item *
-
-VMS
-
-chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug; now works with MULTIPLICITY
-(see INSTALL); now works with Perl's malloc.
-
-=item *
-
-Windows
-
-=over 8
-
-=item *
-
-accept() no longer leaks memory.
-
-=item *
-
-Better chdir() return value for a non-existent directory.
-
-=item *
-
-New %ENV entries now propagate to subprocesses.
-
-=item *
-
-$ENV{LIB} now used to search for libs under Visual C.
-
-=item *
-
-A failed (pseudo)fork now returns undef and sets errno to EAGAIN.
-
-=item *
-
-Allow REG_EXPAND_SZ keys in the registry.
-
-=item *
-
-Can now send() from all threads, not just the first one.
-
-=item *
-
-Fake signal handling reenabled, bugs and all.
-
-=item *
-
-Less stack reserved per thread so that more threads can run
-concurrently. (still 16M perl thread)
-
-=item *
-
-C<File::Spec->tmpdir()> now prefers C:/temp over /tmp
-(works better when perl running as service).
-
-=item *
-
-Better UNC path handling under ithreads.
-
-=item *
-
-wait() and waitpid() now work much better.
-
-=item *
-
-winsock handle leak fixed.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 New or Changed Diagnostics
-
-All regular expression compilation error messages are now hopefully
-easier to understand both because the error message now comes before
-the failed regex and because the point of failure is now clearly
-marked.
-
-The various "opened only for", "on closed", "never opened" warnings
-drop the C<main::> prefix for filehandles in the C<main> package,
-for example C<STDIN> instead of <main::STDIN>.
-
-The "Unrecognized escape" warning has been extended to include C<\8>,
-C<\9>, and C<\_>. There is no need to escape any of the C<\w> characters.
-
-=head1 Changed Internals
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-perlapi.pod (a companion to perlguts) now attempts to document the
-internal API.
-
-=item *
-
-You can now build a really minimal perl called microperl.
-Building microperl does not require even running Configure;
-C<make -f Makefile.micro> should be enough. Beware: microperl makes
-many assumptions, some of which may be too bold; the resulting
-executable may crash or otherwise misbehave in wondrous ways. For
-careful hackers only.
-
-=item *
-
-Added rsignal(), whichsig(), do_join() to the publicised API.
-
-=item *
-
-Made possible to propagate customised exceptions via croak()ing.
-
-=item *
-
-Added is_utf8_char(), is_utf8_string(), bytes_to_utf8(), and utf8_to_bytes().
-
-=item *
-
-Now xsubs can have attributes just like subs.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Known Problems
-
-=head2 Unicode Support Still Far From Perfect
-
-We're working on it. Stay tuned.
-
-=head2 EBCDIC Still A Lost Platform
-
-The plan is to bring them back.
-
-=head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles
-
-Certain extensions like mod_perl and BSD::Resource are known to have
-issues with `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in which file
-offsets default to 64 bits wide, where supported. Modules may fail to
-compile at all or compile and work incorrectly. Currently there is no
-good solution for the problem, but Configure now provides appropriate
-non-largefile ccflags, ldflags, libswanted, and libs in the %Config
-hash (e.g., $Config{ccflags_nolargefiles}) so the extensions that are
-having problems can try configuring themselves without the
-largefileness. This is admittedly not a clean solution, and the
-solution may not even work at all. One potential failure is whether
-one can (or, if one can, whether it's a good idea) link together at
-all binaries with different ideas about file offsets, all this is
-platform-dependent.
-
-=head2 Storable test st-06compat Fails in UNICOS and UNICOS/mk
-
-This means that you cannot read old (pre-Storable-0.7) Storable images
-made in other platforms.
+This document does not exist yet. When the Perl 5.8.0 is released
+this document will describe the changes since Perl 5.6.0, the previous
+major release. In the meanwhile, see L<perl570delta> and
+L<perl571delta>.
=head1 Reporting Bugs
=head1 HISTORY
-Written by Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>, with many contributions
-from The Perl Porters and Perl Users submitting feedback and patches.
-
-Send omissions or corrections to <F<perlbug@perl.org>>.
+Written by Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>.
=cut
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff