=head1 DESCRIPTION
-This document describes differences between the 5.6.0 release and the
-5.8.0 release. Changes that have been integrated into the 5.6.1
-release are marked [561]. Changes that also appear in 5.6.1 but have
-been improved since are marked [561+].
+This document describes differences between the 5.6.0 release and
+the 5.8.0 release.
Many of the bug fixes in 5.8.0 were already seen in the 5.6.1
maintenance release since the two releases were kept closely
-coordinated.
+coordinated (while 5.8.0 was still called 5.7.something).
+
+Changes that were integrated into the 5.6.1 release are marked C<[561]>.
+
+You can see the list of changes in the 5.6.1 (from 5.6.0) by reading
+L<perl561delta>.
If you are upgrading from Perl 5.005_03, you might also want
to read L<perl56delta>.
The Unicode Character Database coming with Perl has been upgraded
to Unicode 3.2.0. For more information, see http://www.unicode.org/ .
-[561+]
+
=item *
=item *
Lvalue subroutines can now return C<undef> in list context. However,
-the lvalue subroutine feature still remains experimental. [561+]
+the lvalue subroutine feature still remains experimental.
=item *
C<B::Concise>, by Stephen McCamant, is a new compiler backend for
walking the Perl syntax tree, printing concise info about ops.
-The output is highly customisable. See L<B::Concise>. [561+]
+The output is highly customisable. See L<B::Concise>.
=item *
C<File::Temp>, by Tim Jenness, allows one to create temporary files
and directories in an easy, portable, and secure way. See
-L<File::Temp>. [561+]
+L<File::Temp>.
=item *
C<Pod::Text::Overstrike>, by Joe Smith, has been added.
It converts POD data to formatted overstrike text.
-See L<Pod::Text::Overstrike>. [561+]
+See L<Pod::Text::Overstrike>.
=item *
The following independently supported modules have been updated to the
newest versions from CPAN: CGI, CPAN, DB_File, File::Spec, File::Temp,
Getopt::Long, Math::BigFloat, Math::BigInt, the podlators bundle
-(Pod::Man, Pod::Text), Pod::LaTeX [561+], Pod::Parser, Storable,
+(Pod::Man, Pod::Text), Pod::LaTeX, Pod::Parser, Storable,
Term::ANSIColor, Test, Text-Tabs+Wrap.
=item *
perlclib documents the internal replacements for standard C library
functions. (Interesting only for extension writers and Perl core
-hackers.) [561+]
+hackers.)
=item *
-perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial. [561+]
+perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
=item *
perlebcdic contains considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC
-platforms. [561+]
+platforms.
=item *
=item *
-perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module. [561+]
+perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
=item *
=item *
-perlretut is a regular expression tutorial. [561+]
+perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
=item *
=item *
perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
-distribution. [561+]
+distribution.
=back
Stratus VOS is now supported using Perl's native build method
(Configure). This is the recommended method to build Perl on
VOS. The older methods, which build miniperl, are still
-available. See L<perlvos>. [561+]
+available. See L<perlvos>.
=item *
caller() could cause core dumps in certain situations. Carp was sometimes
affected by this problem. In particular, caller() now returns a
subroutine name of C<(unknown)> for subroutines that have been removed
-from the symbol table. [561+]
+from the symbol table.
=item *
=item *
Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes
-and into C<eval "...">. [561+]
+and into C<eval "...">.
=item *
=item *
-Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work. [561+]
+Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
=item *
EPOC
-EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.epoc. [561]
+EPOC now better supported. See README.epoc. [561]
=item *
=item *
fork() emulation has been improved in various ways, but still continues
-to be experimental. See L<perlfork> for known bugs and caveats. [561+]
+to be experimental. See L<perlfork> for known bugs and caveats.
=item *
doing and why they are using suidperl instead of some other solution
such as sudo ( see http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/ ).
-=head1 New Tests [561+]
+=head1 New Tests
Several new tests have been added, especially for the F<lib> and F<ext>
subsections. There are now about 65 000 individual tests (spread over
=head2 AmigaOS
-Perl 5.8.0 doesn't build in AmigaOS. It broke at some point
-during the ithreads work and we could not find Amiga experts
-to unbreak the problems. [561]
+Perl 5.8.0 doesn't build in AmigaOS. It broke at some point during
+the ithreads work and we could not find Amiga experts to unbreak the
+problems. Perl 5.6.1 still works for AmigaOS (as does the the 5.7.2
+development release).
=head2 BeOS
core module. It is still a useful module, though, and is available
from the CPAN.
-Perl 5.8 unfortunately does not build anymore on AmigaOS;
-this broke accidentally at some point. Since there are not that many
-Amiga developers available, we could not get this fixed and tested in
-time for 5.8.0.
+Perl 5.8 unfortunately does not build anymore on AmigaOS; this broke
+accidentally at some point. Since there are not that many Amiga
+developers available, we could not get this fixed and tested in time
+for 5.8.0. Perl 5.6.1 still works for AmigaOS (as does the the 5.7.2
+development release).
=head1 Reporting Bugs
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff