This document describes differences between the 5.6.0 release and
the 5.7.0 release.
-=head1 Security Vulnerability
+=head1 Security Vulnerability Closed
A potential security vulnerability in the optional suidperl component
-of Perl has been identified. The 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.
-The CERT and various vendors have been alerted about the vulnerability.
+of Perl has been identified. suidperl is neither built nor installed
+by default. As of September the 2nd, 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. In 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 suid scripts' or if you haven't installed the suidperl, you
-are safe.
+exploit attempt using an external program, /bin/mail. On Linux
+platforms the /bin/mail program had an undocumented feature which
+when combined with suidperl 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 being supported, in the extreme
-case it may be completely removed in 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.
-A good tool for similar needs is sudo: http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/
+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
-=head2 Arrays Now Always Interpolate Into Double-Quoted Strings
+=over 4
+
+=item *
-Constructs like "foo@bar" now always assume the C<@bar> to be an array,
-regardless of whether it is known that C<@bar> is an array.
+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>.
-=head2 bless(REF, REF) is now a fatal error
+=item *
The semantics of bless(REF, REF) were unclear and until someone proves
it to make some sense, it is forbidden.
-=head2 The eg/* Directory Removed
+=item *
+
+A reference to a reference now stringify as "REF(0x81485ec)" instead
+of "SCALAR(0x81485ec)" in order to be more consistent with the return
+value of ref().
+
+=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.
+the examples need to be documented, tested and (most importantly)
+maintained.
-=head2 The lib/chat2.pl
+=item *
The obsolete chat2 library that should never have been allowed
to escape the laboratory has been decommissioned.
-=head2 Unimplemented (But Recognized) POSIX Regex Features Now Fatal
+=item *
The unimplemented POSIX regex features [[.cc.]] and [[=c=]] are still
-recognized but now cause fatal errors. The previous behaviour of
+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.
-=head2 lstat(FILEHANDLE) now warns
+=item *
+
+The (bogus) escape sequences \8 and \9 now give an optional warning
+("Unrecognized escape passed through"). There is no need to \-escape
+any C<\w> character.
+
+=item *
lstat(FILEHANDLE) now gives a warning because the operation makes no sense.
In future releases this may become a fatal error.
-=head2 Obsolete String Comparison Operators Removed
+=item *
-The long since deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison
+The long deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison
operators (EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE, GT) have now been removed.
-=head2 The Regular Expression Submatches Are Now Unset When Backtracking
+=item *
The regular expression captured submatches ($1, $2, ...) are now
-consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false
+more consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false
data lying around in them.
-=head2 tr///CU Removed, Not To Return
+=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', ...).
+=item *
+
+Although "you shouldn't do that", it was possible to write code that
+depends on Perl's hashed key order (Data::Dumper does this). The new
+algorithm "One-at-a-Time" produces a different hashed key order.
+More details are in L<perldelta/Performance Enhancements>.
+
+=back
+
=head1 Core Enhancements
=over 4
=item *
+Formats now support zero-padded decimal fields.
+
+=item *
+
C<perl -d:Module=arg,arg,arg> now works (previously one couldn't pass
in multiple arguments.)
=item *
-no Module; now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module.
+C<no Module;> now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module.
=item *
=item *
-C<pack('U0a*', ...)> can now be used to force the string to UTF8.
+C<pack('U0a*', ...)> can now be used to force a string to UTF8.
+
+=item *
+
+The printf and sprintf now support parameter reordering using the
+C<%\d+\$> and C<*\d+\$> syntaxes.
=item *
prototype(\&) is now available.
+=item *
+
+There is now an UNTIE method.
+
=back
=head1 Modules and Pragmata
=item *
-File::Temp, version 0.10, allows one to create temporary files
-and directories in an easy, portable, and secure way.
+File::Temp allows one to create temporary files and directories in an
+easy, portable, and secure way.
=item *
-The Storable extension, version 0.7.2, released the 14th of August
-2000, has been added to the Perl distribution. 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.
+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
=item *
-The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments.
-
-=item *
-
-AutoLoader can now be `stopped' by
-
- no AutoLoader;
-
-=item *
-
-B::Deparse now understands sub attributes.
+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 *
-Data::Dumper now works on negative number on 32-bit platforms where IV
-(the Perl's integer datatype) is greater than 32 bits. Also, large
-unsigned numbers are now dumped as such, not as large negative numbers.
+Bug fixes and minor enhancements have been applied to B::Deparse,
+Data::Dumper, IO::Poll, IO::Socket::INET, Math::BigFloat,
+Math::Complex, Math::Trig, Net::protoent, the re pragma, SelfLoader,
+Sys::SysLog, Test::Harness, Text::Wrap, UNIVERSAL, and the warnings
+pragma.
=item *
-CGI has been updated to version 2.72, released
-the 20th of August 2000.
-
-=item *
-
-CPAN has been updated to version 1.57, released
-the 16th of August 2000.
+The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments.
=item *
-DB_File has been updated to version 1.73, released the
-27th of April 2000.
+AutoLoader can now be disabled with C<no AutoLoader;>,
=item *
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<$`>, C<$&>, or C<$'>.) Also, introduced C<@LAST_MATCH_START> and
C<@LAST_MATCH_END> English aliases for C<@-> and C<@+>.
=item *
-File::Find now has pre- and postprocessing callbacks.
-It also correctly changes directories when chasing symbolic links.
-Callbacks doing (naughtily) "next;" instead of "return;" now work.
+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 *
=item *
-File::Spec has been updated to version 0.82, released the
-1st of July 2000.
-
-=item *
-
-Getopt::Long has been updated to version 2.23_05, released the 2nd of
-August 2000.
-
-=item *
-
-IO::Poll has been thoroughly fixed.
-
-=item *
-
-IO::Socket::INET now works when given an unknown service name with
-a port number.
-
-=item *
-
IPC::Open3 now allows the use of numeric file descriptors.
=item *
=item *
-Math::BigFloat now more robust (fewer "uninitialized" warnings).
-
-=item *
-
-Math::Complex now handles extreme values (e.g. cplx(1E20, 1E30)) more
-gracefully.
-
-=item *
-
-The podlators bundle has been updated to version 1.02, released the
-25th of April 2000. It contains the modules Pod::Man 1.04, Pod::Text
-2.04, and modules Pod::Text::Color and Pod::Text::Termcap (no version
-numbers).
-
-=item *
-
-Pod::LaTeX has been updated to version 0.52, released the 15th of May
-2000. Note that this is a complete rewrite which translates pod much
-better, has many more options and much better documentation. It also
-now uses the Pod::Parser backend, meaning that Pod::LaTeX will stay
-abreast other pod translators.
-
-=item *
-
-Pod::Parser has been updated to version 1.17, released the 25th of
-July 2000. It contains the modules Pod::Checker 1.20, Pod::Find 0.21,
-Pod::InputObjects 1.13, Pod::ParseUtils 0.22, Pod::Parser 1.12,
-Pod::Select 1.13, and Pod::Usage 1.13.
-
-=item *
-
-The 'debug' subpragma the 're' pragma now produces cleaner output.
-
-=item *
-
-C<%INC> now localized in a Safe compartment so that use/require work.
-
-=item *
-
-SelfLoader no longer loses C<$@> in AUTOLOAD.
+C<%INC> now localised in a Safe compartment so that use/require work.
=item *
The Shell module now has an OO interface.
-=item *
-
-Sys::Syslog now works on domain sockets. Also, a forked child
-now exits correctly if it fails to open /dev/console.
-
-=item *
-
-Term::ANSIColor has been updated to version 1.03, released the 6th of
-August 2000.
+=back
-=item *
+=head1 Utility Changes
-The Test module has been updated to version 1.14, released the 21st of June
-1999. This is for all practical purposes identical to the previous release
-of Test included with the Perl distribution, 1.13, but upgrading the module
-stops the CPAN module from suggesting an upgrade.
+=over 4
=item *
-Test::Harness output now prettier on failed test.
+The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version
+4.31.
=item *
-Text::Wrap::wtbrap now handles multiline strings properly.
+Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to
+perl.org, not perl.com.
=item *
-UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Utility Changes
-
-=head2 cperl-mode version 4.31
-
-The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version 4.31.
-
-=head2 perlbug
-
-Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to perl.org,
-not perl.com.
-
-=head2 perlcc now more cc-like and more robust
-
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.
-=head2 xsubpp now understands embedded pod
+=item *
The xsubpp utility for extension writers now understands POD
documentation embedded in the *.xs files.
-=head1 Improved Documentation
+=back
+
+=head1 New Documentation
=over 4
=item *
-In many places say "alphanumeric characters" instead of "word
-characters" because that was what was meant.
+perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the
+5.6.0 release.
=item *
-Eradicate "array context" from the documentation and diagnostics.
+perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
=item *
-The return values of failing backticks (`, qx{}) are now documented
-in perlop.
+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 *
-caller() return values now better documented.
+perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
=item *
-SDBM_File, NDBM_File, ODBM_File, now tell about tying instead of
-glossing over.
+perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform
+(an EBCDIC mainframe platform).
=item *
-Document that the C<$(> special variable does not interpolate
-in regular expressions.
+perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
=item *
-The timeout unit of IO::Select is now documented to be identical
-to the timeout unit of the 4-arg select(), that is, (optionally
-fractional) seconds, or an undef to wait indefinitely.
+perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide.
+Yes, much quicker than perlretut.
=item *
-Document the C<D> and C<d> magic types.
-
-=item *
+perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
+distribution.
-The ordering of PODs in perl.pod is now more sensible.
+=back
-=item *
+=head1 Performance Enhancements
-perlbook now only mentions the Camel III; all other book references
-have been moved to perlfaq2; some good known books added.
+=over 4
=item *
-Numerous missing warning/error messages added to perldiag.
+map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster.
=item *
-Changed the description of perl6 in perlfaq1.
+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 quicksort's 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).
=item *
-perlhack much extended.
+Hashes now use Bob Jenkins "One-at-a-Time" hashing key algorithm
+(http://burtleburtle.net/bob/hash/doobs.html).
+This algorithm is reasonably fast while producing a much better spread
+of values. Hash values output from the algorithm on a hash of all
+3-char printable ASCII keys comes much closer to passing the DIEHARD
+random number generation tests. According to perlbench, this change
+has not affected the overall speed of Perl.
-=item *
-perltrap cleaned up.
-
-=item *
+=back
-Add perlxstut example for passing/returning refs to arrays.
+=head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
-=item *
+=head2 Generic Improvements
-POSIX module documentation embellished.
+=over 4
=item *
-Clarified the status of shadow password support.
+INSTALL now explains how you can configure Perl to use 64-bit
+integers even on non-64-bit platforms.
=item *
-Reminded that preprocessors and source filters can alter
-your code before Perl sees it and therefore debugging
-can be somewhat surprising. ("I didn't write *that*!")
+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 $prefix changed.) If you do not like this new behaviour,
+specify prefix, siteprefix, and vendorprefix explicitly.
=item *
-Removed incorrect documentation about implicit split to @_
-in list context, which never really worked in Perl 5 anyway.
+A new optional location for Perl libraries, otherlibdirs, is available.
+It can be used for example for vendor add-ons without disturbing Perl's
+own library directories.
=item *
-Explain that split /^/ is split /^/m.
+In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to
+build Perl (basically, 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems
+to be the case and 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler
+'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead.
=item *
-Added many more sprintf() examples in perlfunc.
+gcc needs to closely track the operating system release to avoid
+build problems. If Configure finds that gcc was built for a different
+operating system release than is running, it now gives a clearly visible
+warning that there may be trouble ahead.
=item *
-Documented the handling of negative indices to tied arrays.
+If binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is not wanted, Configure
+no longer suggests including the 5.005 modules in @INC.
=item *
-The C<$yday> in localtime()/gmtime() is 0..364, not 1..365.
+Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively.
=item *
-Documented that tr() is not tr(1): that is, do not expect regular expressions.
+configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them.
=item *
-Warn about the vagaries of UDP.
+installperl now outputs everything to STDERR.
=item *
-The uninitialized variable warnings now say "concat or string" or
-"join or string" instead of just "concat" or "join" since many users
-found the "concat" a bit surprising when they were doing "just"
-variable interpolation.
+$Config{byteorder} is now computed dynamically (this is more robust
+with "fat binaries" where an executable image contains binaries for
+more than one binary platform.)
=item *
-Documented that the values() are aliases, not copies.
+Configure no longer included the DBM libraries (dbm, gdbm, db, ndbm)
+when building the Perl binary. The only exception to this is SunOS 4.x,
+which needs them.
=back
-=head2 New Documentation
+=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
=over 4
=item *
-perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the
-5.6.0 release.
+Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code,
+condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks
+line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now
+goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set.
=item *
-perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
+C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works.
=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.
+Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes.
=item *
-perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
+Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works.
=item *
-perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform
-(a mainframe platform).
+Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "".
=item *
-perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
+Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to
+return 27406, instead of 27047).
=item *
-perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide.
-Yes, much quicker than perlretut.
+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 *
-perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
-distribution.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Performance Enhancements
-
-map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster.
-
-=head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
-
-=head2 INSTALL now explains 64-bit configuration.
-
-In some platforms Perl can be configured to use 64-bit integers,
-allowing 4 billion times better...sorry, switched accidentally to
-marketdroid mode for a moment in there. (In platforms which are
-natively 64-bit this makes no difference.)
-
-=head2 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.
-
-=head2 Additional Library Locations
-
-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.
-
-=head2 gcc automatically tried if 'cc' does not seem to be working
-
-In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to
-build Perl (basically, the 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems
-to be the case and the 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler
-'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead.
-
-=head2 If gcc seems to be from a different operating system release ...
-
-gcc needs to closely track the operating system release because gcc
-wants to have its own versions of the operating system header files
-fixed to be clean enough for gcc's tastes. Therefore using a gcc
-compiled for a different release of the operating system is often a
-bad idea. If Configure can find out the operating system release that
-was used to compile the gcc and that release is different from the one
-being used now, gcc gives a clearly visible warning that trouble may
-lie ahead.
-
-=head2 If no binary compatibility with 5.005 wanted, no 5.005 modules, either
-
-If no binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is wanted, Configure
-does not suggest including the 5.005 modules in the @INC.
-
-=head2 Configuration and Installation fixes
-
-=over 4
+our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings.
=item *
-Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively
+pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with "\0".
=item *
-configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them
+Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms
+(e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry.
=item *
-installperl now outputs everything to STDERR
+printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C".
=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 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
-
-=head2 BSDI 4.*
-
-Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes.
-
-=head2 All BSDs
-
-Setting the C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details).
-
-=head2 Cygwin
-
-=over 4
+C<q(a\\b)> now parses correctly as C<'a\\b'>.
=item *
-Numerous updates; currently synchronized with Cygwin 1.1.4.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 EPOC
-
-EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. The EPOC port home page is at
-http://members.linuxstart.com/~oflebbe/perl/perl5.html
-
-=head2 FreeBSD 3.*
-
-Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs.
-
-=head2 HP-UX
-
-=over 4
+Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf now works
+without the q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform).
=item *
-Document that the C<perl -P> causes problems if one uses C<s/foo//>
-(because the HP C compiler does funny things to that // thinking it
-to be C++), document also the workaround.
+Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
=item *
-C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works (one failing test).
-
-=back
-
-=head2 IRIX
-
-=over 4
+scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context.
=item *
-Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements.
+sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context
+(they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself).
=item *
-Accidental mixing of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt)
-made much harder.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Linux
-
-=over 4
+Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very
+rare) vertical tab character. Added a new POSIX-ish character class
+C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently,
+the space and the tab).
=item *
-Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL).
-
-=back
-
-=head2 MacOS Classic
-
-=over 4
+$AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses
+in multiple threads simultaneously are now thread-safe.
=item *
-Compilation of the standard Perl distribution in MacOS Classic should
-now work--assuming you have the Metrowerks development environment and
-the missing Mac-specific toolkit bits, contact the macperl mailing
-list for details.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 MPE/iX
-
-MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. The Perl/iX home page is at
-http://www.bixby.org/mark/perlix.html
-
-=head2 NetBSD/sparc
-
-Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc.
-
-=head2 OS/2
-
-=over 4
+Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///.
=item *
-Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL).
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Solaris
+Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect).
-=over 4
+=over 8
=item *
-64-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1)
-
-=over 4
+BOMs (byte order marks) in the beginning of Perl files
+(scripts, modules) should now be transparently skipped.
+UTF-16 (UCS-2)encoded Perl files should now be read correctly.
=item *
-Allow compiling with gcc (previously explicitly forbidden). Compiling
-with gcc still not recommended because buggy code results, even with
-gcc 2.95.2.
+The character tables have been updated to Unicode 3.0.1.
=item *
-The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Unicos
-
-=over 4
+chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use
+utf8.
=item *
-Fixed various alignment problems that lead into core dumps either
-during build or later.
+Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into
+utf8.
=item *
-no longer dying on math errors in runtime.
+C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase.
=item *
-Now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using
-only 43 bit integers for speed.
-
-=back
+Concatenation with the C<.> operator or via variable interpolation,
+C<eq>, C<substr>, C<reverse>, C<quotemeta>, the C<x> operator,
+substitution with C<s///>, single-quoted UTF8, should now work--in
+theory.
-=head2 VMS
+=item *
-=over 4
+The C<tr///> operator now works I<slightly> better but is still rather
+broken. Note that the C<tr///CU> functionality has been removed (but
+see pack('U0', ...)).
=item *
-chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug.
+vec() now tries to work with characters <= 255 when possible, but it leaves
+higher character values in place. In that case, if vec() was used to modify
+the string, it is no longer considered to be utf8-encoded.
=item *
-Now works with MULTIPLICITY (see INSTALL).
+Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>.
+
+=back
=item *
-Now works with Perl's malloc.
+UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly. (This broke
+the Tk extension with 5.6.0.)
=back
-=head2 Windows
+=head2 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
=over 4
=item *
-accept() no longer leaks memory.
-
-=item *
+BSDI 4.*
-Better chdir() return value for a non-existent directory.
+Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes.
=item *
-New %ENV entries now propagate to subprocesses.
+All BSDs
-=item *
-
-$ENV{LIB} now used to search for libs under Visual C.
+Setting C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details).
=item *
-A failed (pseudo)fork now returns undef and sets errno to EAGAIN.
+Cygwin
-=item *
-
-Allow REG_EXPAND_SZ keys in the registry.
+Numerous updates; currently synchronised with Cygwin 1.1.4.
=item *
-Can now send() from all threads, not just the first one.
+EPOC
-=item *
-
-Fake signal handling reenabled, bugs and all.
+EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.epoc.
=item *
-Less stack reserved per thread so that more threads can run
-concurrently. (still 16M perl thread)
-
-=item *
+FreeBSD 3.*
-C<File::Spec->tmpdir()> now prefers C:/temp over /tmp
-(works better when perl running as service).
+Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs.
=item *
-Better UNC path handling under ithreads.
-
-=item *
+HP-UX
-wait() and waitpid() now work much better.
+README.hpux updated; C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works.
=item *
-winsock handle leak fixed.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
+IRIX
-The following is by no means a comprehensive list of all the
-numerous bug fixes.
-
-=over 4
+Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements; accidental mixing
+of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt) made much harder.
=item *
-Redefining constant subroutines using eval (again) warns.
-
-=item *
+Linux
-Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code,
-condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks
-line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now
-goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set.
+Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL).
=item *
-C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works.
-
-=item *
+MacOS Classic
-Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes.
+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 *
-Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works.
-
-=item *
+MPE/iX
-Module name now mandatory after the C<-M> switch.
+MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.mpeix.
=item *
-Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "".
-
-=item *
+NetBSD/sparc
-Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to
-return 27406, instead of 27047).
+Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc.
=item *
-msgrcv() no longer warns about uninitialized input scalar.
-
-=item *
+OS/2
-Some "not a number" warnings introduced in 5.6.0 eliminated to be
-more compatible with 5.005. Infinity is now recognized as a number.
+Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL).
=item *
-our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings
-
-=item *
+Solaris
-pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with an "\0".
+64-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works.
=item *
-Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms
-(e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry.
-
-=item *
+Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1)
-POSIX::STDERR_FILENO (not POSIX::STRERR_FILENO).
+The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}.
+Allow compiling with gcc (previously explicitly forbidden). Compiling
+with gcc still not recommended because buggy code results, even with
+gcc 2.95.2.
=item *
-printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C".
-
-=item *
+Unicos
-C<q(a\\b)> now parses as C<'a\\b'>.
+Fixed various alignment problems that lead into core dumps either
+during build or later; no longer dies on math errors at runtime;
+now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using
+only 46 bit integers for speed.
=item *
-In quad (64-bit) platforms numbers now stay integers longer
-(as opposed to converting automatically to floating point numbers).
-
-=item *
+VMS
-Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf works now
-without q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform).
+chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug; now works with MULTIPLICITY
+(see INSTALL); now works with Perl's malloc.
=item *
-Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
-
-=item *
+Windows
-Multiline matching of C<"a\nxb\n" =~ /(?!\A)x/m> now works.
+=over 8
=item *
-C</(?i)/> now works.
+accept() no longer leaks memory.
=item *
-C</x{ab}/> now works.
+Better chdir() return value for a non-existent directory.
=item *
-scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context.
+New %ENV entries now propagate to subprocesses.
=item *
-All the documented Shell.pm examples now work.
-
-=item *
-
-sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context
-(they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself).
+$ENV{LIB} now used to search for libs under Visual C.
=item *
-Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very
-rare) vertical tabulator character. Added a new POSIX-ish character
-class C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently,
-the space and the tabulator).
+A failed (pseudo)fork now returns undef and sets errno to EAGAIN.
=item *
-sprintf() format specs like C<%v-*d> now work.
+Allow REG_EXPAND_SZ keys in the registry.
=item *
-The (nonsensical) C<%#p> format made illegal.
+Can now send() from all threads, not just the first one.
=item *
-C<${$1}> now works (again).
+Fake signal handling reenabled, bugs and all.
=item *
-$AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses
-in multiple thread simultaneously are now thread-safe.
+Less stack reserved per thread so that more threads can run
+concurrently. (Still 16M per thread.)
=item *
-Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///.
+C<File::Spec->tmpdir()> now prefers C:/temp over /tmp
+(works better when perl is running as service).
=item *
-Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect).
-
-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.
-
-The character tables have been updated to new Unicode 3.0 features.
-
-chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use
-utf8.
-
-Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into
-utf8.
-
-C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase.
-
-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.
-
-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', ...)).
-
-Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>.
+Better UNC path handling under ithreads.
=item *
-Unsignedness could disappear from a scalar causing later numeric
-comparisons to fail.
+wait() and waitpid() now work much better.
=item *
-vec() now drops numericalness.
+winsock handle leak fixed.
+
+=back
=back
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>.
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-(perhaps you forgot to load "%s"?)
-
-(F) This is an educated guess made in conjunction with the message
-"Can't locate object method \"%s\" via package \"%s\"". It often means
-that a method requires a package that has not been loaded.
-
-=item *
-
-Ambiguous range in transliteration operator
-
-(F) You wrote something like C<tr/a-z-0//> which doesn't mean anything at
-all. To include a C<-> character in a transliteration, put it either
-first or last. (In the past, C<tr/a-z-0//> was synonymous with
-C<tr/a-y//>, which was probably not what you would have expected.)
-
-=item *
+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.
-=back
-
-=head1 New tests
+=head1 Changed Internals
=over 4
=item *
-lib/b tests the various compiler backends (see L<perlcompile>).
-
-=item *
-
-lib/cgi-pretty tests CGI pretty printing.
-
-=item *
-
-lib/ftmp-*.t test File::Temp.
-
-=item *
-
-lib/gol-oo tests Getopt::Long objected-oriented interface.
-
-=item *
-
-lib/peek tests Devel::Peek.
-
-=item *
-
-lib/selfloader tests SelfLoader.
+perlapi.pod (a companion to perlguts) now attempts to document the
+internal API.
=item *
-lib/syslog tests Sys::Syslog.
+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 *
-op/bless tests bless().
+Added rsignal(), whichsig(), do_join() to the publicised API.
=item *
-op/stash tests the "my Package ..." feature.
+Made possible to propagate customised exceptions via croak()ing.
=item *
-op/regmesg exercises all various regex errors.
+Added is_utf8_char(), is_utf8_string(), bytes_to_utf8(), and utf8_to_bytes().
=item *
-pod/find tests Pod::Find.
+Now xsubs can have attributes just like subs.
=back
-=head2 Improved Tests
+=head1 Known Problems
-=over 4
+=head2 Unicode Support Still Far From Perfect
-=item *
+We're working on it. Stay tuned.
-op/sprintf coverage is now much more comprehensive.
+=head2 EBCDIC Still A Lost Platform
-=item *
+The plan is to bring them back.
-op/taint now continues on failed shmget().
+=head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles
-=item *
+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.
-lib/sysfs.t now continues even if SIXFSZ happens.
+=head2 ftmp-security tests warn 'system possibly insecure'
-=item *
+Don't panic. Read INSTALL 'make test' section instead.
-lib/syslog.t now works without sockets.
+=head2 Test lib/posix Subtest 9 Fails In LP64-Configured HP-UX
-=back
+If perl is configured with -Duse64bitall, the successful result of the
+subtest 10 of lib/posix may arrive before the successful result of the
+subtest 9, which confuses the test harness so much that it thinks the
+subtest 9 failed.
-=head1 Changed Internals
+=head2 Long Doubles Still Don't Work In Solaris
-=head2 apidoc
+The experimental long double support is still very much so in Solaris.
+(Other platforms like Linux and Tru64 are beginning to solidify in
+this area.)
-perlapi.pod (a companion to perlguts) now attempts to document the
-internal API.
+=head2 Linux With Sfio Fails op/misc Test 48
-=head2 microperl
+No known fix.
-There is now a way to 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.
+=head2 sprintf tests 129 and 130
+
+The op/sprintf tests 129 and 130 are known to fail in some platforms.
+Examples include any platform using sfio, and Tandem's NonStop-UX.
+The failing platforms do not comply with the ANSI C Standard, line
+19ff on page 134 of ANSI X3.159 1989 to be exact. (They produce
+something else than "1" and "-1" when formatting 0.6 and -0.6 using
+the printf format "%.0f", most often they produce "0" and "-0".)
-=head2 Publicize More Functions
+=head2 Storable tests fail in some platforms
-Added rsignal(), whichsig(), do_join() to the publicized API.
+If any Storable tests fail the use of Storable is not advisable.
-=head2 Propagating Exception Objects via Perl_croak() IN XS code
+=over 4
-Made possible to propagate customized exceptions via croak()ing.
+=item *
-=head2 UTF8 Interfaces
+Many Storable tests fail on AIX configured with 64 bit integers.
-Added is_utf8_char(), is_utf8_string(), bytes_to_utf8(), and utf8_to_bytes().
+So far unidentified problems break Storable in AIX if Perl is
+configured to use 64 bit integers. AIX in 32-bit mode works and
+other 64-bit platforms work with Storable.
-=head2 xsub attributes
+=item *
-Now xsubs can have attributes just like subs.
+DOS DJGPP may hang when testing Storable.
-=head1 Known Problems
+=item *
-=head2 Unicode Support Still Far From Perfect
+st-06compat fails in UNICOS and UNICOS/mk.
-We're working on it. Stay tuned.
+This means that you cannot read old (pre-Storable-0.7) Storable images
+made in other platforms.
-=head2 EBCDIC Still A Lost Platform
+=item *
-The plan is to bring them back.
+st-store.t and st-retrieve may fail with Compaq C 6.2 on OpenVMS Alpha 7.2.
-=head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles
+=back
-Certain extensions like mod_perl and BSD::Resource are known to have
-issues with `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in where file
-offsets are by default 64 bits wide (assuming the platform supports
-such large files). Modules may fail to compile at all or compile and
-work incorrectly. Currently there is no good solution for the problem
-but Configure now stores the flags and libraries that affect the
-largefileness to the %Config hash, the extensions that are having
-problems can try configuring themselves without the largefileness.
-This is admittedly not a clean solution.
-
-=head1 Obsolete Diagnostics
+=head2 Threads Are Still Experimental
+
+Multithreading is still an experimental feature. Some platforms
+emit the following message for lib/thr5005
+
+ #
+ # This is a KNOWN FAILURE, and one of the reasons why threading
+ # is still an experimental feature. It is here to stop people
+ # from deploying threads in production. ;-)
+ #
+
+and another known thread-related warning is
+
+ pragma/overload......Unbalanced saves: 3 more saves than restores
+ panic: magic_mutexfree during global destruction.
+ ok
+ lib/selfloader.......Unbalanced saves: 3 more saves than restores
+ panic: magic_mutexfree during global destruction.
+ ok
+ lib/st-dclone........Unbalanced saves: 3 more saves than restores
+ panic: magic_mutexfree during global destruction.
+ ok
+
+=head2 The Compiler Suite Is Still Experimental
+
+The compiler suite is slowly getting better but is nowhere near
+working order yet. The backend part that has seen perhaps the most
+progress is the bytecode compiler.
=head1 Reporting Bugs
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff