=head1 NAME
-perldelta - what's new for perl v5.6 (as of v5.005_64)
+perldelta - what's new for perl v5.6.0
=head1 DESCRIPTION
=head2 Perl's version numbering has changed
-Beginning with Perl version 5.6, the version number convention has been
+Beginning with Perl version 5.6.0, the version number convention has been
changed to a "dotted integer" scheme that is more commonly found in open
source projects.
Maintenance versions of v5.6.0 will be released as v5.6.1, v5.6.2 etc.
-The next development series following v5.6 will be numbered v5.7.x,
+The next development series following v5.6.0 will be numbered v5.7.x,
beginning with v5.7.0, and the next major production release following
-v5.6 will be v5.8.
+v5.6.0 will be v5.8.0.
The English module now sets $PERL_VERSION to $^V (a string value) rather
than C<$]> (a numeric value). (This is a potential incompatibility.
To cope with the new versioning system's use of at least three significant
digits for each version component, the method used for incrementing the
subversion number has also changed slightly. We assume that versions older
-than v5.6 have been incrementing the subversion component in multiples of
+than v5.6.0 have been incrementing the subversion component in multiples of
10. Versions after v5.6.0 will increment them by 1. Thus, using the new
-notation, 5.005_03 is the same as v5.5.30, and the first maintenance
-version following v5.6.0 will be v5.6.1, which amounts to a floating point
-value of 5.006_001).
+notation, 5.005_03 is the "same" as v5.5.30, and the first maintenance
+version following v5.6.0 will be v5.6.1 (which should be read as being
+equivalent to a floating point value of 5.006_001 in the older format,
+stored in C<$]>).
=item Literals of the form C<1.2.3> parse differently
enables perl code to determine whether actions that make sense
only during normal running are warranted. See L<perlvar>.
-=head2 New variable $^V contains Perl version in v5.6.0 format
+=head2 New variable $^V contains Perl version as a string
C<$^V> contains the Perl version number as a string composed of
-characters whose ordinals match the version numbers, so that it may
-be used in string comparisons.
+characters whose ordinals match the version numbers, e.g., v5.6.0.
+This may be used in string comparisons.
See C<Support for strings represented as a vector of ordinals> for an
example.
=head1 Platform specific changes
-=head2 Additional supported platforms
+=head2 Supported platforms
=over 4
=item *
-Rhapsody is now supported.
+Rhapsody/Darwin is now supported.
=item *
[TODO - Ilya Zakharevich <ilya@math.ohio-state.edu>]
+=head2 OS/390 (OpenEdition MVS)
+
+Support for this EBCDIC platform has not been renewed in this release.
+There are difficulties in reconciling Perl's standardization on UTF-8
+as its internal representation for characters with the EBCDIC character
+set, because the two are incompatible.
+
+It is unclear whether future versions will renew support for this
+platform, but the possibility exists.
+
=head2 VMS
Numerous revisions and extensions to configuration, build, testing, and