From: Tom Phoenix <rootbeer@teleport.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 19:56:08 +0000 (-0800)
Subject: Add taint checks and srand to perldelta
X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=b28e0bc0aa3232e18d1bacb3efcbfb755ad100e0;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git

Add taint checks and srand to perldelta

p5p-msgid: Pine.GSO.3.95q.970302115355.23058D-100000@kelly.teleport.com
---

diff --git a/pod/perldelta.pod b/pod/perldelta.pod
index bfdf903..428ed30 100644
--- a/pod/perldelta.pod
+++ b/pod/perldelta.pod
@@ -42,6 +42,16 @@ fixed.  As a result, the string "$$0" is no longer equivalent to
 C<$$."0">, but rather to C<${$0}>.  To get the old behavior, change
 "$$" followed by a digit to "${$}".
 
+=head2 Changes to Tainting Checks
+
+A bug in previous versions may have failed to detect some insecure
+conditions when taint checks are turned on. (Taint checks are used
+in setuid or setgid scripts, or when explicitly turned on with the
+C<-T> invocation option.) Although it's unlikely, this may cause a
+previously-working script to now fail -- which should be construed
+as a blessing, since that indicates a potentially-serious security
+hole was just plugged.
+
 =head2 Internal Change: FileHandle Deprecated
 
 Filehandles are now stored internally as type IO::Handle.
@@ -198,6 +208,19 @@ function has no prototype).  FUNCTION is a reference to or the name of the
 function whose prototype you want to retrieve.
 (Not actually new; just never documented before.)
 
+=item srand
+
+The default seed for C<srand>, which used to be C<time>, has been changed.
+Now it's a heady mix of difficult-to-predict system-dependent values,
+which should be sufficient for most everyday purposes.
+
+Previous to version 5.004, calling C<rand> without first calling C<srand>
+would yield the same sequence of random numbers on most or all machines.
+Now, when perl sees that you're calling C<rand> and haven't yet called
+C<srand>, it calls C<srand> with the default seed. You should still call
+C<srand> manually if your code might ever be run on a pre-5.004 system,
+of course, or if you want a seed other than the default. 
+
 =item $_ as Default
 
 Functions documented in the Camel to default to $_ now in