From: Gurusamy Sarathy <gsar@cpan.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 06:34:53 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: various pod tweaks (from M.J.T. Guy <mjtg@cus.cam.ac.uk>)
X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=b350dd2f881c6f46f8125355cf7111e4c97d1870;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git

various pod tweaks (from M.J.T. Guy <mjtg@cus.cam.ac.uk>)

p4raw-id: //depot/perl@4359
---

diff --git a/README.win32 b/README.win32
index 880a8b4..dfd6eb0 100644
--- a/README.win32
+++ b/README.win32
@@ -700,8 +700,9 @@ C<kill()> is implemented, but doesn't have the semantics of
 C<raise()>, i.e. it doesn't send a signal to the identified process
 like it does on Unix platforms.  Instead it immediately calls
 C<TerminateProcess(process,signal)>.  Thus the signal argument is
-used to set the exit-status of the terminated process.  This behavior
-may change in future.
+used to set the exit-status of the terminated process.  In particular,
+C<kill(0,$pid)> will kill the process identified by C<$pid> (unlike
+on Unix).  This behavior may change in future.
 
 =item *
 
diff --git a/pod/perlfaq8.pod b/pod/perlfaq8.pod
index 26efa3f..f8dda0d 100644
--- a/pod/perlfaq8.pod
+++ b/pod/perlfaq8.pod
@@ -935,7 +935,7 @@ the current process group of your controlling terminal as follows:
 =head2 How do I timeout a slow event?
 
 Use the alarm() function, probably in conjunction with a signal
-handler, as documented L<perlipc/"Signals"> and chapter 6 of the
+handler, as documented in L<perlipc/"Signals"> and chapter 6 of the
 Camel.  You may instead use the more flexible Sys::AlarmCall module
 available from CPAN.
 
diff --git a/pod/perlfunc.pod b/pod/perlfunc.pod
index 9105108..d8c82bb 100644
--- a/pod/perlfunc.pod
+++ b/pod/perlfunc.pod
@@ -2118,17 +2118,21 @@ as trying has no effect).
 
 See also C<each>, C<values> and C<sort>.
 
-=item kill LIST
+=item kill SIGNAL, LIST
 
-Sends a signal to a list of processes.  The first element of
-the list must be the signal to send.  Returns the number of
+Sends a signal to a list of processes.  Returns the number of
 processes successfully signaled (which is not necessarily the
 same as the number actually killed).
 
     $cnt = kill 1, $child1, $child2;
     kill 9, @goners;
 
-Unlike in the shell, in Perl if the I<SIGNAL> is negative, it kills
+If SIGNAL is zero, no signal is sent to the process.  This is a
+useful way to check that the process is alive and hasn't changed
+its UID.  See L<perlport> for notes on the portability of this
+construct.
+
+Unlike in the shell, if SIGNAL is negative, it kills
 process groups instead of processes.  (On System V, a negative I<PROCESS>
 number will also kill process groups, but that's not portable.)  That
 means you usually want to use positive not negative signals.  You may also
diff --git a/pod/perlop.pod b/pod/perlop.pod
index 14ca6b5..01074b3 100644
--- a/pod/perlop.pod
+++ b/pod/perlop.pod
@@ -510,10 +510,10 @@ The following are recognized:
 Although these are grouped by family, they all have the precedence
 of assignment.
 
-Unlike in C, the assignment operator produces a valid lvalue.  Modifying
-an assignment is equivalent to doing the assignment and then modifying
-the variable that was assigned to.  This is useful for modifying
-a copy of something, like this:
+Unlike in C, the scalar assignment operator produces a valid lvalue.
+Modifying an assignment is equivalent to doing the assignment and
+then modifying the variable that was assigned to.  This is useful
+for modifying a copy of something, like this:
 
     ($tmp = $global) =~ tr [A-Z] [a-z];
 
@@ -526,6 +526,11 @@ is equivalent to
     $a += 2;
     $a *= 3;
 
+Similarly, a list assignment in list context produces the list of
+lvalues assigned to, and a list assignment in scalar context returns
+the number of elements produced by the expression on the right hand
+side of the assignment.
+
 =head2 Comma Operator
 
 Binary "," is the comma operator.  In scalar context it evaluates
diff --git a/pod/perlport.pod b/pod/perlport.pod
index 6b532f3..3fd4352 100644
--- a/pod/perlport.pod
+++ b/pod/perlport.pod
@@ -1452,13 +1452,13 @@ in the Winsock API does. (Win32)
 
 Available only for socket handles. (S<RISC OS>)
 
-=item kill LIST
+=item kill SIGNAL, LIST
 
 Not implemented, hence not useful for taint checking. (S<Mac OS>,
 S<RISC OS>)
 
-Available only for process handles returned by the C<system(1, ...)>
-method of spawning a process. (Win32)
+Unlike Unix platforms, C<kill(0, $pid)> will actually terminate
+the process.  (Win32)
 
 =item link OLDFILE,NEWFILE