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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | ||
70693193 | 3 | perl593delta - what is new for perl v5.9.3 |
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4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
6 | ||
7 | This document describes differences between the 5.9.2 and the 5.9.3 | |
d7f8936a | 8 | development releases. See L<perl590delta>, L<perl591delta> and |
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9 | L<perl592delta> for the differences between 5.8.0 and 5.9.2. |
10 | ||
11 | =head1 Incompatible Changes | |
12 | ||
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13 | =head2 Parsing of C<-f _> |
14 | ||
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15 | The identifier C<_> is now forced to be a bareword after a filetest |
16 | operator. This solves a number of misparsing issues when a global C<_> | |
17 | subroutine is defined. | |
2770530f | 18 | |
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19 | =head2 C<mkdir()> |
20 | ||
21 | C<mkdir()> without arguments now defaults to C<$_>. | |
22 | ||
23 | =head2 Magic goto and eval | |
24 | ||
25 | The construct C<eval { goto &foo }> is now disallowed. (Note that the | |
26 | similar construct, but with C<eval("")> instead, was already forbidden.) | |
27 | ||
28 | =head2 C<$#> has been removed | |
29 | ||
30 | The deprecated C<$#> variable (output format for numbers) has been | |
31 | removed. A new warning, C<$# is no longer supported>, has been added. | |
32 | ||
33 | =head2 C<:unique> | |
34 | ||
8f7e634e | 35 | The C<:unique> attribute has been made a no-op, since its current |
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36 | implementation was fundamentally flawed and not threadsafe. |
37 | ||
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38 | =head2 Scoping of the C<sort> pragma |
39 | ||
40 | The C<sort> pragma is now lexically scoped. Its effect used to be global. | |
41 | ||
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42 | =head1 Core Enhancements |
43 | ||
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44 | =head2 The C<feature> pragma |
45 | ||
46 | The C<feature> pragma is used to enable new syntax that would break Perl's | |
35cdf2f9 | 47 | backwards-compatibility with older releases of the language. It's a lexical |
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48 | pragma, like C<strict> or C<warnings>. |
49 | ||
50 | Currently the following new features are available: C<switch> (adds a | |
51 | switch statement), C<~~> (adds a Perl 6-like smart match operator), C<say> | |
52 | (adds a C<say> built-in function), and C<err> (adds an C<err> keyword). | |
53 | Those features are described below. | |
54 | ||
55 | Note that C<err> low-precedence defined-or operator used to be enabled by | |
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56 | default (although as a weak keyword, meaning that any function would |
57 | override it). It's now only recognized when explicitly turned on (and is | |
58 | then a regular keyword). | |
59 | ||
60 | Those features, and the C<feature> pragma itself, have been contributed by | |
61 | Robin Houston. | |
e603cea9 | 62 | |
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63 | =head2 Switch and Smart Match operator |
64 | ||
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65 | Perl 5 now has a switch statement. It's available when C<use feature |
66 | 'switch'> is in effect. This feature introduces three new keywords, | |
a8ca0236 | 67 | C<given>, C<when>, and C<default>: |
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68 | |
69 | given ($foo) { | |
70 | when (/^abc/) { $abc = 1; } | |
71 | when (/^def/) { $def = 1; } | |
72 | when (/^xyz/) { $xyz = 1; } | |
73 | default { $nothing = 1; } | |
74 | } | |
75 | ||
76 | A more complete description of how Perl matches the switch variable | |
77 | against the C<when> conditions is given in L<perlsyn/"Switch statements">. | |
78 | ||
79 | This kind of match is called I<smart match>, and it's also possible to use | |
80 | it outside of switch statements, via the new C<~~> operator (enabled via | |
81 | the C<use feature '~~'> directive). See L<perlsyn/"Smart matching in | |
82 | detail">. | |
e603cea9 | 83 | |
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84 | =head2 C<say()> |
85 | ||
409c2c5b | 86 | say() is a new built-in, only available when C<use feature 'say'> is in |
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87 | effect, that is similar to print(), but that implicitly appends a newline |
88 | to the printed string. See L<perlfunc/say>. | |
89 | ||
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90 | =head2 C<CLONE_SKIP()> |
91 | ||
92 | Perl has now support for the C<CLONE_SKIP> special subroutine. Like | |
93 | C<CLONE>, C<CLONE_SKIP> is called once per package; however, it is called | |
94 | just before cloning starts, and in the context of the parent thread. If it | |
95 | returns a true value, then no objects of that class will be cloned. See | |
35cdf2f9 | 96 | L<perlmod> for details. (Contributed by Dave Mitchell.) |
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97 | |
98 | =head2 C<${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}> | |
99 | ||
100 | A new internal variable, C<${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>, gives the native | |
101 | status returned by the last pipe close, backtick command, successful call | |
102 | to wait() or waitpid(), or from the system() operator. See L<perlrun> for | |
35cdf2f9 | 103 | details. (Contributed by Gisle Aas.) |
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104 | |
105 | =head2 Assertions | |
106 | ||
107 | The support for assertions, introduced in perl 5.9.0, has been improved. | |
108 | The syntax for the C<-A> command-line switch has changed; it now accepts | |
109 | an optional module name, defaulting to C<assertions::activate>. See | |
35cdf2f9 | 110 | L<assertions> and L<perlrun>. (Contributed by Salvador Fandiño García.) |
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111 | |
112 | =head2 Unicode Character Database 4.1.0 | |
113 | ||
114 | The copy of the Unicode Character Database included in Perl 5.9 has | |
115 | been updated to 4.1.0. | |
116 | ||
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117 | =head2 C<no VERSION> |
118 | ||
119 | You can now use C<no> followed by a version number to specify that you | |
c986422f | 120 | want to use a version of perl older than the specified one. |
8f7e634e | 121 | |
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122 | =head2 Recursive sort subs |
123 | ||
ebab5fdd | 124 | You can now use recursive subroutines with sort(), thanks to Robin Houston. |
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125 | |
126 | =head2 Effect of pragmas in eval | |
127 | ||
128 | The compile-time value of the C<%^H> hint variable can now propagate into | |
129 | eval("")uated code. This makes it more useful to implement lexical | |
130 | pragmas. | |
131 | ||
132 | As a side-effect of this, the overloaded-ness of constants now propagates | |
133 | into eval(""). | |
134 | ||
135 | =head2 New B<-E> command-line switch | |
136 | ||
137 | B<-E> is equivalent to B<-e>, but it implicitly enables all | |
35cdf2f9 | 138 | optional features (like C<use feature ":5.10">). |
e603cea9 | 139 | |
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140 | =head2 C<chdir>, C<chmod> and C<chown> on filehandles |
141 | ||
142 | C<chdir>, C<chmod> and C<chown> can now work on filehandles as well as | |
143 | filenames, if the system supports respectively C<fchdir>, C<fchmod> and | |
144 | C<fchown>, thanks to a patch provided by Gisle Aas. | |
145 | ||
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146 | =head2 OS groups |
147 | ||
148 | C<$(> and C<$)> now return groups in the order where the OS returns them, | |
149 | thanks to Gisle Aas. This wasn't previously the case. | |
150 | ||
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151 | =head1 Modules and Pragmata |
152 | ||
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153 | =head2 New Core Modules |
154 | ||
155 | =over 4 | |
156 | ||
157 | =item * | |
158 | ||
159 | A new pragma, C<feature>, has been added; see above in L</"Core | |
160 | Enhancements">. | |
161 | ||
162 | =item * | |
163 | ||
a8ca0236 | 164 | C<assertions::compat>, also available on CPAN, allows the use of assertions on |
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165 | perl versions prior to 5.9.0 (that is the first one to natively support |
166 | them). | |
167 | ||
168 | =item * | |
169 | ||
170 | C<Math::BigInt::FastCalc> is an XS-enabled, and thus faster, version of | |
171 | C<Math::BigInt::Calc>. | |
172 | ||
173 | =item * | |
174 | ||
175 | C<Compress::Zlib> is an interface to the zlib compression library. It | |
176 | comes with a bundled version of zlib, so having a working zlib is not a | |
177 | prerequisite to install it. It's used by C<Archive::Tar> (see below). | |
178 | ||
179 | =item * | |
78ef48ad | 180 | |
35cdf2f9 | 181 | C<IO::Zlib> is an C<IO::>-style interface to C<Compress::Zlib>. |
e603cea9 | 182 | |
35cdf2f9 | 183 | =item * |
78ef48ad | 184 | |
35cdf2f9 | 185 | C<Archive::Tar> is a module to manipulate C<tar> archives. |
78ef48ad | 186 | |
35cdf2f9 | 187 | =item * |
78ef48ad | 188 | |
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189 | C<Digest::SHA> is a module used to calculate many types of SHA digests, |
190 | has been included for SHA support in the CPAN module. | |
78ef48ad | 191 | |
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192 | =item * |
193 | ||
194 | C<ExtUtils::CBuilder> and C<ExtUtils::ParseXS> have been added. | |
195 | ||
35cdf2f9 | 196 | =back |
78ef48ad | 197 | |
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198 | =head1 Utility Changes |
199 | ||
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200 | =head2 C<ptar> |
201 | ||
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202 | C<ptar> is a pure perl implementation of C<tar>, that comes with |
203 | C<Archive::Tar>. | |
204 | ||
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205 | =head2 C<ptardiff> |
206 | ||
207 | C<ptardiff> is a small script used to generate a diff between the contents | |
208 | of a tar archive and a directory tree. Like C<ptar>, it comes with | |
209 | C<Archive::Tar>. | |
210 | ||
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211 | =head2 C<shasum> |
212 | ||
213 | This command-line utility, used to print or to check SHA digests, comes | |
214 | with the new C<Digest::SHA> module. | |
215 | ||
216 | =head2 C<h2xs> enhancements | |
217 | ||
a8ca0236 | 218 | C<h2xs> implements a new option C<--use-xsloader> to force use of |
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219 | C<XSLoader> even in backwards compatible modules. |
220 | ||
221 | The handling of authors' names that had apostrophes has been fixed. | |
222 | ||
223 | Any enums with negative values are now skipped. | |
224 | ||
225 | =head2 C<perlivp> enhancements | |
226 | ||
409c2c5b NC |
227 | C<perlivp> no longer checks for F<*.ph> files by default. Use the new C<-a> |
228 | option to run I<all> tests. | |
35cdf2f9 | 229 | |
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230 | =head1 Documentation |
231 | ||
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232 | =head2 Perl Glossary |
233 | ||
234 | The L<perlglossary> manpage is a glossary of terms used in the Perl | |
35cdf2f9 | 235 | documentation, technical and otherwise, kindly provided by O'Reilly Media, |
a8ca0236 | 236 | Inc. |
8f7e634e | 237 | |
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238 | L<perltodo> now lists a rough roadmap to Perl 5.10. |
239 | ||
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240 | =head1 Performance Enhancements |
241 | ||
e603cea9 RGS |
242 | =head2 XS-assisted SWASHGET |
243 | ||
244 | Some pure-perl code that perl was using to retrieve Unicode properties and | |
ffabe59c | 245 | transliteration mappings has been reimplemented in XS. |
e603cea9 | 246 | |
35cdf2f9 | 247 | =head2 Constant subroutines |
e603cea9 | 248 | |
e761a786 NC |
249 | The interpreter internals now support a far more memory efficient form of |
250 | inlineable constants. Storing a reference to a constant value in a symbol | |
251 | table is equivalent to a full typeglob referencing a constant subroutine, | |
252 | but using about 400 bytes less memory. This proxy constant subroutine is | |
253 | automatically upgraded to a real typeglob with subroutine if necessary. | |
254 | The approach taken is analogous to the existing space optimisation for | |
255 | subroutine stub declarations, which are stored as plain scalars in place | |
256 | of the full typeglob. | |
257 | ||
258 | Several of the core modules have been converted to use this feature for | |
259 | their system dependent constants - as a result C<use POSIX;> now takes about | |
260 | 200K less memory. | |
e603cea9 | 261 | |
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262 | =head2 C<PERL_DONT_CREATE_GVSV> |
263 | ||
264 | The new compilation flag C<PERL_DONT_CREATE_GVSV>, introduced as an option | |
265 | in perl 5.8.8, is turned on by default in perl 5.9.3. It prevents perl | |
4cd37d19 | 266 | from creating an empty scalar with every new typeglob. See L<perl589delta> |
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267 | for details. |
268 | ||
269 | =head2 Weak references are cheaper | |
270 | ||
271 | Weak reference creation is now I<O(1)> rather than I<O(n)>, courtesy of | |
272 | Nicholas Clark. Weak reference deletion remains I<O(n)>, but if deletion only | |
273 | happens at program exit, it may be skipped completely. | |
274 | ||
275 | =head2 sort() enhancements | |
276 | ||
277 | Salvador Fandiño provided improvements to reduce the memory usage of C<sort> | |
278 | and to speed up some cases. | |
279 | ||
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280 | =head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements |
281 | ||
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282 | =head2 Compilation improvements |
283 | ||
284 | Parallel makes should work properly now, although there may still be problems | |
285 | if C<make test> is instructed to run in parallel. | |
286 | ||
287 | Building with Borland's compilers on Win32 should work more smoothly. In | |
288 | particular Steve Hay has worked to side step many warnings emitted by their | |
289 | compilers and at least one C compiler internal error. | |
290 | ||
291 | Perl extensions on Windows now can be statically built into the Perl DLL, | |
292 | thanks to a work by Vadim Konovalov. | |
293 | ||
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294 | =head2 New Or Improved Platforms |
295 | ||
296 | Perl is being ported to Symbian OS. See L<perlsymbian> for more | |
297 | information. | |
298 | ||
e603cea9 RGS |
299 | The VMS port has been improved. See L<perlvms>. |
300 | ||
301 | DynaLoader::dl_unload_file() now works on Windows. | |
302 | ||
303 | Portability of Perl on various recent compilers on Windows has been | |
304 | improved (Borland C++, Visual C++ 7.0). | |
305 | ||
306 | =head2 New probes | |
307 | ||
35cdf2f9 RGS |
308 | C<Configure> will now detect C<clearenv> and C<unsetenv>, thanks to a |
309 | patch from Alan Burlison. It will also probe for C<futimes> (and use it | |
310 | internally if available), and whether C<sprintf> correctly returns the | |
311 | length of the formatted string. | |
e603cea9 | 312 | |
78ef48ad RGS |
313 | =head2 Module auxiliary files |
314 | ||
315 | README files and changelogs for CPAN modules bundled with perl are no | |
316 | longer installed. | |
317 | ||
496c75d0 RGS |
318 | =head1 Selected Bug Fixes |
319 | ||
2e6a7e23 RGS |
320 | =head2 C<defined $$x> |
321 | ||
322 | C<use strict "refs"> was ignoring taking a hard reference in an argument | |
323 | to defined(), as in : | |
324 | ||
325 | use strict "refs"; | |
326 | my $x = "foo"; | |
327 | if (defined $$x) {...} | |
328 | ||
329 | This now correctly produces the run-time error C<Can't use string as a | |
330 | SCALAR ref while "strict refs" in use>. (However, C<defined @$foo> and | |
331 | C<defined %$foo> are still allowed. Those constructs are discouraged | |
332 | anyway.) | |
333 | ||
e603cea9 RGS |
334 | =head2 Calling CORE::require() |
335 | ||
336 | CORE::require() and CORE::do() were always parsed as require() and do() | |
409c2c5b | 337 | when they were overridden. This is now fixed. |
e603cea9 RGS |
338 | |
339 | =head2 Subscripts of slices | |
340 | ||
341 | You can now use a non-arrowed form for chained subscripts after a list | |
342 | slice, like in: | |
343 | ||
344 | ({foo => "bar"})[0]{foo} | |
345 | ||
346 | This used to be a syntax error; a C<< -> >> was required. | |
347 | ||
348 | =head2 Remove over-optimisation | |
349 | ||
350 | Perl 5.9.2 introduced a change so that assignments of C<undef> to a | |
351 | scalar, or of an empty list to an array or a hash, were optimised out. As | |
352 | this could cause problems when C<goto> jumps were involved, this change | |
353 | was backed out. | |
354 | ||
355 | =head2 sprintf() fixes | |
356 | ||
357 | Using the sprintf() function with some formats could lead to a buffer | |
358 | overflow in some specific cases. This has been fixed, along with several | |
cd8b8377 | 359 | other bugs, notably in bounds checking. |
e603cea9 | 360 | |
35cdf2f9 RGS |
361 | In related fixes, it was possible for badly written code that did not follow |
362 | the documentation of C<Sys::Syslog> to have formatting vulnerabilities. | |
363 | C<Sys::Syslog> has been changed to protect people from poor quality third | |
364 | party code. | |
365 | ||
366 | =head2 no warnings 'category' works correctly with -w | |
367 | ||
368 | Previously when running with warnings enabled globally via C<-w>, selective | |
369 | disabling of specific warning categories would actually turn off all warnings. | |
370 | This is now fixed; now C<no warnings 'io';> will only turn off warnings in the | |
371 | C<io> class. Previously it would erroneously turn off all warnings. | |
e603cea9 | 372 | |
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373 | =head2 Smaller fixes |
374 | ||
375 | =over 4 | |
376 | ||
377 | =item * | |
378 | ||
379 | C<FindBin> now works better with directories where access rights are more | |
380 | restrictive than usual. | |
381 | ||
382 | =item * | |
383 | ||
e603cea9 RGS |
384 | Several memory leaks in ithreads were closed. Also, ithreads were made |
385 | less memory-intensive. | |
78ef48ad RGS |
386 | |
387 | =item * | |
388 | ||
ebab5fdd RGS |
389 | Trailing spaces are now trimmed from C<$!> and C<$^E>. |
390 | ||
391 | =item * | |
392 | ||
393 | Operations that require perl to read a process' list of groups, such as reads | |
394 | of C<$(> and C<$)>, now dynamically allocate memory rather than using a | |
395 | fixed sized array. The fixed size array could cause C stack exhaustion on | |
396 | systems configured to use large numbers of groups. | |
397 | ||
398 | =item * | |
399 | ||
78ef48ad RGS |
400 | C<PerlIO::scalar> now works better with non-default C<$/> settings. |
401 | ||
402 | =item * | |
403 | ||
cd8b8377 RGS |
404 | The C<x> repetition operator is now able to operate on C<qw//> lists. This |
405 | used to raise a syntax error. | |
78ef48ad | 406 | |
e603cea9 RGS |
407 | =item * |
408 | ||
409 | The debugger now traces correctly execution in eval("")uated code that | |
410 | contains #line directives. | |
411 | ||
412 | =item * | |
413 | ||
414 | The value of the C<open> pragma is no longer ignored for three-argument | |
415 | opens. | |
416 | ||
417 | =item * | |
418 | ||
ebab5fdd RGS |
419 | Perl will now use the C library calls C<unsetenv> and C<clearenv> if present |
420 | to delete keys from C<%ENV> and delete C<%ENV> entirely, thanks to a patch | |
421 | from Alan Burlison. | |
e603cea9 | 422 | |
78ef48ad RGS |
423 | =back |
424 | ||
425 | =head2 More Unicode Fixes | |
426 | ||
427 | =over 4 | |
428 | ||
429 | =item * | |
430 | ||
431 | chr() on a negative value now gives C<\x{FFFD}>, the Unicode replacement | |
432 | character, unless when the C<bytes> pragma is in effect, where the low | |
433 | eight bytes of the value are used. | |
434 | ||
ebab5fdd RGS |
435 | =item * |
436 | ||
437 | Some case insensitive matches between UTF-8 encoded data and 8 bit regexps, | |
438 | and vice versa, could give malformed character warnings. These have been | |
439 | fixed by Dave Mitchell and Yves Orton. | |
440 | ||
441 | =item * | |
442 | ||
443 | C<lcfirst> and C<ucfirst> could corrupt the string for certain cases where | |
444 | the length UTF-8 encoding of the string in lower case, upper case or title | |
445 | case differed. This was fixed by Nicholas Clark. | |
446 | ||
78ef48ad RGS |
447 | =back |
448 | ||
496c75d0 RGS |
449 | =head1 New or Changed Diagnostics |
450 | ||
78ef48ad RGS |
451 | =head2 Attempt to set length of freed array |
452 | ||
453 | This is a new warning, produced in situations like the following one: | |
454 | ||
455 | $r = do {my @a; \$#a}; | |
456 | $$r = 503; | |
457 | ||
35cdf2f9 RGS |
458 | =head2 Non-string passed as bitmask |
459 | ||
460 | This is a new warning, produced when number has been passed as a argument to | |
461 | select(), instead of a bitmask. | |
462 | ||
463 | # Wrong, will now warn | |
464 | $rin = fileno(STDIN); | |
465 | ($nfound,$timeleft) = select($rout=$rin, undef, undef, $timeout); | |
466 | ||
467 | # Should be | |
468 | $rin = ''; | |
469 | vec($rin,fileno(STDIN),1) = 1; | |
470 | ($nfound,$timeleft) = select($rout=$rin, undef, undef, $timeout); | |
471 | ||
78ef48ad RGS |
472 | =head2 Search pattern not terminated or ternary operator parsed as search pattern |
473 | ||
474 | This syntax error indicates that the lexer couldn't find the final | |
475 | delimiter of a C<?PATTERN?> construct. Mentioning the ternary operator in | |
476 | this error message makes syntax diagnostic easier. | |
477 | ||
8f7e634e RGS |
478 | =head2 "%s" variable %s masks earlier declaration |
479 | ||
480 | This warning is now emitted in more consistent cases; in short, when one | |
481 | of the declarations involved is a C<my> variable: | |
482 | ||
483 | my $x; my $x; # warns | |
484 | my $x; our $x; # warns | |
485 | our $x; my $x; # warns | |
486 | ||
a8ca0236 | 487 | On the other hand, the following: |
8f7e634e RGS |
488 | |
489 | our $x; our $x; | |
490 | ||
491 | now gives a C<"our" variable %s redeclared> warning. | |
492 | ||
e603cea9 RGS |
493 | =head2 readdir()/closedir()/etc. attempted on invalid dirhandle |
494 | ||
495 | These new warnings are now emitted when a dirhandle is used but is | |
496 | either closed or not really a dirhandle. | |
497 | ||
496c75d0 RGS |
498 | =head1 Changed Internals |
499 | ||
35cdf2f9 RGS |
500 | In general, the source code of perl has been refactored, tied up, and |
501 | optimized in many places. Also, memory management and allocation has been | |
502 | improved in a couple of points. | |
503 | ||
504 | Andy Lester supplied many improvements to determine which function | |
505 | parameters and local variables could actually be declared C<const> to the C | |
506 | compiler. Steve Peters provided new C<*_set> macros and reworked the core to | |
507 | use these rather than assigning to macros in LVALUE context. | |
508 | ||
509 | Dave Mitchell improved the lexer debugging output under C<-DT>. | |
78ef48ad | 510 | |
e603cea9 RGS |
511 | A new file, F<mathoms.c>, has been added. It contains functions that are |
512 | no longer used in the perl core, but that remain available for binary or | |
513 | source compatibility reasons. However, those functions will not be | |
ffabe59c | 514 | compiled in if you add C<-DNO_MATHOMS> in the compiler flags. |
78ef48ad RGS |
515 | |
516 | The C<AvFLAGS> macro has been removed. | |
517 | ||
ebab5fdd RGS |
518 | The C<av_*()> functions, used to manipulate arrays, no longer accept null |
519 | C<AV*> parameters. | |
520 | ||
78ef48ad RGS |
521 | =head2 B:: modules inheritance changed |
522 | ||
523 | The inheritance hierarchy of C<B::> modules has changed; C<B::NV> now | |
524 | inherits from C<B::SV> (it used to inherit from C<B::IV>). | |
525 | ||
496c75d0 RGS |
526 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
527 | ||
528 | If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles | |
529 | recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl | |
530 | bug database at http://bugs.perl.org/ . There may also be | |
531 | information at http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page. | |
532 | ||
533 | If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug> | |
534 | program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down | |
535 | to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the | |
536 | output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be | |
537 | analysed by the Perl porting team. | |
538 | ||
539 | =head1 SEE ALSO | |
540 | ||
541 | The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed. | |
542 | ||
543 | The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl. | |
544 | ||
545 | The F<README> file for general stuff. | |
546 | ||
547 | The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information. | |
548 | ||
549 | =cut |