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cc0fca54 GS |
1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | ||
53080bb1 | 3 | perldelta - what's new for perl v5.7.0 |
cc0fca54 GS |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
6 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
7 | This document describes differences between the 5.6.0 release and |
8 | the 5.7.0 release. | |
cc0fca54 | 9 | |
43b92eec | 10 | =head1 Security Vulnerability Closed |
d4ad863d JH |
11 | |
12 | A potential security vulnerability in the optional suidperl component | |
ce72e97c JH |
13 | of Perl has been identified. suidperl is neither built nor installed |
14 | by default. As of August the 20th, 2000, the only known vulnerable | |
15 | platform is Linux, most likely all Linux distributions. CERT and | |
16 | various vendors have been alerted about the vulnerability. | |
d4ad863d JH |
17 | |
18 | The problem was caused by Perl trying to report a suspected security | |
ce72e97c | 19 | exploit attempt using an external program, /bin/mail. On Linux |
d4ad863d | 20 | platforms the /bin/mail program had an undocumented feature which gave |
ce72e97c JH |
21 | access to a root shell, resulting in a serious compromise instead of |
22 | reporting the exploit attempt. If you don't have /bin/mail, or if you | |
23 | have 'safe setuid scripts', or if suidperl is not installed, you | |
d4ad863d JH |
24 | are safe. |
25 | ||
26 | The exploit attempt reporting feature has been completely removed from | |
27 | the Perl 5.7.0 release, so that particular vulnerability isn't there | |
562628a3 JH |
28 | anymore. However, further security vulnerabilities are, |
29 | unfortunately, always possible. The suidperl code is being reviewed | |
30 | and if deemed too risky to continue to be supported, it may be | |
31 | completely removed from future releases. In any case, suidperl should | |
32 | only be used by security experts who know exactly what they are doing | |
33 | and why they are using suidperl instead of some other solution such as | |
34 | sudo (see http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/). | |
d4ad863d JH |
35 | |
36 | =head1 Incompatible Changes | |
37 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
38 | =over 4 |
39 | ||
40 | =item * | |
d4ad863d | 41 | |
ce72e97c JH |
42 | Arrays now always interpolate into double-quoted strings: |
43 | constructs like "foo@bar" now always assume C<@bar> is an array, | |
44 | whether or not the compiler has seen use of C<@bar>. | |
d4ad863d | 45 | |
ce72e97c | 46 | =item * |
d4ad863d JH |
47 | |
48 | The semantics of bless(REF, REF) were unclear and until someone proves | |
49 | it to make some sense, it is forbidden. | |
50 | ||
ce72e97c | 51 | =item * |
d4ad863d JH |
52 | |
53 | The very dusty examples in the eg/ directory have been removed. | |
54 | Suggestions for new shiny examples welcome but the main issue is that | |
ce72e97c JH |
55 | the examples need to be documented, tested and (most importantly) |
56 | maintained. | |
d4ad863d | 57 | |
ce72e97c | 58 | =item * |
d4ad863d JH |
59 | |
60 | The obsolete chat2 library that should never have been allowed | |
61 | to escape the laboratory has been decommissioned. | |
62 | ||
ce72e97c | 63 | =item * |
d4ad863d JH |
64 | |
65 | The unimplemented POSIX regex features [[.cc.]] and [[=c=]] are still | |
43b92eec | 66 | recognised but now cause fatal errors. The previous behaviour of |
d4ad863d JH |
67 | ignoring them by default and warning if requested was unacceptable |
68 | since it, in a way, falsely promised that the features could be used. | |
69 | ||
ce72e97c | 70 | =item * |
d4ad863d JH |
71 | |
72 | lstat(FILEHANDLE) now gives a warning because the operation makes no sense. | |
73 | In future releases this may become a fatal error. | |
74 | ||
ce72e97c | 75 | =item * |
d4ad863d | 76 | |
ce72e97c | 77 | The long deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison |
d4ad863d JH |
78 | operators (EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE, GT) have now been removed. |
79 | ||
ce72e97c | 80 | =item * |
d4ad863d JH |
81 | |
82 | The regular expression captured submatches ($1, $2, ...) are now | |
ce72e97c | 83 | more consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false |
d4ad863d JH |
84 | data lying around in them. |
85 | ||
ce72e97c | 86 | =item * |
d4ad863d JH |
87 | |
88 | The tr///C and tr///U features have been removed and will not return; | |
89 | the interface was a mistake. Sorry about that. For similar | |
90 | functionality, see pack('U0', ...) and pack('C0', ...). | |
91 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
92 | =back |
93 | ||
cc0fca54 GS |
94 | =head1 Core Enhancements |
95 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
96 | =over 4 |
97 | ||
98 | =item * | |
99 | ||
100 | C<perl -d:Module=arg,arg,arg> now works (previously one couldn't pass | |
101 | in multiple arguments.) | |
102 | ||
103 | =item * | |
104 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
105 | my __PACKAGE__ now works. |
106 | ||
107 | =item * | |
108 | ||
ce72e97c | 109 | C<no Module;> now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module. |
53080bb1 JH |
110 | |
111 | =item * | |
112 | ||
d4ad863d JH |
113 | The numerical comparison operators return C<undef> if either operand |
114 | is a NaN. Previously the behaviour was unspecified. | |
53080bb1 JH |
115 | |
116 | =item * | |
117 | ||
43b92eec | 118 | C<pack('U0a*', ...)> can now be used to force a string to UTF8. |
53080bb1 JH |
119 | |
120 | =item * | |
121 | ||
122 | prototype(\&) is now available. | |
123 | ||
c835e335 JH |
124 | =item * |
125 | ||
126 | There is now an UNTIE method. | |
127 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
128 | =back |
129 | ||
cc0fca54 GS |
130 | =head1 Modules and Pragmata |
131 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
132 | =head2 New Modules |
133 | ||
d4ad863d JH |
134 | =over 4 |
135 | ||
136 | =item * | |
137 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
138 | File::Temp allows one to create temporary files and directories in an |
139 | easy, portable, and secure way. | |
d4ad863d JH |
140 | |
141 | =item * | |
142 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
143 | Storable gives persistence to Perl data structures by allowing the |
144 | storage and retrieval of Perl data to and from files in a fast and | |
145 | compact binary format. | |
d4ad863d JH |
146 | |
147 | =back | |
53080bb1 JH |
148 | |
149 | =head2 Updated And Improved Modules and Pragmata | |
150 | ||
151 | =over 4 | |
152 | ||
153 | =item * | |
154 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
155 | The following independently supported modules have been updated to |
156 | newer versions from CPAN: CGI, CPAN, DB_File, File::Spec, Getopt::Long, | |
157 | the podlators bundle, Pod::LaTeX, Pod::Parser, Term::ANSIColor, Test. | |
53080bb1 JH |
158 | |
159 | =item * | |
160 | ||
ce72e97c | 161 | Bug fixes and minor enhancements have been applied to B::Deparse, |
9db5a202 | 162 | Data::Dumper, IO::Poll, IO::Socket::INET, Math::BigFloat, |
9dc46381 JH |
163 | Math::Complex, Math::Trig, Net::protoent, re, SelfLoader, Sys::SysLog, |
164 | Test::Harness, Text::Wrap, UNIVERSAL. | |
53080bb1 JH |
165 | |
166 | =item * | |
167 | ||
ce72e97c | 168 | The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments. |
53080bb1 JH |
169 | |
170 | =item * | |
171 | ||
ce72e97c | 172 | AutoLoader can now be disabled with C<no AutoLoader;>, |
53080bb1 JH |
173 | |
174 | =item * | |
175 | ||
176 | The English module can now be used without the infamous performance | |
177 | hit by saying | |
178 | ||
179 | use English '-no_performance_hit'; | |
180 | ||
181 | (Assuming, of course, that one doesn't need the troublesome variables | |
182 | C<$`>, C<$&>, or C<$'>.) Also, introduce C<@LAST_MATCH_START> and | |
183 | C<@LAST_MATCH_END> English aliases for C<@-> and C<@+>. | |
184 | ||
185 | =item * | |
186 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
187 | File::Find now has pre- and post-processing callbacks. It also |
188 | correctly changes directories when chasing symbolic links. Callbacks | |
189 | (naughtily) exiting with "next;" instead of "return;" now work. | |
53080bb1 JH |
190 | |
191 | =item * | |
192 | ||
d4ad863d | 193 | File::Glob::glob() renamed to File::Glob::bsd_glob() to avoid |
53080bb1 JH |
194 | prototype mismatch with CORE::glob(). |
195 | ||
196 | =item * | |
197 | ||
ce72e97c | 198 | IPC::Open3 now allows the use of numeric file descriptors. |
53080bb1 JH |
199 | |
200 | =item * | |
201 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
202 | use lib now works identically to @INC. Removing directories |
203 | with 'no lib' now works. | |
53080bb1 JH |
204 | |
205 | =item * | |
206 | ||
ce72e97c | 207 | C<%INC> now localised in a Safe compartment so that use/require work. |
53080bb1 JH |
208 | |
209 | =item * | |
210 | ||
ce72e97c | 211 | The Shell module now has an OO interface. |
53080bb1 | 212 | |
ce72e97c | 213 | =back |
53080bb1 | 214 | |
ce72e97c | 215 | =head1 Utility Changes |
53080bb1 | 216 | |
ce72e97c | 217 | =over 4 |
53080bb1 JH |
218 | |
219 | =item * | |
220 | ||
ce72e97c | 221 | The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version 4.31. |
53080bb1 JH |
222 | |
223 | =item * | |
224 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
225 | Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to perl.org, |
226 | not perl.com. | |
53080bb1 JH |
227 | |
228 | =item * | |
229 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
230 | The perlcc utility has been rewritten and its user interface (that is, |
231 | command line) is much more like that of the UNIX C compiler, cc. | |
53080bb1 JH |
232 | |
233 | =item * | |
234 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
235 | The xsubpp utility for extension writers now understands POD |
236 | documentation embedded in the *.xs files. | |
53080bb1 | 237 | |
ce72e97c | 238 | =back |
53080bb1 | 239 | |
ce72e97c | 240 | =head1 New Documentation |
53080bb1 | 241 | |
ce72e97c | 242 | =over 4 |
53080bb1 JH |
243 | |
244 | =item * | |
245 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
246 | perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the |
247 | 5.6.0 release. | |
53080bb1 JH |
248 | |
249 | =item * | |
250 | ||
ce72e97c | 251 | perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial. |
53080bb1 JH |
252 | |
253 | =item * | |
254 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
255 | perlebcdic contains considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms. |
256 | Note that unfortunately EBCDIC platforms that used to supported back in | |
257 | Perl 5.005 are still unsupported by Perl 5.7.0; the plan, however, is to | |
258 | bring them back to the fold. | |
53080bb1 JH |
259 | |
260 | =item * | |
261 | ||
ce72e97c | 262 | perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module. |
53080bb1 JH |
263 | |
264 | =item * | |
265 | ||
ce72e97c | 266 | perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform |
562628a3 | 267 | (an EBCDIC mainframe platform). |
53080bb1 JH |
268 | |
269 | =item * | |
270 | ||
ce72e97c | 271 | perlretut is a regular expression tutorial. |
53080bb1 JH |
272 | |
273 | =item * | |
274 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
275 | perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide. |
276 | Yes, much quicker than perlretut. | |
53080bb1 JH |
277 | |
278 | =item * | |
279 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
280 | perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl |
281 | distribution. | |
53080bb1 JH |
282 | |
283 | =back | |
284 | ||
ce72e97c | 285 | =head1 Performance Enhancements |
53080bb1 | 286 | |
562628a3 JH |
287 | =over 4 |
288 | ||
289 | =item * | |
290 | ||
ce72e97c | 291 | map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster. |
53080bb1 | 292 | |
dbee9b14 | 293 | =item * |
be7ddd5d JH |
294 | |
295 | sort() has been changed to use mergesort internally as opposed to the | |
296 | earlier quicksort. For very small lists this may result in slightly | |
297 | slower sorting times, but in general the speedup should be at least 20%. | |
298 | Additional bonuses are that the worst case behaviour of sort() is now | |
e11c4a89 A |
299 | better (in computer science terms it now runs in time O(N log N), as |
300 | opposed to quicksorts Theta(N**2) worst-case run time behaviour), and | |
301 | that sort() is now stable (meaning that elements with identical keys | |
302 | will stay ordered as they were before the sort). | |
be7ddd5d | 303 | |
562628a3 JH |
304 | =back |
305 | ||
ce72e97c | 306 | =head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements |
53080bb1 | 307 | |
ce72e97c | 308 | =head2 Generic Improvements |
cc0fca54 | 309 | |
53080bb1 JH |
310 | =over 4 |
311 | ||
312 | =item * | |
313 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
314 | INSTALL now explains how you can configure perl to use 64-bit |
315 | integers even on non-64-bit platforms. | |
53080bb1 JH |
316 | |
317 | =item * | |
318 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
319 | Policy.sh policy change: if you are reusing a Policy.sh file (see |
320 | INSTALL) and you use Configure -Dprefix=/foo/bar and in the old | |
321 | Policy $prefix eq $siteprefix and $prefix eq $vendorprefix, all of | |
322 | them will now be changed to the new prefix, /foo/bar. (Previously | |
323 | only $prefix changed.) If you do not like this new behaviour, | |
324 | specify prefix, siteprefix, and vendorprefix explicitly. | |
53080bb1 JH |
325 | |
326 | =item * | |
327 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
328 | A new optional location for Perl libraries, otherlibdirs, is available. |
329 | It can be used for example for vendor add-ons without disturbing Perl's | |
330 | own library directories. | |
53080bb1 JH |
331 | |
332 | =item * | |
333 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
334 | In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to |
335 | build Perl (basically, 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems | |
336 | to be the case and 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler | |
337 | 'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead. | |
53080bb1 JH |
338 | |
339 | =item * | |
340 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
341 | gcc needs to closely track the operating system release to avoid |
342 | build problems. If Configure finds that gcc was built for a different | |
343 | operating system release than is running, it now gives a clearly visible | |
344 | warning that there may be trouble ahead. | |
53080bb1 JH |
345 | |
346 | =item * | |
347 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
348 | If binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is not wanted, Configure |
349 | no longer suggests including the 5.005 modules in @INC. | |
53080bb1 JH |
350 | |
351 | =item * | |
352 | ||
ce72e97c | 353 | Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively. |
53080bb1 JH |
354 | |
355 | =item * | |
356 | ||
ce72e97c | 357 | configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them. |
53080bb1 JH |
358 | |
359 | =item * | |
360 | ||
ce72e97c | 361 | installperl now outputs everything to STDERR. |
53080bb1 JH |
362 | |
363 | =item * | |
364 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
365 | $Config{byteorder} is now computed dynamically (this is more robust |
366 | with "fat binaries" where an executable image contains binaries for | |
367 | more than one binary platform.) | |
53080bb1 | 368 | |
ce72e97c | 369 | =back |
53080bb1 | 370 | |
ce72e97c | 371 | =head1 Selected Bug Fixes |
53080bb1 | 372 | |
ce72e97c | 373 | =over 4 |
53080bb1 JH |
374 | |
375 | =item * | |
376 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
377 | Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code, |
378 | condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks | |
379 | line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now | |
380 | goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set. | |
53080bb1 JH |
381 | |
382 | =item * | |
383 | ||
ce72e97c | 384 | C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works. |
53080bb1 JH |
385 | |
386 | =item * | |
387 | ||
ce72e97c | 388 | Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes. |
53080bb1 JH |
389 | |
390 | =item * | |
391 | ||
ce72e97c | 392 | Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works. |
53080bb1 JH |
393 | |
394 | =item * | |
395 | ||
ce72e97c | 396 | Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "". |
53080bb1 JH |
397 | |
398 | =item * | |
399 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
400 | Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to |
401 | return 27406, instead of 27047). | |
53080bb1 JH |
402 | |
403 | =item * | |
404 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
405 | Some "not a number" warnings introduced in 5.6.0 eliminated to be |
406 | more compatible with 5.005. Infinity is now recognised as a number. | |
53080bb1 JH |
407 | |
408 | =item * | |
409 | ||
ce72e97c | 410 | our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings. |
53080bb1 JH |
411 | |
412 | =item * | |
413 | ||
ce72e97c | 414 | pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with "\0". |
53080bb1 JH |
415 | |
416 | =item * | |
417 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
418 | Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms |
419 | (e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry. | |
53080bb1 JH |
420 | |
421 | =item * | |
422 | ||
ce72e97c | 423 | printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C". |
53080bb1 JH |
424 | |
425 | =item * | |
426 | ||
ce72e97c | 427 | C<q(a\\b)> now parses correctly as C<'a\\b'>. |
53080bb1 JH |
428 | |
429 | =item * | |
430 | ||
ce72e97c | 431 | Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf now works |
562628a3 | 432 | without the q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform). |
53080bb1 JH |
433 | |
434 | =item * | |
435 | ||
ce72e97c | 436 | Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work. |
53080bb1 JH |
437 | |
438 | =item * | |
439 | ||
ce72e97c | 440 | scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context. |
53080bb1 JH |
441 | |
442 | =item * | |
ce72e97c JH |
443 | |
444 | sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context | |
445 | (they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself). | |
53080bb1 JH |
446 | |
447 | =item * | |
448 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
449 | Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very |
450 | rare) vertical tab character. Added a new POSIX-ish character class | |
451 | C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently, | |
452 | the space and the tab). | |
53080bb1 JH |
453 | |
454 | =item * | |
455 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
456 | $AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses |
457 | in multiple threads simultaneously are now thread-safe. | |
53080bb1 JH |
458 | |
459 | =item * | |
460 | ||
ce72e97c | 461 | Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///. |
53080bb1 JH |
462 | |
463 | =item * | |
464 | ||
ce72e97c | 465 | Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect). |
53080bb1 | 466 | |
ce72e97c | 467 | =over 8 |
53080bb1 JH |
468 | |
469 | =item * | |
470 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
471 | BOMs (byte order marks) in the beginning of Perl files |
472 | (scripts, modules) should now be transparently skipped. | |
473 | UTF16 encoded Perl files should now be read correctly. | |
53080bb1 JH |
474 | |
475 | =item * | |
476 | ||
ce72e97c | 477 | The character tables have been updated to new Unicode 3.0 features. |
53080bb1 | 478 | |
ce72e97c | 479 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 480 | |
ce72e97c JH |
481 | chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use |
482 | utf8. | |
53080bb1 | 483 | |
ce72e97c | 484 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 485 | |
ce72e97c JH |
486 | Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into |
487 | utf8. | |
53080bb1 JH |
488 | |
489 | =item * | |
490 | ||
ce72e97c | 491 | C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase. |
53080bb1 JH |
492 | |
493 | =item * | |
494 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
495 | Concatenation with the C<.> operator or via variable interpolation, |
496 | C<eq>, C<substr>, C<reverse>, C<quotemeta>, the C<x> operator, | |
497 | substitution with C<s///>, single-quoted UTF8, should now work--in | |
498 | theory. | |
53080bb1 JH |
499 | |
500 | =item * | |
501 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
502 | The C<tr///> operator now works I<slightly> better but is still rather |
503 | broken. Note that the C<tr///CU> functionality has been removed (but | |
504 | see pack('U0', ...)). | |
53080bb1 JH |
505 | |
506 | =item * | |
507 | ||
ce72e97c | 508 | Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>. |
53080bb1 JH |
509 | |
510 | =back | |
511 | ||
ce72e97c | 512 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 513 | |
ce72e97c JH |
514 | UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly. (This broke |
515 | the Tk extension with 5.6.0.) | |
53080bb1 | 516 | |
ce72e97c | 517 | =back |
53080bb1 | 518 | |
ce72e97c | 519 | =head2 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes |
53080bb1 JH |
520 | |
521 | =over 4 | |
522 | ||
523 | =item * | |
524 | ||
ce72e97c | 525 | BSDI 4.* |
53080bb1 | 526 | |
ce72e97c | 527 | Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes. |
53080bb1 | 528 | |
ce72e97c | 529 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 530 | |
ce72e97c | 531 | All BSDs |
53080bb1 | 532 | |
ce72e97c | 533 | Setting C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details). |
53080bb1 | 534 | |
ce72e97c | 535 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 536 | |
ce72e97c | 537 | Cygwin |
53080bb1 | 538 | |
ce72e97c | 539 | Numerous updates; currently synchronised with Cygwin 1.1.4. |
53080bb1 JH |
540 | |
541 | =item * | |
542 | ||
ce72e97c | 543 | EPOC |
53080bb1 | 544 | |
ce72e97c | 545 | EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.epoc. |
53080bb1 | 546 | |
ce72e97c | 547 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 548 | |
ce72e97c | 549 | FreeBSD 3.* |
53080bb1 | 550 | |
ce72e97c | 551 | Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs. |
53080bb1 JH |
552 | |
553 | =item * | |
554 | ||
ce72e97c | 555 | HP-UX |
53080bb1 | 556 | |
ce72e97c | 557 | README.hpux updated; C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works. |
53080bb1 | 558 | |
ce72e97c | 559 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 560 | |
ce72e97c | 561 | IRIX |
53080bb1 | 562 | |
ce72e97c JH |
563 | Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements; accidental mixing |
564 | of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt) made much harder. | |
53080bb1 JH |
565 | |
566 | =item * | |
567 | ||
ce72e97c | 568 | Linux |
53080bb1 | 569 | |
ce72e97c | 570 | Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL). |
53080bb1 JH |
571 | |
572 | =item * | |
573 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
574 | MacOS Classic |
575 | ||
53080bb1 | 576 | Compilation of the standard Perl distribution in MacOS Classic should |
ce72e97c JH |
577 | now work if you have the Metrowerks development environment and |
578 | the missing Mac-specific toolkit bits. Contact the macperl mailing | |
53080bb1 JH |
579 | list for details. |
580 | ||
ce72e97c | 581 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 582 | |
ce72e97c | 583 | MPE/iX |
53080bb1 | 584 | |
ce72e97c | 585 | MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.mpeix. |
53080bb1 | 586 | |
ce72e97c | 587 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 588 | |
ce72e97c | 589 | NetBSD/sparc |
53080bb1 | 590 | |
ce72e97c | 591 | Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc. |
53080bb1 JH |
592 | |
593 | =item * | |
594 | ||
ce72e97c | 595 | OS/2 |
53080bb1 | 596 | |
ce72e97c | 597 | Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL). |
53080bb1 JH |
598 | |
599 | =item * | |
600 | ||
ce72e97c | 601 | Solaris |
53080bb1 | 602 | |
ce72e97c | 603 | 64-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works. |
53080bb1 JH |
604 | |
605 | =item * | |
606 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
607 | Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1) |
608 | ||
609 | The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}. | |
53080bb1 JH |
610 | Allow compiling with gcc (previously explicitly forbidden). Compiling |
611 | with gcc still not recommended because buggy code results, even with | |
612 | gcc 2.95.2. | |
613 | ||
614 | =item * | |
615 | ||
ce72e97c | 616 | Unicos |
53080bb1 JH |
617 | |
618 | Fixed various alignment problems that lead into core dumps either | |
ce72e97c JH |
619 | during build or later; no longer dies on math errors at runtime; |
620 | now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using | |
b84d4f81 | 621 | only 46 bit integers for speed. |
53080bb1 | 622 | |
53080bb1 JH |
623 | =item * |
624 | ||
ce72e97c | 625 | VMS |
53080bb1 | 626 | |
ce72e97c JH |
627 | chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug; now works with MULTIPLICITY |
628 | (see INSTALL); now works with Perl's malloc. | |
53080bb1 JH |
629 | |
630 | =item * | |
631 | ||
ce72e97c | 632 | Windows |
53080bb1 | 633 | |
ce72e97c | 634 | =over 8 |
53080bb1 JH |
635 | |
636 | =item * | |
637 | ||
d4ad863d | 638 | accept() no longer leaks memory. |
53080bb1 JH |
639 | |
640 | =item * | |
641 | ||
642 | Better chdir() return value for a non-existent directory. | |
643 | ||
644 | =item * | |
645 | ||
646 | New %ENV entries now propagate to subprocesses. | |
647 | ||
648 | =item * | |
649 | ||
650 | $ENV{LIB} now used to search for libs under Visual C. | |
651 | ||
652 | =item * | |
653 | ||
654 | A failed (pseudo)fork now returns undef and sets errno to EAGAIN. | |
655 | ||
656 | =item * | |
657 | ||
658 | Allow REG_EXPAND_SZ keys in the registry. | |
659 | ||
660 | =item * | |
661 | ||
662 | Can now send() from all threads, not just the first one. | |
663 | ||
664 | =item * | |
665 | ||
666 | Fake signal handling reenabled, bugs and all. | |
667 | ||
668 | =item * | |
669 | ||
670 | Less stack reserved per thread so that more threads can run | |
671 | concurrently. (still 16M perl thread) | |
672 | ||
673 | =item * | |
674 | ||
675 | C<File::Spec->tmpdir()> now prefers C:/temp over /tmp | |
676 | (works better when perl running as service). | |
677 | ||
678 | =item * | |
679 | ||
680 | Better UNC path handling under ithreads. | |
681 | ||
682 | =item * | |
683 | ||
684 | wait() and waitpid() now work much better. | |
685 | ||
686 | =item * | |
687 | ||
688 | winsock handle leak fixed. | |
689 | ||
690 | =back | |
691 | ||
cc0fca54 GS |
692 | =head1 New or Changed Diagnostics |
693 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
694 | All regular expression compilation error messages are now hopefully |
695 | easier to understand both because the error message now comes before | |
696 | the failed regex and because the point of failure is now clearly | |
697 | marked. | |
698 | ||
699 | The various "opened only for", "on closed", "never opened" warnings | |
700 | drop the C<main::> prefix for filehandles in the C<main> package, | |
562628a3 | 701 | for example C<STDIN> instead of <main::STDIN>. |
53080bb1 | 702 | |
d4ad863d JH |
703 | The "Unrecognized escape" warning has been extended to include C<\8>, |
704 | C<\9>, and C<\_>. There is no need to escape any of the C<\w> characters. | |
53080bb1 | 705 | |
53080bb1 JH |
706 | =head1 Changed Internals |
707 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
708 | =over 4 |
709 | ||
710 | =item * | |
53080bb1 | 711 | |
d4ad863d JH |
712 | perlapi.pod (a companion to perlguts) now attempts to document the |
713 | internal API. | |
53080bb1 | 714 | |
ce72e97c | 715 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 716 | |
ce72e97c | 717 | You can now build a really minimal perl called microperl. |
d4ad863d JH |
718 | Building microperl does not require even running Configure; |
719 | C<make -f Makefile.micro> should be enough. Beware: microperl makes | |
720 | many assumptions, some of which may be too bold; the resulting | |
721 | executable may crash or otherwise misbehave in wondrous ways. For | |
722 | careful hackers only. | |
53080bb1 | 723 | |
ce72e97c | 724 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 725 | |
43b92eec | 726 | Added rsignal(), whichsig(), do_join() to the publicised API. |
53080bb1 | 727 | |
ce72e97c | 728 | =item * |
53080bb1 | 729 | |
43b92eec | 730 | Made possible to propagate customised exceptions via croak()ing. |
53080bb1 | 731 | |
ce72e97c | 732 | =item * |
53080bb1 JH |
733 | |
734 | Added is_utf8_char(), is_utf8_string(), bytes_to_utf8(), and utf8_to_bytes(). | |
735 | ||
ce72e97c | 736 | =item * |
53080bb1 JH |
737 | |
738 | Now xsubs can have attributes just like subs. | |
739 | ||
ce72e97c JH |
740 | =back |
741 | ||
cc0fca54 GS |
742 | =head1 Known Problems |
743 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
744 | =head2 Unicode Support Still Far From Perfect |
745 | ||
746 | We're working on it. Stay tuned. | |
747 | ||
748 | =head2 EBCDIC Still A Lost Platform | |
749 | ||
750 | The plan is to bring them back. | |
751 | ||
752 | =head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles | |
753 | ||
754 | Certain extensions like mod_perl and BSD::Resource are known to have | |
ce72e97c | 755 | issues with `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in which file |
4b2ec495 | 756 | offsets default to 64 bits wide, where supported. Modules may fail to |
ce72e97c | 757 | compile at all or compile and work incorrectly. Currently there is no |
4b2ec495 JH |
758 | good solution for the problem, but Configure now provides appropriate |
759 | non-largefile ccflags, ldflags, libswanted, and libs in the %Config | |
760 | hash (e.g., $Config{ccflags_nolargefiles}) so the extensions that are | |
761 | having problems can try configuring themselves without the | |
762 | largefileness. This is admittedly not a clean solution, and the | |
763 | solution may not even work at all. One potential failure is whether | |
764 | one can (or, if one can, whether it's a good idea) link together at | |
765 | all binaries with different ideas about file offsets, all this is | |
766 | platform-dependent. | |
53080bb1 | 767 | |
d184b07b JH |
768 | =head2 ftmp-posix subtest 6 fails in VMS |
769 | ||
9dc46381 JH |
770 | The test exposes a flushing bug in the VMS port of Perl, this failure |
771 | as such can be ignored. | |
772 | ||
773 | =head2 ftmp-security tests warn 'system possibly insecure' | |
774 | ||
775 | Don't panic. Read INSTALL 'make test' section instead. | |
776 | ||
777 | =head2 Long Doubles Still Don't Work In Solaris | |
778 | ||
779 | The experimental long double support is still very much so in Solaris. | |
780 | (Other platforms like Linux and Tru64 are beginning to solidify in this area.) | |
d184b07b JH |
781 | |
782 | =head2 Storable tests fail in some platforms | |
783 | ||
784 | =over 4 | |
785 | ||
786 | =item * | |
787 | ||
788 | Many Storable tests fail on AIX configured with 64 bit integers. | |
789 | ||
790 | So far unidentified problems break Storable in AIX if Perl is | |
791 | configured to use 64 bit integers. AIX in 32-bit mode works and | |
792 | other 64-bit platforms work with Storable. | |
793 | ||
794 | =item * | |
795 | ||
796 | DOS DJGPP may hang when testing Storable. | |
797 | ||
798 | =item * | |
799 | ||
800 | st-06compat fails in UNICOS and UNICOS/mk. | |
24e657a8 JH |
801 | |
802 | This means that you cannot read old (pre-Storable-0.7) Storable images | |
803 | made in other platforms. | |
804 | ||
d184b07b JH |
805 | =back |
806 | ||
cc0fca54 GS |
807 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
808 | ||
d4ad863d JH |
809 | If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles |
810 | recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl | |
811 | bug database at http://bugs.perl.org. There may also be | |
812 | information at http://www.perl.com/perl/, the Perl Home Page. | |
cc0fca54 GS |
813 | |
814 | If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug> | |
815 | program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down | |
816 | to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the | |
d4ad863d | 817 | output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be |
cc0fca54 GS |
818 | analysed by the Perl porting team. |
819 | ||
820 | =head1 SEE ALSO | |
821 | ||
822 | The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed. | |
823 | ||
824 | The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl. | |
825 | ||
826 | The F<README> file for general stuff. | |
827 | ||
828 | The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information. | |
829 | ||
830 | =head1 HISTORY | |
831 | ||
53080bb1 JH |
832 | Written by Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>, with many contributions |
833 | from The Perl Porters and Perl Users submitting feedback and patches. | |
cc0fca54 | 834 | |
d4ad863d | 835 | Send omissions or corrections to <F<perlbug@perl.org>>. |
cc0fca54 GS |
836 | |
837 | =cut |