This is a live mirror of the Perl 5 development currently hosted at https://github.com/perl/perl5
fix wrong pool error in cygwin build
[perl5.git] / lib / Getopt / Long / CHANGES
CommitLineData
d4ad7505
RGS
1Changes in version 2.35
2-----------------------
3
4* [Experimental] Options can take multiple values at once. E.g.,
5
6 --coordinates 52.2 16.4 --rgbcolor 255 255 149
7
8 To handle the above command line, the following call to GetOptions
9 can be used:
10
11 GetOptions('coordinates=f{2}' => \@coor, 'rgbcolor=i{3}' => \@color);
12
13 You can specify the minimum and maximum number of values desired.
14 The syntax for this is similar to that of regular expression
15 patterns: { min , max }.
16
9e01bed8
JH
17Changes in version 2.34
18-----------------------
19
20* Auto-vivification of array and hash refs
21
22 If an option is specified to require an array or hash ref, and a
23 scalar reference is passed, this is auto-vivified to array or hash
24 ref.
25
26 Example:
27
28 @ARGV = qw(--foo=xx);
29 GetOptions("foo=s@", \$var);
30 # Now $var->[0] eq "xx"
31
32* Auto-supplied verbose and help options are no longer taken into
33 account when determining option ambiguity. This eliminates the
34 common problem that you suddenly get an ambiguous option warning
35 when you have an option "verbose" and run your program with "-v".
36
37* Cosmetic changes in some error messages.
38
10933be5
RGS
39Changes in version 2.33
40-----------------------
41
42**************** WARNING -- EXPERIMENTAL CODE AHEAD ****************
43
79d0183a
RGS
44The following new features are marked experimental. This means that if
45you are going to use them you _must_ watch out for the next release of
46Getopt::Long to see if the API has changed.
47
10933be5
RGS
48* Getopt::Long can automatically handle --version and --help options
49 if the calling program did not specify a handler explicitly.
50
51 Two configuration parameters have been added: 'auto_help' (or
52 'help') and 'auto_version' (or 'version'). If set, Getopt::Long will
53 itself take care of --help and --version options. Otherwise,
54 everything is exactly as it was before.
55
56 The new features will be enabled by default for programs that
57 explicitly require version 2.3203 or later.
58
59 Getopt::Long uses module Pod::Usage to produce the help message from
60 the SYNOPSIS section of the program's POD.
61
62 Using a --help (or -?) command line option will write the SYNOPSIS
63 section of the program's POD to STDOUT, and exit with status 0.
64 However, an illegal option will produce the help text to STDERR,
65 and exit with status 2. This is in accordance with current
66 conventions.
67
68* Two subroutines can be exported on demand:
69
70 - VersionMessage
71
72 This subroutine prints the standard version message.
73
74 - HelpMessage
75
76 This subroutine prints the standard help message.
77
78 Both subroutines take the same arguments as Pod::Usage::pod2usage,
79 see its documentation for details.
80
81 Example:
82
79d0183a 83 use Getopt::Long 2.33 qw(GetOptions HelpMessage);
10933be5
RGS
84 GetOptions(...) or HelpMessage(2);
85
86**************** END EXPERIMENTAL CODE ****************
87
88* Subroutine Configure can now be exported on demand.
89
90* Negatable options (with "!") now also support the "no-" prefix.
79d0183a 91 On request of Ed Avis.
10933be5
RGS
92
93* Some fixes with hashes and bundling.
79d0183a 94 Thanks to Anders Johnson and Andrei Gnepp.
10933be5
RGS
95 Mandatory/optional status for hash values is now effective.
96 String valued options with no value now default to the empty string
97 instead of 1 (one).
98 NOTE: The hash options still remain more or less experimental.
99
100* Fix a pass_through bug where the options terminator (normally "--")
101 was not passed through in @ARGV.
79d0183a 102 Thanks to Philippe Verdret.
10933be5
RGS
103
104* Add FAQ: I "use GetOpt::Long;" (Windows) and now it doesn't work.
105
109cdaf9
JH
106Changes in version 2.32
107-----------------------
108
109* Fix a bug where the initial value for a optional numeric argument
110was not used for value of a hash option.
111
112* Remove 5.005 thread safety code. Getopt::Long is completely thread
113safe when using the 5.8 ithreads.
114
10933be5
RGS
115Changes in version 2.31
116-----------------------
117
118* Fix a bug where calling the configure method on a
9e01bed8
JH
119 Getopt::Long::Parser object would bail out with
120 Undefined subroutine &Getopt::Long::Parser::Configure called at
121 Getopt/Long.pm line 186.
10933be5
RGS
122
123Changes in version 2.30
124-----------------------
125
126* Fix a problem where a 'die' from a 'warn' via a localized
127 $SIG{__WARN__} was not properly propagated from a callback.
79d0183a 128 Thanks to Diab Jerius.
10933be5 129
eab822e5
JH
130Changes in version 2.29
131-----------------------
132
133* Fix a problem where options were not recognized when both
79d0183a 134 auto_abbrev and ignore_case were disabled. Thanks to Seth Robertson.
eab822e5
JH
135
136* Remove Carp.
137
bd444ebb
JH
138Changes in version 2.28
139-----------------------
140
141* When an option is specified more than once, a warning is generated
142 if perl is run with -w. This is a correction to 2.27, where it would
143 unconditionally die.
144
145 An example of duplicate specification is GetOptions('foo', 'foo'),
146 but also GetOptions('foo=s', 'foo') and GetOptions('Foo', 'foo')
147 (the latter only when ignore_case is in effect).
148
2d08fc49
JH
149Changes in version 2.27
150-----------------------
151
bd444ebb
JH
152* You can now specify integer options to take an optional argument.
153 that defaults to a specific value. E.g., GetOptions('foo:5' => \$var)
154 will allow $var to get the value 5 when no value was specified with
155 the -foo option on the command line.
156
157 Instead of a value, a '+' may be specified. E.g.,
158 GetOptions('foo:+' => \$var) will allow $var to be incremented when
159 no value was specified with the -foo option on the command line.
160
2d08fc49
JH
161* Fix several problems with internal and external use of 'die' and
162 signal handlers.
163
164* Fixed some bugs with subtle combinations of bundling_override and
165 ignore_case.
166
167* A callback routine that is associated with a hash-valued option will
168 now have both the hask key and the value passed. It used to get only
169 the value passed.
170
171* Eliminated the use of autoloading. Autoloading kept generating
172 problems during development, and when using perlcc.
173
bd444ebb
JH
174* Avoid errors on references when an option is found in error, e.g.
175 GetOptions('fo$@#' => \$var).
79d0183a 176 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun.
bd444ebb
JH
177
178* When an option is specified more than once, an error is now
179 generated. E.g., GetOptions('foo', 'foo').
79d0183a 180 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun.
bd444ebb 181
2d08fc49
JH
182* Lots of internal restructoring to make room for extensions.
183
184* Redesigned the regression tests.
185
bd444ebb
JH
186* Enhance the documentation to prevent common misunderstandings about
187 single character options.
188
7d1b667f
JH
189Changes in version 2.26
190-----------------------
191
192* New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
193 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
194 and binary (0b1001).
195
196* Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
197
198* Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
199
7d1b667f
JH
200Changes in version 2.25
201-----------------------
202
203* Change handling of a lone "-" on the command line. It will now be
204 treated as a non-option unless an explicit specification was passed
205 to GetOptions. See the manual.
206 In the old implementation an error was signalled, so no
207 compatibility breaks are expected from this change.
208
209* Add $VERSION_STRING. This is the string form of $VERSION. Usually
210 they are identical, unless it is a pre-release in which case
211 $VERSION will be (e.g.) 2.2403 and $VERSION_STRING will be "2.24_03".
212
213Changes in version 2.24
214-----------------------
215
216* Add object oriented interface:
217
218 use Getopt::Long;
219 $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser;
220 $p->configure(...configuration options...);
221 if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ...
222
223* Add configuration at 'use' time:
224
225 use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling);
226
227* Add configuration options "gnu_getopt" and "gnu_compat".
228
229 "gnu_compat" controls whether --opt= is allowed, and what it should
230 do. Without "gnu_compat", --opt= gives an error. With "gnu_compat",
231 --opt= will give option "opt" and empty value.
232 This is the way GNU getopt_long does it.
233
234 "gnu_getopt" is a short way of setting "gnu_compat bundling permute
235 no_getopt_compat. With "gnu_getopt", command line handling should be
236 fully compatible with GNU getopt_long.
237
238* Correct warnings when the user specified an array or hash
239 destination using a non-lowercase option, e.g. "I=s@".
240
241* Correct ambiguous use of 'set' and 'reset' in the Configuration
242 section of the documentation.
243
244* Add configuration option "posix_default" to reset to defaults as if
245 POSIXLY_CORRECT were set.
246
247* Disallow "no" prefix on configuration options "default", "prefix" and
248 "prefix_pattern".
249
250* Add a section "Trouble Shooting" to the documentation, with
251 frequently asked questions.
252
253Changes in version 2.23
254-----------------------
255
256* When a call-back routine issues 'die', messages starting with "!"
257 are treated specially. Currently, only "!FINISH" is recognised (see
258 the next bullet point). Other messages that start with "!" are
259 ignored.
260
261* Change 'die("FINISH") (see changes in 2.21) to die("!FINISH"). This
262 is an incompatible change, but I guess noone is using this yet.
263
264Changes in version 2.22
265-----------------------
266
267* Fixes a bug in the combination of aliases and negation.
268
269 Old: "foo|bar!" allowed negation on foo, but not on bar.
270 New: "foo|bar!" allows negation on foo and bar.
271
272 Caveat: "foo|f!", with bundling, issues the warning that negation on
273 a short option is ignored. To obtain the desired behaviour, use
274
275 "foo!" => \$opt_foo, "f" => \$opt_foo
276 or
277 "foo|f" => \$opt_foo, "nofoo" => sub { $opt_foo = 0 }
278
279 Remember that this is _only_ required when bundling is in effect.
280
281Changes in version 2.21
282-----------------------
283
284* New documentation.
285
286* User defined subroutines should use 'die' to signal errors.
287
288* User defined subroutines can preliminary terminate options
289 processing by calling die("FINISH");
290
291* Correct erroneous install of Getopt::Long manpage.
292 Previous versions seem to install Getopt::GetoptLong instead of
293 Getopt::Long.
294
295Changes in version 2.20
296-----------------------
297
298* Prevent the magic argument "<>" from being interpreted as option
299 starter characters if it is the first argument passed.
300 To use the characters "<>" as option starters, pass "><" instead.
301
302* Changed license: Getopt::Long may now also be used under the Perl
303 Artistic License.
304
305* Changed the file name of the distribution kit from "GetoptLong..."
306 to "Getopt-Long-..." to match the standards.
307
308Changes in version 2.19
309-----------------------
310
311* Fix a warning bug with bundling_override.
312
313There's no version 2.18
314-----------------------
315
316Changes in version 2.17
317-----------------------
318
319* Getopt::Long::config is renamed Getopt::Long::Configure. The old
320 name will remain supported without being documented.
321
322* Options can have the specifier '+' to denote that the option value
323 must be incremented each time the option occurs on the command line.
324 For example:
325
326 my $more = 2;
327 Getopt::Long::Configure("bundling");
328 GetOptions ("v+" => \$more);
329 print STDOUT ("more = $more\n");
330
331 will print "more = 3" when called with "-v", "more = 4" when called
332 with "-vv" (or "-v -v"), and so on.
333
334* Getopt::Long now uses autoloading. This substantially reduces the
335 resources required to 'use Getopt::Long' (about 100 lines of over
336 1300 total).
337
338* It is now documented that global option variables like $opt_foo
339 need to be declared using 'use vars ...' when running under 'use
340 strict'.
341
342* To install, it is now required to use the official procedure:
343
344 perl Makefile.PL
345 make
346 make test
347 make install
348
349Changes in version 2.16
350-----------------------
351
352* A couple of small additional fixes to the $` $& $' fixes.
353
354* The option prefix can be set using config("prefix=...") or, more
355 powerful, with config("prefix_pattern=..."); see the documentation
356 for details.
357
358* More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
359
360This version is identical to 2.15, which was not released.
361
362There's no version 2.14
363-----------------------
364
365Changes in version 2.13
366-----------------------
367
368* All regexps are changed to avoid the use of $`, $& and $'. Using one
369 of these causes all pattern matches in the program to be much slower
370 than necessary.
371
372* Configuration errors are signalled using die() and will cause the
373 program to be terminated (unless eval{...} or $SIG{__DIE__} is
374 used).
375
376* Option parsing errors are now signalled with calls to warn().
377
378* In option bundles, numeric values may be embedded in the bundle
379 (e.g. -al24w80).
380
381* More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
382
383* Removed non-standard version number matching. Version 1.121 is now
384 more than 1.12 but less than 1.13.
385
386Changes in version 2.12
387-----------------------
388
389* A single question mark is allowed as an alias to an option, e.g.
390
391 GetOptions ("help|?", ...)
392
393Changes in version 2.11
394-----------------------
395
396* User linkage may be an object, provided the object is really a hash.
397
398 For example:
399
400 { package Foo;
401 sub new () { return bless {}; }
402 }
403
404 my $linkage = Foo->new();
405
406 GetOptions ($linkage, ... );
407
408* Some bug fixes in handling obscure cases of pass-through.
409
410Changes in version 2.9
411----------------------
412
413* A new way to configure Getopt::Long. Instead of setting module local
414 variables, routine Getopt::Long::config can be called with the names
415 of options to be set or reset, e.g.
416
417 Getopt::Long::config ("no_auto_abbrev", "ignore_case");
418
419 Configuring by using the module local variables is deprecated, but
420 it will continue to work for backwark compatibility.
421
422Changes in version 2.6
423----------------------
424
425* Handle ignorecase even if autoabbrev is off.
426
427* POD corrections.
428
429Changes in version 2.4
430----------------------
431
432* Pass-through of unrecognized options. Makes it easy to write wrapper
433 programs that process some of the command line options but pass the
434 others to another program.
435
436* Options can be of type HASH, now you can say
437
438 --define foo=bar
439
440 and have $opt_define{"foo"} set to "bar".
441
442* An enhanced skeleton program, skel2.pl, that combines the power of
443 Getopt::Long with Pod::Usage.
444 Module Pod::Usage can be obtained from CPAN,
445 http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Brad_Appleton.
446
447Possible incompatibility in version 2.4
448---------------------------------------
449
450Previous versions of Getopt::Long always downcased the option variable
451names when ignorecase was in effect. This bug has been corrected. As a
452consequence, &GetOptions ("Foo") will now set variable $opt_Foo
453instead of $opt_foo.
454