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1 | =head1 How to write a perldelta |
2 | ||
3 | This is intended as a guide for how to write a perldelta. There has never | |
4 | been a formal specification - the working rule is "fake up a document that | |
5 | looks something close to the existing perldeltas". So if it's unclear how | |
919671d7 | 6 | to do something, see if it's been done before, and if the approach works |
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7 | there, steal it. |
8 | ||
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9 | =head2 Template |
10 | ||
236a53f1 | 11 | Note there is a file F<Porting/perldelta_template.pod> which contains a |
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12 | skeleton version of a perldelta.pod file, which should normally be copied |
13 | in at the start of a new release. | |
14 | ||
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15 | =head2 Style |
16 | ||
17 | Pod is more a physical markup language, rather than a logical markup language. | |
18 | Despite that it has some built in conventions. B<Stick to them>: | |
19 | ||
20 | =over 4 | |
21 | ||
22 | =item * C<FE<lt>E<gt>> is for File | |
23 | ||
24 | =item * C<CE<lt>E<gt>> is for Code | |
25 | ||
26 | =item * C<LE<lt>E<gt>> is for Link | |
27 | ||
28 | =back | |
29 | ||
30 | Whilst modules could also be links, usually in the context of the perldelta | |
31 | the reference is to code C<use>ing them, rather than something within their | |
32 | documentation. | |
33 | ||
34 | Be consistent in how bugs are referenced. One style is | |
35 | ||
36 | =over 4 | |
37 | ||
38 | =item rt.perl.org | |
39 | ||
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40 | C<perl #43010> inline, but enclose in square brackets after a sentence. |
41 | C<[perl #43010]>. This mirrors how rt.perl.org subject lines appear. | |
42 | ||
43 | =item rt.cpan.org | |
44 | ||
45 | C<rt.cpan.org #43010> inline, but enclose in square brackets after a sentence. | |
46 | C<[rt.cpan.org #43010]>. This mirrors how rt.cpan.org subject lines appear. | |
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47 | |
48 | =item ActiveState | |
49 | ||
50 | C<http://bugs.activestate.com/show_bug.cgi?id=72443> | |
51 | ||
52 | =item Debian | |
53 | ||
54 | C<Debian bug #379463> | |
55 | ||
56 | =back | |
57 | ||
58 | =head2 Copy editing | |
59 | ||
60 | Be consistent. | |
61 | ||
62 | In a list, either make every item a note, or a full sentence. Either end | |
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63 | every item with a full stop, or ensure that no item ends with one. I<regex> |
64 | B<xor> I<regexp> - choose exactly one, and stick to it. | |
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65 | |
66 | =head2 Sections | |
67 | ||
68 | Historically, the perldelta has consisted of a sequence of C<=head1> | |
69 | sections, usually in the same order. Un-needed sections are deleted, | |
70 | and if something doesn't fit nicely into the existing sections, a new | |
71 | more appropriate section is created. | |
72 | ||
73 | =over | |
74 | ||
75 | =item NAME | |
76 | ||
77 | Follows this formula: | |
78 | ||
79 | perl5104delta - what is new for perl v5.10.4 | |
80 | ||
81 | =item DESCRIPTION | |
82 | ||
83 | For a release on a stable branch, follows this formula: | |
84 | ||
85 | This document describes differences between the 5.10.3 release and | |
86 | the 5.10.4 release. | |
87 | ||
88 | For the start of a new stable branch, follows this formula: | |
89 | ||
90 | This document describes differences between the 5.12.0 release and | |
91 | the 5.10.0 release. | |
92 | ||
68346ec5 | 93 | Clearly this sets the scope of which changes are to be summarised in the rest |
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94 | of the document. |
95 | ||
96 | =item Notice | |
97 | ||
98 | There was a I<Notice> section in L<perl589delta>, to carry an important | |
99 | notice. | |
100 | ||
101 | =item Incompatible Changes | |
102 | ||
103 | For a release on a stable branch, this section aspires to be | |
104 | ||
105 | There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.10.3. If any exist, | |
106 | they are bugs and reports are welcome. | |
107 | ||
108 | =item Core Enhancements | |
109 | ||
110 | New core language features go here. Summarise user-visible core language | |
111 | enhancements. Particularly prominent performance optimisations could go | |
112 | here, but most should go in the L</Performance Enhancements> section. | |
113 | ||
114 | Feature inside modules (pure-Perl and XS) go in L</Modules and Pragmata> | |
115 | ||
116 | =item New Platforms | |
117 | ||
118 | List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous | |
119 | versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/> | |
120 | directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the | |
121 | source tree. | |
122 | ||
123 | =item Modules and Pragmata | |
124 | ||
125 | All changes to installed files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> go here, in a list | |
126 | ordered by distribution name. Minimally it should be the module version, | |
127 | but it's more useful to the end user to give a paragraph's summary of the | |
128 | module's changes. In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a | |
129 | F<Changes> file that could be cribbed. | |
130 | ||
131 | Whilst this section could be built by incrementally working through change | |
132 | descriptions applying to files, this is prone to error. It's better to | |
133 | collate changes to F<ext/> and F<lib/> by module, and then summarise all | |
134 | changes to a module as a group. This can be done by partitioning directories | |
135 | within F<ext/> and F<lib/> to a number of people. | |
136 | ||
60984f2f | 137 | B<FIXME> - this could be automated better |
0be987a2 | 138 | |
60984f2f | 139 | If Module::CoreList has been updated, then F<Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl> |
47e01c32 | 140 | will automatically print out several sections if relevant that can be |
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141 | pasted into F<perldelta>: |
142 | ||
143 | * New Modules and Pragmata | |
144 | * Pragmata Changes | |
145 | * Updated Modules | |
146 | * Removed Modules and Pragmata | |
147 | ||
148 | Each section will have stub entries following a template like this: | |
0be987a2 | 149 | |
60984f2f | 150 | =item C<less> |
0be987a2 | 151 | |
60984f2f | 152 | Upgraded from version 0.01 to 0.02 |
0be987a2 | 153 | |
88e14305 | 154 | It does not include modules listed in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl> under |
47e01c32 | 155 | C<_PERLLIB>, but it's a start. Where relevant, a summary of changes can be |
88e14305 | 156 | added by hand. |
0be987a2 | 157 | |
60984f2f | 158 | A more adventurous enhancement would be to automate grabbing |
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159 | the changelogs for dual lived modules. For each of them, grab the relevant |
160 | changes files from CPAN for the old and new versions, and if the old one is | |
161 | a strict subset of the new one, splice the extra lines right into the output, | |
162 | as a basis for summarising. | |
163 | ||
164 | (And if not, experiment with using F<git> to get the relevant part of changelog | |
165 | for the particular file in core) | |
166 | ||
167 | These could also be enhanced further by using a Pod parser module to produce | |
168 | a parse tree of F<perl${whatever}delta.pod>, and splicing in the updates | |
169 | correctly without throwing existing entries away. | |
170 | ||
171 | If you think that's nuts, take a look at what F<pod/buildtoc> already does to | |
172 | splice into existing Makefiles on various platforms: | |
173 | ||
174 | http://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git/blob/blead:/pod/buildtoc#l498 | |
175 | ||
176 | Perl is this really powerful language for text manipulation. And fun to | |
177 | play with. We need to get that message out. :-) | |
178 | ||
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179 | =item Utility Changes |
180 | ||
181 | Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go here. Most | |
182 | of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>. | |
183 | ||
184 | =item New Documentation | |
185 | ||
186 | Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here. | |
187 | ||
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188 | B<FIXME> - this could be automated, at least as far as generating a first |
189 | draft. | |
190 | ||
191 | =over | |
192 | ||
193 | =item 1 | |
194 | ||
195 | Start with a clean exploded tarball of the previous release, and a clean | |
196 | checkout of the branch in question | |
197 | ||
198 | =item 2 | |
199 | ||
200 | Take the F<MANIFEST> file of each | |
201 | ||
202 | =item 3 | |
203 | ||
204 | Search for lines matching C<m!^pod/.*\.pod!> | |
205 | ||
206 | =item 4 | |
207 | ||
208 | Diff them | |
209 | ||
210 | =item 5 | |
211 | ||
212 | Explode if anyone deleted documentation. [No idea what the policy on that is | |
213 | yet] | |
214 | ||
215 | =item 6 | |
216 | ||
217 | For each file only in the newer F<MANIFEST> | |
218 | ||
219 | =over | |
220 | ||
60984f2f | 221 | =item 1 |
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222 | |
223 | Use F<git> to determine its Author | |
224 | ||
225 | =item 2 | |
226 | ||
227 | Open the pod file itself | |
228 | ||
229 | =item 3 | |
230 | ||
231 | Grab the description section | |
232 | ||
233 | =item 4 | |
234 | ||
235 | Write out a block of text starting roughly | |
236 | ||
237 | L<perlfoo>, by A. U. Thor, provides @description | |
238 | ||
239 | =back | |
240 | ||
241 | =back | |
242 | ||
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243 | =item Changes to Existing Documentation |
244 | ||
245 | Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here. | |
246 | Any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in | |
247 | L</New or Changed Diagnostics>. | |
248 | ||
249 | =item Performance Enhancements | |
250 | ||
251 | Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here. There | |
252 | may well be none in a stable release. | |
253 | ||
254 | =item Installation and Configuration Improvements | |
255 | ||
256 | Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools | |
257 | go here. | |
258 | ||
259 | =item Selected Bug Fixes | |
260 | ||
261 | Important bug fixes in the core language are summarised here. | |
262 | Bug fixes in files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarised in | |
263 | L</Modules and Pragmata>. | |
264 | ||
265 | =item New or Changed Diagnostics | |
266 | ||
267 | New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here. | |
268 | ||
269 | =item Changed Internals | |
270 | ||
271 | Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here. | |
272 | ||
273 | =item New Tests | |
274 | ||
275 | Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here. Changes to existing files | |
276 | in F<t/> aren't worth summarising, although the bugs that they represent | |
277 | may be. | |
278 | ||
f95a4791 | 279 | Autogenerate this section by running something like this: |
0be987a2 | 280 | |
f95a4791 | 281 | # perl newtests-perldelta.pl v5.11.1 HEAD |
0be987a2 | 282 | |
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283 | =item Known Problems |
284 | ||
285 | Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any | |
286 | tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here, unless | |
287 | they were specific to a particular platform (see below). | |
288 | ||
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289 | =item Deprecations |
290 | ||
291 | Add any new known deprecations here. | |
292 | ||
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293 | =item Platform Specific Notes |
294 | ||
295 | Any changes specific to a particular platform. VMS and Win32 are the usual | |
296 | stars here. It's probably best to group changes under the same section layout | |
297 | as the main perldelta. | |
298 | ||
299 | =item Obituary | |
300 | ||
301 | If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary | |
302 | here. | |
303 | ||
304 | =item Acknowledgements | |
305 | ||
548e9a3a | 306 | Generate this with: |
20a4c497 | 307 | |
548e9a3a | 308 | perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.0..HEAD |
a59108e8 | 309 | |
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310 | =item Reporting Bugs |
311 | ||
312 | This doesn't usually need to be changed from the previous perldelta. | |
313 | ||
314 | =item SEE ALSO | |
315 | ||
316 | This doesn't usually need to be changed from the previous perldelta. | |
317 | ||
318 | =back |