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[perl5.git] / Porting / release_managers_guide.pod
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1=head1 NAME
2
3release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x
4
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5As of August 2009, this file is mostly complete, although it is missing
6some detail on doing a major release (e.g. 5.10.0 -> 5.12.0). Note that
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7things change at each release, so there may be new things not covered
8here, or tools may need updating.
f6af4394 9
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10=head1 SYNOPSIS
11
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12This document describes the series of tasks required - some automatic, some
13manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a snaphot,
8c35d285 14release candidate, or final, numbered release of maint or blead.
f6af4394 15
8c35d285 16The release process has traditionally been executed by the current
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17pumpking. Blead releases from 5.11.0 forward are made each month on the
1820th by a non-pumpking release engineer. The release engineer roster
19and schedule can be found in Porting/release_schedule.pod.
7277a900 20
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21This document both helps as a check-list for the release engineer
22and is a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated
23or distributed.
7277a900 24
636a1918 25The outline of a typical release cycle is as follows:
f6af4394 26
636a1918 27 (5.10.1 is released, and post-release actions have been done)
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28
29 ...time passes...
30
31 an occasional snapshot is released, that still identifies itself as
32 5.10.1
33
34 ...time passes...
35
36 a few weeks before the release, a number of steps are performed,
37 including bumping the version to 5.10.2
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38
39 ...a few weeks passes...
46743ef7 40
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41 perl-5.10.2-RC1 is released
42
43 perl-5.10.2 is released
44
45 post-release actions are performed, including creating new
46 perl5103delta.pod
47
48 ... the cycle continues ...
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49
50=head1 DETAILS
51
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52Some of the tasks described below apply to all four types of
53release of Perl. (snapshot, RC, final release of maint, final
54release of blead). Some of these tasks apply only to a subset
55of these release types. If a step does not apply to a given
56type of release, you will see a notation to that effect at
57the beginning of the step.
58
59=head2 Release types
60
61=over 4
62
63=item Snapshot
64
65A snapshot is intended to encourage in-depth testing from time-to-time,
66for example after a key point in the stabilisation of a branch. It
67requires fewer steps than a full release, and the version number of perl in
68the tarball will usually be the same as that of the previous release.
69
70=item Release Candidate (RC)
71
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72A release candidate is an attempt to produce a tarball that is a close as
73possible to the final release. Indeed, unless critical faults are found
74during the RC testing, the final release will be identical to the RC
75barring a few minor fixups (updating the release date in F<perlhist.pod>,
76removing the RC status from F<patchlevel.h>, etc). If faults are found,
77then the fixes should be put into a new release candidate, never directly
78into a final release.
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79
80=item Stable/Maint release
81
82At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
83changes since.
84
85It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
86with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
87
88=item Blead release
89
90It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
91with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
92
93=back
7277a900 94
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95=head2 Prerequisites
96
97Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
98hoops you need to jump through:
99
100=over 4
101
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102=item PAUSE account
103
104I<SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
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105
106Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
107If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
108
109 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
110
111Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: goto
112https://pause.perl.org/, login, then select 'upload file to CPAN'; there
113should be a "For pumpkings only: Send a CC" tickbox. If not, ask Andreas
114König to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something
115called perl. You can find Andreas' email address at:
4d2c8158 116
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117 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
118
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119=item search.cpan.org
120
121Make sure that search.cpan.org knows that you're allowed to upload
122perl distros. Contact Graham Barr to make sure that you're on the right
123list.
124
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125=item CPAN mirror
126
127Some release engineering steps require a full mirror of the CPAN.
128Work to fall back to using a remote mirror via HTTP is incomplete
129but ongoing. (No, a minicpan mirror is not sufficient)
130
131=item git checkout and commit bit
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132
133You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
134git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
135with perl and git, see F<pod/perlrepository.pod>.
136
137If you are not yet a perl committer, you won't be able to make a
138release. Have a chat with whichever evil perl porter tried to talk
139you into the idea in the first place to figure out the best way to
140resolve the issue.
141
f6af4394 142
8c35d285 143=item Quotation for release announcement epigraph
f6af4394 144
8c35d285 145I<SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT and RC>
f6af4394 146
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147For a numbered blead or maint release of perl, you will need a quotation
148to use as an epigraph to your release announcement. (There's no harm
149in having one for a snapshot, but it's not required).
46743ef7 150
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151
152=back
153
f6af4394 154
2e831dfd 155=head2 Building a release - advance actions
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156
157The work of building a release candidate for a numbered release of
158perl generally starts several weeks before the first release candidate.
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159Some of the following steps should be done regularly, but all I<must> be
160done in the run up to a release.
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161
162=over 4
163
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164=item *
165
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166I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
167
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168Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
169run the following:
170
db3f805e 171 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
7277a900 172
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173to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
174then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
175C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
176C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads.
7277a900 177
f6af4394 178To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
7277a900 179
db3f805e 180 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
7277a900 181
52a66c2c 182If you are making a maint release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
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183maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
184necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
185and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
186have some extra changes.
187
f6af4394 188=item *
7277a900 189
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190I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
191
f6af4394 192Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
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193
194 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
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195 did it fail identically on $previous?
196 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
197 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
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198
199 attempt to group failure causes
200
201 for each failure cause
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202 is that a regression?
203 if yes, figure out how to fix it
204 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
205 else
206 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
207 should the existing behaviour stay?
208 yes - goto "regression"
209 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
210 (also, try to inform the module's author)
1aff5354 211
f6af4394 212=item *
7277a900 213
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214I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
215
f6af4394 216Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
7277a900 217
f6af4394 218=item *
7277a900 219
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220I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
221
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222Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
223fix.
224
225=item *
226
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227I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
228
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229Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
230previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
231numbers but different contents, e.g.:
7277a900 232
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233 $ cd ~/some-perl-root
234 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
235
236then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
237changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
238number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
239then compare against both.
240
241Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
242to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
243make sure you edit the correct file!
244
245Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.
246
247Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
248also sensible.
249
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250 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -d ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
251
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252=item *
253
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254I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
255
f6af4394 256Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
db3f805e 257
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258Peruse F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
259every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
260edit the whole document.
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261
262=item *
263
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264I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
265
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266A week or two before the first release candidate, bump the perl version
267number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1), to allow sufficient time for testing
268and smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
269subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary
270to bump the version further.
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271
272There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
273First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
274edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
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275scan the source directory looking for likely candidates. The command line
276arguments are the old and new version numbers, and -s means scan:
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277
278 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
279
52a66c2c 280This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, e.g.:
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281
282 NetWare/Makefile
283
284 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
285 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
286
287i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
288Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
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289want changing. You can also edit just the C<+> line to change the
290suggested replacement text. Remember that this tool is largely just
291grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be
292careful not change text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
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293
294 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
295
54356a6f 296which will update all the files shown.
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297
298Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
299C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
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300some of which need to be left unchanged. Also note that this tool
301currently only detects a single substitution per line: so in particular,
302this line in README.vms needs special handling:
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303
304 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
7277a900 305
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306Have a look a couple lines up from that. You'll see roman numerals.
307Update those too. Find someone with VMS clue if you have to update
308the Roman numerals for a .0 release.
309
310Commit your changes:
311
312 $ git st
313 $ git diff
314 B<review the delta carefully>
315
316 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
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317
318=item *
319
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320I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
321
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322Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
323in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
324
f6af4394 325=item *
7277a900 326
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327I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
328
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329Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
330all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
331not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
7277a900 332
b4d6b7c5 333 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl-5.12.0
7277a900 334
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335Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
336exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
337correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
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338if C<git log> produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
339right time period (you may find C<git log --pretty=oneline | wc> useful).
dc0a62a1 340
f6af4394 341=item *
7277a900 342
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343Check some more build configurations. The check that setuid builds and
344installs is for < 5.11.0 only.
345
346 $ sh Configure -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y -Uinstallusrbinperl \
347 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
348 $ make
349 $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` make test # or similar for useshrplib
7277a900 350
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351 $ make suidperl
352 $ su -c 'make install'
353 $ ls -l .../bin/sperl
354 -rws--x--x 1 root root 69974 2009-08-22 21:55 .../bin/sperl
7277a900 355
52a66c2c 356(Then delete the installation directory.)
7277a900 357
52a66c2c 358XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
7277a900 359
f6af4394 360=item *
7277a900 361
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362I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
363
f6af4394 364Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
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365necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings for porters
366already in F<AUTHORS>
f6af4394 367
ce80ee91 368 $ git log | perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --acknowledged AUTHORS -
f6af4394 369
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370=back
371
372=head2 Building a release - on the day
373
374This section describes the actions required to make a release (or snapshot
375etc) that are performed on the actual day.
376
377=over 4
378
379=item *
380
381Review all the items in the previous section,
382L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
383up-to-date.
384
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385=item *
386
a0db33fe 387I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
2e831dfd 388
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389Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
390remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
391with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
392run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
2e831dfd 393
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394 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perl5101delta.pod
395 $ spell pod/perl5101delta.pod
2e831dfd 396
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397Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
398formatting, e.g.
2e831dfd 399
bf8ea215 400 $ perl pod/pod2html pod/perl5101delta.pod > /tmp/perl5101delta.html
2e831dfd 401
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402=item *
403
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404Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
405unpushed commits etc):
8c35d285 406
a0db33fe 407 $ git status
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408
409=item *
410
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411If not already built, Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile
412and porting tools:
8c35d285 413
52a66c2c 414 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
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415
416=item *
417
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418Check that files managed by F<regen.pl> and friends are up to date. From
419within your working directory:
8c35d285 420
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421 $ git status
422 $ make regen
423 $ make regen_perly
424 $ git status
8c35d285 425
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426If any of the files managed by F<regen.pl> have changed, then you should
427re-make perl to check that it's okay, then commit the updated versions:
8c35d285 428
73ec421b 429 $ git commit -a -m 'make regen; make regen_perly'
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430
431=item *
432
a0db33fe 433Rebuild META.yml:
bfadf2ba 434
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435 $ rm META.yml
436 $ make META.yml
437 $ git diff
bfadf2ba 438
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439XXX it would be nice to make Porting/makemeta use regen_lib.pl
440to get the same 'update the file if its changed' functionality
441we get with 'make regen' etc.
bfadf2ba 442
a0db33fe 443Commit META.yml if it has changed:
dd0e54ba 444
a0db33fe 445 $ git commit -m 'Update META.yml' META.yml
dd0e54ba 446
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447=item *
448
449I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
450
52a66c2c 451Update C<Module::Corelist> with module version data for the new release.
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452
453Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
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454from the maint directory, but commit the C<Corelist.pm> changes in
455I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it.
bfadf2ba 456
a0db33fe 457F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
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458modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
459to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely.
460
461(If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
462http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
463
a0db33fe 464Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
bfadf2ba 465
a0db33fe 466 $ make perl
bfadf2ba 467
52a66c2c 468If this not the first update for this version, first edit
d5bddf6e 469F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
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470entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
471they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
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472
473XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
474be fixed to handle this automatically.
475
bf8ea215 476Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
bfadf2ba 477
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478 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
479
480Otherwise, run:
481
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482 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
483
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484This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
485badly-indexed CPABN modules unreltaed to the modules actually in core.
2ce7d676 486Assuming all goes well, it will update
d5bddf6e 487F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
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488
489Check that file over carefully:
490
d5bddf6e 491 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
bfadf2ba 492
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493If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
494every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
495appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
496
497Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
498entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
499
a0db33fe 500In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
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501
502=over 4
503
504=item *
505
506Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
507
508=item *
509
510Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
511
512=back
513
514Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
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515(unless this is for maint; in which case commit it blead first, then
516cherry-pick it back).
bfadf2ba 517
770cf6ff 518 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
bfadf2ba 519
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520=item *
521
a0db33fe 522Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
8c35d285 523
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524 $ make manisort
525 $ make distclean
300b5357 526 $ git clean -xdf # This shouldn't be necessary if distclean is correct
a0db33fe 527 $ perl Porting/manicheck
52a66c2c 528 $ git status
a0db33fe 529
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530 XXX manifest _sorting_ is now checked with make test_porting
531
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532Commit MANIFEST if it has changed:
533
534 $ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
535
536=item *
537
538I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
539
540Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.:
541
542 David 5.10.1-RC1 2009-Aug-06
543
544Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
545if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
546sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
547C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
548
549Be sure to commit your changes:
550
551 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
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552
553=item *
554
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555I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
556
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557Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
558a final release, remove it. For example:
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559
560 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
561 NULL
562 + ,"RC1"
563 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
564
565Be sure to commit your change:
566
567 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
568
569=item *
570
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571Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
572
573 $ git clean -xdf
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574 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
575
576 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
a0db33fe 577 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
a42352ee 578
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579 $ make test install
580
581=item *
582
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583Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
584C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
a0db33fe 585especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
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586paths. Note that as they have been been built from a git working
587directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
588commits.
589
590Then delete the temporary installation.
591
592=item *
593
594If this is maint release, make sure F<Porting/mergelog> is saved and
595committed.
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596
597=item *
598
599Push all your recent commits:
600
601 $ git push origin ....
602
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603
604=item *
605
606I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
607
608Tag the release:
609
610 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m'First release of the v5.11 series!'
611
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612It is VERY important that from this point forward, you not push
613your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
614wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
615and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
616and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
617
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618=item *
619
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620Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
621the tarball and directory name:
622
623 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
624 $ make distclean
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625 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
626 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
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627
628 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
629 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
630 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
631
632This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
633the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
634adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
635F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
636
96054f12 637
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638XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
639here
640
641=item *
642
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643Clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
644
645 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
646
647=item *
648
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649Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
650have access to.
651
652=item *
653
654Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
655you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
656and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
657to find willing victims.
658
659=item *
660
661Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
662
663 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
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664
665=item *
666
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667Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
668
a42352ee 669 $ make distclean
8c35d285 670 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
a42352ee 671 $ cd /install/path
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672
673=item *
674
675Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
676especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
677paths.
678
679Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
680which is why you should test from the tarball.
681
682=item *
683
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684Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility:
685
686 $ bin/perlivp
687 ...
688 All tests successful.
689 $
690
691=item *
692
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693Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
694release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
695have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
696for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
697For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
698previous is 5.10.0:
699
700 cd installdir-5.10.0/
701 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
702 cd installdir-5.10.1/
703 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
704 diff -u /tmp/f[12]
705
706=item *
707
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708Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
709
75a012fe 710 $ bin/perl -MCPAN -e'shell'
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711
712=item *
713
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714Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
715has dependencies; for example:
8c35d285 716
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717 CPAN> install Inline
718 CPAN> quit
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719
720Check that your perl can run this:
721
75a012fe 722 $ bin/perl -lwe 'use Inline C => "int f() { return 42;} "; print f'
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723 42
724 $
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725
726=item *
727
728Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
729
75a012fe 730 $ bin/cpanp
8c35d285 731
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732=item *
733
a42352ee 734Install an XS module, for example:
8c35d285 735
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736 CPAN Terminal> i DBI
737 CPAN Terminal> quit
738 $ bin/perl -MDBI -e 1
75a012fe 739 $
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740
741=item *
742
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743I<If you're building a SNAPSHOT, you should STOP HERE>
744
745=item *
8c35d285 746
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747Check that the C<perlbug> utility works. Try the following:
748
a14438df 749 $ bin/perlbug
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750 ...
751 Subject: test bug report
752 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
753 Editor [vi]:
754 Module:
755 Category [core]:
756 Severity [low]:
757 (edit report)
758 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
759 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
760 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
761
762and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
763the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
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764delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
765report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
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766
767=item *
768
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769Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
770based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
7277a900 771
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772Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
773back and fix things.
7277a900 774
7277a900 775
f6af4394 776=item *
7277a900 777
f6af4394 778Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
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779If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
780a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
781
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782 https://pause.perl.org/
783
784(Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
785
a42352ee 786Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
f6af4394 787
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788=item *
789
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790Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
791time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo:
792
793 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
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794
795=item *
796
a42352ee 797Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
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798
799 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
800 NULL
801 - ,"RC1"
802 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
803
804Be sure to commit your change:
805
806 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
a14438df 807 $ git push origin ....
d7eb1120 808
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809
810=item *
811
db3f805e 812Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
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813
814=item *
815
816Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
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817(if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
818do it for you.)
f6af4394 819
f6af4394 820=item *
7277a900 821
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822Ask Jarkko to add the tarball to http://www.cpan.org/src/
823
824=item *
825
bc4c40f2 826I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
7277a900 827
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828Ask Jarkko to update the descriptions of which tarballs are current in
829http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html, and Rafael to update
830http://dev.perl.org/perl5/
7277a900 831
f6af4394 832=item *
7277a900 833
bc4c40f2 834I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
8c35d285 835
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836Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
837to CPAN.
7277a900 838
75a012fe 839=item *
a2cba4bc 840
bc4c40f2 841I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
7277a900 842
75a012fe 843Bump the perlXYZ version number.
7277a900 844
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845First, create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
846see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
7277a900 847
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848You should be able to do this by just copying in a skeleton template and
849then doing a quick fix up of the version numbers, e.g.
7277a900 850
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851 $ cp -i Porting/perldelta_template pod/perl5102delta.pod
852 $ (edit it)
853 $ git add pod/perl5102delta.pod
7277a900 854
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855Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'D', and unflag the previous
856entry from being 'D'; for example:
857
858 -D perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
859 +D perl5102delta Perl changes in version 5.10.2
860 + perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
7277a900 861
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862Run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the F<perldelta> version in
863the following files:
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864
865 MANIFEST
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866 Makefile.SH
867 pod.lst
57433fbf 868 pod/perl.pod
57433fbf 869 vms/descrip_mms.template
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870 win32/Makefile
871 win32/makefile.mk
872 win32/pod.mak
873
874Then manually edit (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> to bump the version
875in the following entry:
57433fbf 876
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877 [.pod]perldelta.pod : [.pod]perl5101delta.pod
878
879XXX this previous step needs to fixed to automate it in pod/buildtoc.
880
881Manually update references to the perlNNNdelta version in these files:
882
883 INSTALL
884 README
885
886Edit the previous delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta>
887to C<perlNNNdelta>.
888
889These two lists of files probably aren't exhaustive; do a recursive grep
890on the previous filename to look for suitable candidates that may have
891been missed.
892
893Finally, commit:
894
895 $ git commit -a -m 'create perlXXXdelta'
896
897At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
898see if they look similar. See commit ca8de22071 for an example of a
899previous version bump.
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900
901=item *
902
bc4c40f2 903I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
dc0a62a1 904
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905If this was a maint release, then edit F<Porting/mergelog> to change
906all the C<d> (deferred) flags to C<.> (needs review).
addebd58 907
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908=item *
909
bc4c40f2 910I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
addebd58 911
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912If this was a major release (5.x.0), then create a new maint branch
913based on the commit tagged as the current release and bump the version
914in the blead branch in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
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915
916[ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
f6af4394 917C<lib/feature.pm> ]
7277a900 918
8c35d285 919XXX need a git recipe
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920
921=item *
922
bc4c40f2 923I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
8c35d285 924
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925Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
926example:
7277a900 927
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928 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perl5101delta.pod pod/ # for example
929 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
930
931Edit F<pod.lst> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
932
933 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
bc4c40f2 934
75a012fe 935Then rebuild various files:
7277a900 936
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937 $ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
938
939Finally, commit:
940
941 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
7277a900 942
f6af4394 943=item *
7277a900 944
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945Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
946F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
947e.g.
7277a900 948
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949 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
950 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
951 5.8.9 2008-Dec-14
7277a900 952
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953=item *
954
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955I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
956much-needed rest and relaxation>.
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957
958Thanks for releasing perl!
959
7277a900
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960=back
961
962=head1 SOURCE
963
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964Based on
965http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
966plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.
7277a900
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967
968=cut
969