5 [ this is a template for a new perldelta file. Any text flagged as
6 XXX needs to be processed before release. ]
8 perldelta - what is new for perl v5.15.4
12 This document describes differences between the 5.15.3 release and
15 If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.15.3, first read
16 L<perl5153delta>, which describes differences between 5.15.3 and
21 XXX Any important notices here
23 =head1 Core Enhancements
25 =head2 $^X converted to an absolute path on FreeBSD, OS X and Solaris
27 C<$^X> is now converted to an absolute path on OS X, FreeBSD (without
28 needing F</proc> mounted) and Solaris 10 and 11. This augments the
29 previous approach of using F</proc> on Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD
30 (in all cases, where mounted).
32 This makes relocatable perl installations more useful on these platforms.
33 (See "Relocatable @INC" in F<INSTALL>)
37 XXX Any security-related notices go here. In particular, any security
38 vulnerabilities closed should be noted here rather than in the
39 L</Selected Bug Fixes> section.
41 [ List each security issue as a =head2 entry ]
43 =head1 Incompatible Changes
45 XXX For a release on a stable branch, this section aspires to be:
47 There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.XXX.XXX
48 If any exist, they are bugs and reports are welcome.
50 [ List each incompatible change as a =head2 entry ]
54 XXX Any deprecated features, syntax, modules etc. should be listed here.
55 In particular, deprecated modules should be listed here even if they are
56 listed as an updated module in the L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
58 [ List each deprecation as a =head2 entry ]
60 =head1 Performance Enhancements
62 XXX Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here. There
63 may well be none in a stable release.
65 [ List each enhancement as a =item entry ]
75 =head1 Modules and Pragmata
77 XXX All changes to installed files in F<cpan/>, F<dist/>, F<ext/> and F<lib/>
78 go here. If Module::CoreList is updated, generate an initial draft of the
79 following sections using F<Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl>, which prints stub
80 entries to STDOUT. Results can be pasted in place of the '=head2' entries
81 below. A paragraph summary for important changes should then be added by hand.
82 In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a F<Changes> file that could be
85 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry ]
87 =head2 New Modules and Pragmata
97 =head2 Updated Modules and Pragmata
103 L<perlfaq> has been upgraded from version 5.0150034 to version 5.0150035.
107 L<Digest> has been upgraded from version 1.16 to version 1.17.
111 L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker> has been upgraded from version 6.59 to version 6.61_01.
115 L<Unicode::Collate> has been upgraded from version 0.78 to version 0.79.
119 L<ExtUtils::ParseXS> has been upgraded from version 3.04_04 to version 3.05.
123 =head2 Removed Modules and Pragmata
135 XXX Changes to files in F<pod/> go here. Consider grouping entries by
136 file and be sure to link to the appropriate page, e.g. L<perlfunc>.
138 =head2 New Documentation
140 XXX Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here.
144 XXX Description of the purpose of the new file here
146 =head2 Changes to Existing Documentation
148 XXX Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here.
149 However, any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in the L</Diagnostics>
158 XXX Description of the change here
164 The following additions or changes have been made to diagnostic output,
165 including warnings and fatal error messages. For the complete list of
166 diagnostic messages, see L<perldiag>.
168 XXX New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here. Also
169 include any changes in L<perldiag> that reconcile it to the C<C> code.
171 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry that links to perldiag,
176 L<Invalid version object|perldiag/"Invalid version object">
179 =head2 New Diagnostics
181 XXX Newly added diagnostic messages go here
189 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
199 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
203 =head2 Changes to Existing Diagnostics
205 XXX Changes (i.e. rewording) of diagnostic messages go here
212 "Code point 0x%X is not Unicode, no properties match it; all inverse
213 prop erties do" has been changed to "Code point 0x%X is not Unicode, all
214 \p{} matches fail; all \P{} matches succeed"
219 =head1 Utility Changes
221 XXX Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go
222 here. Most of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>.
224 [ List utility changes as a =head3 entry for each utility and =item
225 entries for each change
226 Use L<XXX> with program names to get proper documentation linking. ]
238 =head1 Configuration and Compilation
240 XXX Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools
241 go here. Any other changes to the Perl build process should be listed here.
242 However, any platform-specific changes should be listed in the
243 L</Platform Support> section, instead.
245 [ List changes as a =item entry ].
257 XXX Any significant changes to the testing of a freshly built perl should be
258 listed here. Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here as do any
259 large changes to the testing harness (e.g. when parallel testing was added).
260 Changes to existing files in F<t/> aren't worth summarising, although the bugs
261 that they represent may be covered elsewhere.
263 [ List each test improvement as a =item entry ]
269 F<t/porting/checkcfgvar.t> now tests that all config.sh-style files are
270 complete. These are used by the various non-*nix to generate their
271 F<config.h>, and an incomplete input file will generate invalid output.
275 =head1 Platform Support
277 XXX Any changes to platform support should be listed in the sections below.
279 [ Within the sections, list each platform as a =item entry with specific
280 changes as paragraphs below it. ]
284 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous
285 versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/>
286 directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the
291 =item XXX-some-platform
297 =head2 Discontinued Platforms
299 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl no longer compiles on.
303 =item XXX-some-platform
309 =head2 Platform-Specific Notes
311 XXX List any changes for specific platforms. This could include configuration
312 and compilation changes or changes in portability/compatibility. However,
313 changes within modules for platforms should generally be listed in the
314 L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
318 =item XXX-some-platform
324 =head1 Internal Changes
326 XXX Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here.
327 Other significant internal changes for future core maintainers should
330 [ List each change as a =item entry ]
340 =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
342 XXX Important bug fixes in the core language are summarised here.
343 Bug fixes in files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarised in
344 L</Modules and Pragmata>.
346 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
356 =head1 Known Problems
358 XXX Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any
359 tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here, unless
360 they were specific to a particular platform (see below).
362 This is a list of some significant unfixed bugs, which are regressions
363 from either 5.XXX.XXX or 5.XXX.XXX.
365 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
377 XXX If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary
380 =head1 Acknowledgements
382 XXX Generate this with:
384 perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.3..HEAD
386 =head1 Reporting Bugs
388 If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
389 recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
390 bug database at http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ . There may also be
391 information at http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page.
393 If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the L<perlbug>
394 program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
395 to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
396 output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be
397 analysed by the Perl porting team.
399 If the bug you are reporting has security implications, which make it
400 inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then please send
401 it to perl5-security-report@perl.org. This points to a closed subscription
402 unarchived mailing list, which includes
403 all the core committers, who will be able
404 to help assess the impact of issues, figure out a resolution, and help
405 co-ordinate the release of patches to mitigate or fix the problem across all
406 platforms on which Perl is supported. Please only use this address for
407 security issues in the Perl core, not for modules independently
412 The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details
415 The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
417 The F<README> file for general stuff.
419 The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.