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 v5.15.3
12 This document describes differences between the 5.15.2 release and
15 If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.15.1, first read
16 L<perl5152delta>, which describes differences between 5.15.1 and
21 XXX Any important notices here
23 =head1 Core Enhancements
25 XXX New core language features go here. Summarise user-visible core language
26 enhancements. Particularly prominent performance optimisations could go
27 here, but most should go in the L</Performance Enhancements> section.
29 [ List each enhancement as a =head2 entry ]
33 XXX Any security-related notices go here. In particular, any security
34 vulnerabilities closed should be noted here rather than in the
35 L</Selected Bug Fixes> section.
37 [ List each security issue as a =head2 entry ]
39 =head1 Incompatible Changes
41 =head2 User-defined case changing operations.
43 This feature was deprecated in Perl 5.14, and has now been removed.
44 The CPAN module L<Unicode::Casing> provides better functionality without
45 the drawbacks that this feature had, as are detailed in the 5.14
47 L<http://perldoc.perl.org/5.14.0/perlunicode.html#User-Defined-Case-Mappings-%28for-serious-hackers-only%29>
49 =head2 XSUBs are now 'static'
51 XSUB C functions are now 'static', that is, they are not visible from
52 outside the compilation unit. For the exceedingly rare case where
53 this is not desired, a new public macro C<XS_EXTERNAL(name)> can be
54 used in place of C<XS(name)>. C<ExtUtils::ParseXS> (C<xsubpp>)
55 can be made to declare XSUBs with C<XS_EXTERNAL> using the
56 C<EXPORT_XSUB_SYMBOLS> keyword, see L<perlxs> for details.
60 XXX Any deprecated features, syntax, modules etc. should be listed here.
61 In particular, deprecated modules should be listed here even if they are
62 listed as an updated module in the L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
64 [ List each deprecation as a =head2 entry ]
66 =head1 Performance Enhancements
68 XXX Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here. There
69 may well be none in a stable release.
71 [ List each enhancement as a =item entry ]
81 =head1 Modules and Pragmata
83 XXX All changes to installed files in F<cpan/>, F<dist/>, F<ext/> and F<lib/>
84 go here. If Module::CoreList is updated, generate an initial draft of the
85 following sections using F<Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl>, which prints stub
86 entries to STDOUT. Results can be pasted in place of the '=head2' entries
87 below. A paragraph summary for important changes should then be added by hand.
88 In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a F<Changes> file that could be
91 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry ]
93 =head2 New Modules and Pragmata
103 =head2 Updated Modules and Pragmata
109 L<Archive::Extract> has been upgraded from version 0.52 to version 0.54
111 Resolved an issue where C<unzip> executable was present in C<PATH> on MSWin32
115 =head2 Removed Modules and Pragmata
127 XXX Changes to files in F<pod/> go here. Consider grouping entries by
128 file and be sure to link to the appropriate page, e.g. L<perlfunc>.
130 =head2 New Documentation
132 XXX Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here.
136 XXX Description of the purpose of the new file here
138 =head2 Changes to Existing Documentation
140 XXX Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here.
141 However, any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in the L</Diagnostics>
150 XXX Description of the change here
156 The following additions or changes have been made to diagnostic output,
157 including warnings and fatal error messages. For the complete list of
158 diagnostic messages, see L<perldiag>.
160 XXX New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here. Also
161 include any changes in L<perldiag> that reconcile it to the C<C> code.
163 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry that links to perldiag,
168 L<Invalid version object|perldiag/"Invalid version object">
171 =head2 New Diagnostics
173 XXX Newly added diagnostic messages go here
181 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
191 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
195 =head2 Changes to Existing Diagnostics
197 XXX Changes (i.e. rewording) of diagnostic messages go here
203 XXX Describe change here
207 =head1 Utility Changes
209 XXX Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go
210 here. Most of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>.
212 [ List utility changes as a =head3 entry for each utility and =item
213 entries for each change
214 Use L<XXX> with program names to get proper documentation linking. ]
226 =head1 Configuration and Compilation
228 XXX Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools
229 go here. Any other changes to the Perl build process should be listed here.
230 However, any platform-specific changes should be listed in the
231 L</Platform Support> section, instead.
233 [ List changes as a =item entry ].
245 XXX Any significant changes to the testing of a freshly built perl should be
246 listed here. Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here as do any
247 large changes to the testing harness (e.g. when parallel testing was added).
248 Changes to existing files in F<t/> aren't worth summarising, although the bugs
249 that they represent may be covered elsewhere.
251 [ List each test improvement as a =item entry ]
261 =head1 Platform Support
263 XXX Any changes to platform support should be listed in the sections below.
265 [ Within the sections, list each platform as a =item entry with specific
266 changes as paragraphs below it. ]
270 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous
271 versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/>
272 directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the
277 =item XXX-some-platform
283 =head2 Discontinued Platforms
285 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl no longer compiles on.
289 =item XXX-some-platform
295 =head2 Platform-Specific Notes
297 XXX List any changes for specific platforms. This could include configuration
298 and compilation changes or changes in portability/compatibility. However,
299 changes within modules for platforms should generally be listed in the
300 L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
304 =item XXX-some-platform
310 =head1 Internal Changes
312 XXX Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here.
313 Other significant internal changes for future core maintainers should
316 [ List each change as a =item entry ]
326 =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
328 XXX Important bug fixes in the core language are summarised here.
329 Bug fixes in files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarised in
330 L</Modules and Pragmata>.
332 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
342 =head1 Known Problems
344 XXX Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any
345 tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here, unless
346 they were specific to a particular platform (see below).
348 This is a list of some significant unfixed bugs, which are regressions
349 from either 5.XXX.XXX or 5.XXX.XXX.
351 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
363 XXX If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary
366 =head1 Acknowledgements
368 XXX Generate this with:
370 perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.2..HEAD
372 =head1 Reporting Bugs
374 If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
375 recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
376 bug database at http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ . There may also be
377 information at http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page.
379 If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the L<perlbug>
380 program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
381 to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
382 output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be
383 analysed by the Perl porting team.
385 If the bug you are reporting has security implications, which make it
386 inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then please send
387 it to perl5-security-report@perl.org. This points to a closed subscription
388 unarchived mailing list, which includes
389 all the core committers, who will be able
390 to help assess the impact of issues, figure out a resolution, and help
391 co-ordinate the release of patches to mitigate or fix the problem across all
392 platforms on which Perl is supported. Please only use this address for
393 security issues in the Perl core, not for modules independently
398 The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details
401 The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
403 The F<README> file for general stuff.
405 The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.