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 v5.15.8
12 This document describes differences between the 5.15.7 release and
15 If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.15.6, first read
16 L<perl5157delta>, which describes differences between 5.15.6 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 ]
31 =head2 Improved ability to mix locales and Unicode, including UTF-8 locales
33 An optional parameter has been added to C<use locale>
35 use locale ':not_characters';
37 which tells Perl to use all but the C<LC_CTYPE> and C<LC_COLLATE>
38 portions of the current locale. Instead, the character set is assumed
39 to be Unicode. This allows locales and Unicode to be seamlessly mixed,
40 including the increasingly frequent UTF-8 locales. When using this
41 hybrid form of locales, the C<:locale> layer to the L<open> pragma can
42 be used to interface with the file system, and there are CPAN modules
43 available for ARGV and environment variable conversions.
45 Full details are in L<perllocale>.
47 =head2 New function C<fc> and corresponding escape sequence C<\F> for Unicode foldcase
49 Unicode foldcase is an extension to lowercase that gives better results
50 when comparing two strings case-insensitively. It has long been used
51 internally in regular expression C</i> matching. Now it is available
52 explicitly through the new C<fc> function call (enabled by
53 S<C<"use feature 'fc'">>, or C<use v5.16>, or explicitly callable via
54 C<CORE::fc>) or through the new C<\F> sequence in double quotish
57 Full details are in L<perlfunc/fc>.
61 XXX Any security-related notices go here. In particular, any security
62 vulnerabilities closed should be noted here rather than in the
63 L</Selected Bug Fixes> section.
65 [ List each security issue as a =head2 entry ]
67 =head1 Incompatible Changes
69 XXX For a release on a stable branch, this section aspires to be:
71 There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.XXX.XXX
72 If any exist, they are bugs, and we request that you submit a
73 report. See L</Reporting Bugs> below.
75 [ List each incompatible change as a =head2 entry ]
79 XXX Any deprecated features, syntax, modules etc. should be listed here.
80 In particular, deprecated modules should be listed here even if they are
81 listed as an updated module in the L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
83 [ List each deprecation as a =head2 entry ]
85 =head1 Performance Enhancements
87 XXX Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here. There
88 may well be none in a stable release.
90 [ List each enhancement as a =item entry ]
100 =head1 Modules and Pragmata
102 XXX All changes to installed files in F<cpan/>, F<dist/>, F<ext/> and F<lib/>
103 go here. If Module::CoreList is updated, generate an initial draft of the
104 following sections using F<Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl>, which prints stub
105 entries to STDOUT. Results can be pasted in place of the '=head2' entries
106 below. A paragraph summary for important changes should then be added by hand.
107 In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a F<Changes> file that could be
110 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry ]
112 =head2 New Modules and Pragmata
122 =head2 Updated Modules and Pragmata
128 L<Compress::Raw::Bzip2> has been upgraded from version 2.045 to version 2.048.
132 L<Compress::Raw::Zlib> has been upgraded from version 2.045 to version 2.048.
136 L<Compress::Zlib> has been upgraded from version 2.046 to version 2.048.
140 L<DB_File> has been upgraded from version 1.824 to version 1.826.
144 L<IPC::Cmd> has been upgraded from version 0.72 to version 0.76.
148 L<Pod::Parser> has been upgraded from version 1.37 to version 1.51.
152 L<Unicode::UCD> has been upgraded from version 0.39 to 0.40.
154 The only change is to fix a formatting error in the Pod.
158 =head2 Removed Modules and Pragmata
170 XXX Changes to files in F<pod/> go here. Consider grouping entries by
171 file and be sure to link to the appropriate page, e.g. L<perlfunc>.
173 =head2 New Documentation
175 XXX Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here.
179 XXX Description of the purpose of the new file here
181 =head2 Changes to Existing Documentation
183 XXX Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here.
184 However, any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in the L</Diagnostics>
193 XXX Description of the change here
199 The following additions or changes have been made to diagnostic output,
200 including warnings and fatal error messages. For the complete list of
201 diagnostic messages, see L<perldiag>.
203 XXX New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here. Also
204 include any changes in L<perldiag> that reconcile it to the C<C> code.
206 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry that links to perldiag,
211 L<Invalid version object|perldiag/"Invalid version object">
214 =head2 New Diagnostics
216 XXX Newly added diagnostic messages go here
224 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
234 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
238 =head2 Changes to Existing Diagnostics
240 XXX Changes (i.e. rewording) of diagnostic messages go here
246 XXX Describe change here
250 =head1 Utility Changes
252 XXX Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go
253 here. Most of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>.
255 [ List utility changes as a =head3 entry for each utility and =item
256 entries for each change
257 Use L<XXX> with program names to get proper documentation linking. ]
269 =head1 Configuration and Compilation
271 XXX Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools
272 go here. Any other changes to the Perl build process should be listed here.
273 However, any platform-specific changes should be listed in the
274 L</Platform Support> section, instead.
276 [ List changes as a =item entry ].
288 XXX Any significant changes to the testing of a freshly built perl should be
289 listed here. Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here as do any
290 large changes to the testing harness (e.g. when parallel testing was added).
291 Changes to existing files in F<t/> aren't worth summarising, although the bugs
292 that they represent may be covered elsewhere.
294 [ List each test improvement as a =item entry ]
304 =head1 Platform Support
306 XXX Any changes to platform support should be listed in the sections below.
308 [ Within the sections, list each platform as a =item entry with specific
309 changes as paragraphs below it. ]
313 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous
314 versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/>
315 directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the
320 =item XXX-some-platform
326 =head2 Discontinued Platforms
328 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl no longer compiles on.
332 =item XXX-some-platform
338 =head2 Platform-Specific Notes
340 XXX List any changes for specific platforms. This could include configuration
341 and compilation changes or changes in portability/compatibility. However,
342 changes within modules for platforms should generally be listed in the
343 L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
347 =item XXX-some-platform
353 =head1 Internal Changes
355 XXX Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here.
356 Other significant internal changes for future core maintainers should
359 [ List each change as a =item entry ]
369 =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
371 XXX Important bug fixes in the core language are summarised here.
372 Bug fixes in files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarised in
373 L</Modules and Pragmata>.
375 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
381 C<~~> now correctly handles the precedence of Any~~Object, and is not tricked
382 by an overloaded object on the left-hand side.
386 =head1 Known Problems
388 XXX Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any
389 tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here, unless
390 they were specific to a particular platform (see below).
392 This is a list of some significant unfixed bugs, which are regressions
393 from either 5.XXX.XXX or 5.XXX.XXX.
395 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
407 XXX If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary
410 =head1 Acknowledgements
412 XXX Generate this with:
414 perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.7..HEAD
416 =head1 Reporting Bugs
418 If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
419 recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
420 bug database at http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ . There may also be
421 information at http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page.
423 If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the L<perlbug>
424 program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
425 to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
426 output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be
427 analysed by the Perl porting team.
429 If the bug you are reporting has security implications, which make it
430 inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then please send
431 it to perl5-security-report@perl.org. This points to a closed subscription
432 unarchived mailing list, which includes
433 all the core committers, who will be able
434 to help assess the impact of issues, figure out a resolution, and help
435 co-ordinate the release of patches to mitigate or fix the problem across all
436 platforms on which Perl is supported. Please only use this address for
437 security issues in the Perl core, not for modules independently
442 The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details
445 The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
447 The F<README> file for general stuff.
449 The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.