5 [ this is a template for a new perldelta file. Any text flagged as XXX needs
6 to be processed before release. ]
8 perldelta - what is new for perl v5.17.9
12 This document describes differences between the 5.17.8 release and the 5.17.9
15 If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.17.7, first read
16 L<perl5178delta>, which describes differences between 5.17.7 and 5.17.8.
20 XXX Any important notices here
22 =head1 Core Enhancements
24 XXX New core language features go here. Summarize user-visible core language
25 enhancements. Particularly prominent performance optimisations could go
26 here, but most should go in the L</Performance Enhancements> section.
28 [ List each enhancement as a =head2 entry ]
32 XXX Any security-related notices go here. In particular, any security
33 vulnerabilities closed should be noted here rather than in the
34 L</Selected Bug Fixes> section.
36 [ List each security issue as a =head2 entry ]
38 =head1 Incompatible Changes
40 XXX For a release on a stable branch, this section aspires to be:
42 There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.XXX.XXX
43 If any exist, they are bugs, and we request that you submit a
44 report. See L</Reporting Bugs> below.
46 [ List each incompatible change as a =head2 entry ]
50 XXX Any deprecated features, syntax, modules etc. should be listed here. In
51 particular, deprecated modules should be listed here even if they are listed as
52 an updated module in the L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
54 [ List each deprecation as a =head2 entry ]
56 =head2 Five additional characters should be escaped in patterns with C</x>
58 When a regular expression pattern is compiled with C</x>, Perl treats 6
59 characters as white space to ignore, such as SPACE and TAB. However,
60 Unicode recommends 11 characters be treated thusly. In preparation to
61 conforming with this in a future Perl version, in the meantime, use of
62 any of the missing characters will raise a deprecation warning, unless
63 turned off. The five characters are:
65 U+200E LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK,
66 U+200F RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK,
67 U+2028 LINE SEPARATOR,
69 U+2029 PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR.
71 =head1 Performance Enhancements
73 XXX Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here.
74 There may well be none in a stable release.
76 [ List each enhancement as a =item entry ]
86 =head1 Modules and Pragmata
88 XXX All changes to installed files in F<cpan/>, F<dist/>, F<ext/> and F<lib/>
89 go here. If Module::CoreList is updated, generate an initial draft of the
90 following sections using F<Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl>, which prints stub
91 entries to STDOUT. Results can be pasted in place of the '=head2' entries
92 below. A paragraph summary for important changes should then be added by hand.
93 In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a F<Changes> file that could be
96 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry ]
98 =head2 New Modules and Pragmata
108 =head2 Updated Modules and Pragmata
114 L<PerlIO::scalar> has been upgraded from version 0.15 to 0.16.
116 The buffer scalar supplied may now only contain code pounts 0xFF or
117 lower. [perl #109828]
121 =head2 Removed Modules and Pragmata
133 XXX Changes to files in F<pod/> go here. Consider grouping entries by
134 file and be sure to link to the appropriate page, e.g. L<perlfunc>.
136 =head2 New Documentation
138 XXX Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here.
142 XXX Description of the purpose of the new file here
144 =head2 Changes to Existing Documentation
146 XXX Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here.
147 However, any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in the L</Diagnostics>
156 XXX Description of the change here
162 The following additions or changes have been made to diagnostic output,
163 including warnings and fatal error messages. For the complete list of
164 diagnostic messages, see L<perldiag>.
166 XXX New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here. Also
167 include any changes in L<perldiag> that reconcile it to the C<C> code.
169 =head2 New Diagnostics
171 XXX Newly added diagnostic messages go under here, separated into New Errors
180 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
190 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
194 =head2 Changes to Existing Diagnostics
196 XXX Changes (i.e. rewording) of diagnostic messages go here
202 XXX Describe change here
206 =head1 Utility Changes
208 XXX Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go here.
209 Most of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>.
211 [ List utility changes as a =head3 entry for each utility and =item
212 entries for each change
213 Use L<XXX> with program names to get proper documentation linking. ]
225 =head1 Configuration and Compilation
227 XXX Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools
228 go here. Any other changes to the Perl build process should be listed here.
229 However, any platform-specific changes should be listed in the
230 L</Platform Support> section, instead.
232 [ List changes as a =item entry ].
244 XXX Any significant changes to the testing of a freshly built perl should be
245 listed here. Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here as do any
246 large changes to the testing harness (e.g. when parallel testing was added).
247 Changes to existing files in F<t/> aren't worth summarizing, although the bugs
248 that they represent may be covered elsewhere.
250 [ List each test improvement as a =item entry ]
260 =head1 Platform Support
262 XXX Any changes to platform support should be listed in the sections below.
264 [ Within the sections, list each platform as a =item entry with specific
265 changes as paragraphs below it. ]
269 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous
270 versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/>
271 directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the
276 =item XXX-some-platform
282 =head2 Discontinued Platforms
284 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl no longer compiles on.
288 =item XXX-some-platform
294 =head2 Platform-Specific Notes
296 XXX List any changes for specific platforms. This could include configuration
297 and compilation changes or changes in portability/compatibility. However,
298 changes within modules for platforms should generally be listed in the
299 L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
303 =item XXX-some-platform
309 =head1 Internal Changes
311 XXX Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here. Other
312 significant internal changes for future core maintainers should be noted as
315 [ List each change as a =item entry ]
325 =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
327 XXX Important bug fixes in the core language are summarized here. Bug fixes in
328 files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarized in L</Modules and Pragmata>.
330 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
336 -DPERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT builds now free the global struct B<after>
337 they've finished using it.
341 =head1 Known Problems
343 XXX Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any
344 tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here. Unfixed
345 platform specific bugs also go here.
347 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
359 XXX If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary
362 =head1 Acknowledgements
364 XXX Generate this with:
366 perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.17.8..HEAD
368 =head1 Reporting Bugs
370 If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles recently
371 posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl bug database at
372 http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ . There may also be information at
373 http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page.
375 If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the L<perlbug> program
376 included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down to a tiny but
377 sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the output of C<perl -V>,
378 will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be analysed by the Perl porting team.
380 If the bug you are reporting has security implications, which make it
381 inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then please send it
382 to perl5-security-report@perl.org. This points to a closed subscription
383 unarchived mailing list, which includes all the core committers, who will be
384 able to help assess the impact of issues, figure out a resolution, and help
385 co-ordinate the release of patches to mitigate or fix the problem across all
386 platforms on which Perl is supported. Please only use this address for
387 security issues in the Perl core, not for modules independently distributed on
392 The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details on
395 The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
397 The F<README> file for general stuff.
399 The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.