5 perldelta - what is new for perl v5.26.0
9 This document describes the differences between the 5.24.0 release and the
12 =head1 Core Enhancements
14 =head2 New regular expression modifier C</xx>
16 Specifying two C<x> characters to modify a regular expression pattern
17 does everything that a single one does, but additionally TAB and SPACE
18 characters within a bracketed character class are generally ignored and
19 can be added to improve readability, like
20 S<C</[ ^ A-Z d-f p-x ]/xx>>. Details are at
21 L<perlre/E<sol>x and E<sol>xx>.
23 =head2 New Hash Function For 64-bit Builds
25 We have switched to a hybrid hash function to better balance
26 performance for short and long keys.
28 For short keys, 16 bytes and under, we use an optimised variant of
29 One At A Time Hard, and for longer keys we use Siphash 1-3. For very
30 long keys this is a big improvement in performance. For shorter keys
31 there is a modest improvement.
33 =head2 Indented Here-documents
35 This adds a new modifier '~' to here-docs that tells the parser
36 that it should look for /^\s*$DELIM\n/ as the closing delimiter.
38 These syntaxes are all supported:
49 The '~' modifier will strip, from each line in the here-doc, the
50 same whitespace that appears before the delimiter.
52 Newlines will be copied as is, and lines that don't include the
53 proper beginning whitespace will cause perl to croak.
63 prints "Hello there\n" with no leading whitespace.
67 Perl now provides a way to build perl without C<.> in @INC by default. If you
68 want this feature, you can build with -Ddefault_inc_excludes_dot
70 Because the testing / make process for perl modules does not function well with
71 C<.> missing from @INC, Perl now supports the environment variable
72 PERL_USE_UNSAFE_INC=1 which makes Perl behave as it previously did, returning
73 C<.> to @INC in all child processes.
75 =head2 @{^CAPTURE}, %{^CAPTURE}, and %{^CAPTURE_ALL}
77 C<@{^CAPTURE}> exposes the capture buffers of the last match as an
78 array. So C<$1> is C<${^CAPTURE}[0]>. This is a more efficient equivalent
79 to code like C<substr($matched_string,$-[0],$+[0]-$-[0])>, and you don't
80 have to keep track of the C<$matched_string> either. This variable has no
81 single character equivalent. Note like the other regex magic variables
82 the contents of this variable is dynamic, if you wish to store it beyond
83 the lifetime of the match you must copy it to another array.
85 C<%{^CAPTURE}> is the equivalent to C<%+> (ie named captures). Other than
86 being more self documenting there is no difference between the two forms.
88 C<%{^CAPTURE_ALL}> is the equivalent to C<%-> (ie all named captures).
89 Other than being more self documenting there is no difference between the
92 =head2 Unicode 9.0 is now supported
94 A list of changes is at L<http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode9.0.0/>.
95 Modules that are shipped with core Perl but not maintained by p5p do not
96 necessarily support Unicode 9.0. L<Unicode::Normalize> does work on 9.0.
98 =head2 Use of C<\p{I<script>}> uses the improved Script_Extensions property
100 Unicode 6.0 introduced an improved form of the Script (C<sc>) property, and
101 called it Script_Extensions (C<scx>). As of now, Perl uses this improved
102 version when a property is specified as just C<\p{I<script>}>. The meaning of
103 compound forms, like C<\p{sc=I<script>}> are unchanged. This should make
104 programs be more accurate when determining if a character is used in a given
105 script, but there is a slight chance of breakage for programs that very
106 specifically needed the old behavior. See L<perlunicode/Scripts>.
108 =head2 Declaring a reference to a variable
110 As an experimental feature, Perl now allows the referencing operator to come
111 after L<C<my()>|perlfunc/my>, L<C<state()>|perlfunc/state>,
112 L<C<our()>|perlfunc/our>, or L<C<local()>|perlfunc/local>. This syntax must
113 be enabled with C<use feature 'declared_refs'>. It is experimental, and will
114 warn by default unless C<no warnings 'experimental::refaliasing'> is in effect.
115 It is intended mainly for use in assignments to references. For example:
117 use experimental 'refaliasing', 'declared_refs';
120 See L<perlref/Assigning to References> for more details.
122 =head2 Perl can now do default collation in UTF-8 locales on platforms
125 Some platforms natively do a reasonable job of collating and sorting in
126 UTF-8 locales. Perl now works with those. For portability and full
127 control, L<Unicode::Collate> is still recommended, but now you may
128 not need to do anything special to get good-enough results, depending on
129 your application. See
130 L<perllocale/Category C<LC_COLLATE>: Collation: Text Comparisons and Sorting>.
132 =head2 Better locale collation of strings containing embedded C<NUL>
135 In locales that have multi-level character weights, these are now
136 ignored at the higher priority ones. There are still some gotchas in
137 some strings, though. See
138 L<perllocale/Collation of strings containing embedded C<NUL> characters>.
140 =head2 Lexical subroutines are no longer experimental
142 Using the C<lexical_subs> feature introduced in v5.18 no longer emits a warning. Existing
143 code that disables the C<experimental::lexical_subs> warning category
144 that the feature previously used will continue to work. The
145 C<lexical_subs> feature has no effect; all Perl code can use lexical
146 subroutines, regardless of what feature declarations are in scope.
148 =head2 C<CORE> subroutines for hash and array functions callable via
151 The hash and array functions in the C<CORE> namespace--C<keys>, C<each>,
152 C<values>, C<push>, C<pop>, C<shift>, C<unshift> and C<splice>--, can now
153 be called with ampersand syntax (C<&CORE::keys(\%hash>) and via reference
154 (C<< my $k = \&CORE::keys; $k-E<gt>(\%hash) >>). Previously they could only be
157 =head2 POSIX::tmpnam() has been removed
159 The fundamentally unsafe C<tmpnam()> interface was deprecated in
160 Perl 5.22.0 and has now been removed. In its place you can use
161 for example the L<File::Temp> interfaces.
163 =head2 require ::Foo::Bar is now illegal.
165 Formerly, C<require ::Foo::Bar> would try to read F</Foo/Bar.pm>. Now any
166 bareword require which starts with a double colon dies instead.
168 =head2 Unescaped literal C<"{"> characters in regular expression
169 patterns are no longer permissible
171 You have to now say something like C<"\{"> or C<"[{]"> to specify to
172 match a LEFT CURLY BRACKET. This will allow future extensions to the
173 language. This restriction is not enforced, nor are there current plans
174 to enforce it, if the C<"{"> is the first character in the pattern.
176 These have been deprecated since v5.16, with a deprecation message
177 displayed starting in v5.22.
179 =head2 Literal control character variable names are no longer permissible
181 A variable name may no longer contain a literal control character under
182 any circumstances. These previously were allowed in single-character
183 names on ASCII platforms, but have been deprecated there since Perl
184 v5.20. This affects things like C<$I<\cT>>, where I<\cT> is a literal
185 control (such as a C<NAK> or C<NEGATIVE ACKNOWLEDGE> character) in the
188 =head2 C<NBSP> is no longer permissible in C<\N{...}>
190 The name of a character may no longer contain non-breaking spaces. It
191 has been deprecated to do so since Perl v5.22.
193 =head2 create a safer utf8_hop() called utf8_hop_safe()
195 Unlike utf8_hop(), utf8_hop_safe() won't navigate before the beginning or after
196 the end of the supplied buffer.
200 =head2 Remove current dir (C<.>) from C<@INC>
202 For security reasons, C<@INC> no longer contains the default directory
205 =head2 "Escaped" colons and relative paths in PATH
207 On Unix systems, Perl treats any relative paths in the PATH environment
208 variable as tainted when starting a new process. Previously, it was
209 allowing a backslash to escape a colon (unlike the OS), consequently
210 allowing relative paths to be considered safe if the PATH was set to
211 something like C</\:.>. The check has been fixed to treat C<.> as tainted
214 =head2 C<-Di> switch is now required for PerlIO debugging output
216 Previously PerlIO debugging output would be sent to the file specified
217 by the C<PERLIO_DEBUG> environment variable if perl wasn't running
218 setuid and the C<-T> or C<-t> switches hadn't been parsed yet.
220 If perl performed output at a point where it hadn't yet parsed its
221 switches this could result in perl creating or overwriting the file
222 named by C<PERLIO_DEBUG> even when the C<-T> switch had been supplied.
224 Perl now requires the C<-Di> switch to produce PerlIO debugging
225 output. By default this is written to C<stderr>, but can optionally
226 be redirected to a file by setting the C<PERLIO_DEBUG> environment
229 If perl is running setuid or the C<-T> switch has supplied
230 C<PERLIO_DEBUG> is ignored and the debugging output is sent to
231 C<stderr> as for any other C<-D> switch.
233 =head1 Incompatible Changes
235 =head2 C<${^ENCODING}> has been removed
237 Consequently, the L<encoding> pragma's default mode is no longer supported. If
238 you still need to write your source code in encodings other than UTF-8, use a
239 source filter such as L<Filter::Encoding> on CPAN or L<encoding>'s C<Filter>
242 =head2 C<scalar(%hash)> return signature changed
244 The value returned for C<scalar(%hash)> will no longer show information about
245 the buckets allocated in the hash. It will simply return the count of used
246 keys. It is thus equivalent to C<0+keys(%hash)>.
248 A form of backwards compatibility is provided via C<Hash::Util::bucket_ratio()>
249 which provides the same behavior as C<scalar(%hash)> provided prior to Perl
252 =head2 C<keys> returned from an lvalue subroutine
254 C<keys> returned from an lvalue subroutine can no longer be assigned
257 sub foo : lvalue { keys(%INC) }
259 sub bar : lvalue { keys(@_) }
260 (bar) = 3; # also an error
262 This makes the lvalue sub case consistent with C<(keys %hash) = ...> and
263 C<(keys @_) = ...>, which are also errors. [perl #128187]
267 =head2 String delimiters that aren't stand-alone graphemes are now deprecated
269 In order for Perl to eventually allow string delimiters to be Unicode
270 grapheme clusters (which look like a single character, but may be
271 a sequence of several ones), we have to stop allowing a single char
272 delimiter that isn't a grapheme by itself. These are unlikely to exist
273 in actual code, as they would typically display as attached to the
274 character in front of them.
276 =head1 Performance Enhancements
282 A hash in boolean context is now sometimes faster, e.g.
286 This was already special-cased, but some cases were missed, and even the
287 ones which weren't have been improved.
291 Several other ops may now also be faster in boolean context.
293 =item * New Faster Hash Function on 64 bit builds
295 We use a different hash function for short and long keys. This should
296 improve performance and security, especially for long keys.
298 =item * readline is faster
300 Reading from a file line-by-line with C<readline()> or C<< E<lt>E<gt> >> should
301 now typically be faster due to a better implementation of the code that
302 searches for the next newline character.
306 Reduce cost of SvVALID().
310 C<$ref1 = $ref2> has been optimized.
314 Array and hash assignment are now faster, e.g.
319 especially when the RHS is empty.
323 Reduce the number of odd special cases for the C<SvSCREAM> flag.
327 Avoid sv_catpvn() in do_vop() when unneeded.
331 Enhancements in Regex concat COW implementation.
335 Clearing hashes and arrays has been made slightly faster. Now code
336 like this is around 5% faster:
339 for my $i (1..3_000_000) {
344 and this code around 3% faster:
347 for my $i (1..3_000_000) {
354 Better optimise array and hash assignment
358 Converting a single-digit string to a number is now substantially faster.
362 The internal op implementing the C<split> builtin has been simplified and
363 sped up. Firstly, it no longer requires a subsidiary internal C<pushre> op
364 to do its work. Secondly, code of the form C<my @x = split(...)> is now
365 optimised in the same way as C<@x = split(...)>, and is therefore a few
370 The rather slow implementation for the experimental subroutine signatures
371 feature has been made much faster; it is now comparable in speed with the
372 old-style C<my ($a, $b, @c) = @_>.
376 Bareword constant strings are now permitted to take part in constant
377 folding. They were originally exempted from constant folding in August 1999,
378 during the development of Perl 5.6, to ensure that C<use strict "subs">
379 would still apply to bareword constants. That has now been accomplished a
380 different way, so barewords, like other constants, now gain the performance
381 benefits of constant folding.
383 This also means that void-context warnings on constant expressions of
384 barewords now report the folded constant operand, rather than the operation;
385 this matches the behaviour for non-bareword constants.
389 =head1 Modules and Pragmata
391 =head2 Updated Modules and Pragmata
397 L<Archive::Tar> has been upgraded from version 2.04 to 2.24.
401 L<arybase> has been upgraded from version 0.11 to 0.12.
405 L<attributes> has been upgraded from version 0.27 to 0.29.
407 The deprecation message for the C<:unique> and C<:locked> attributes
408 now mention they will disappear in Perl 5.28.
412 L<B> has been upgraded from version 1.62 to 1.68.
416 L<B::Concise> has been upgraded from version 0.996 to 0.999.
418 Its output is now more descriptive for C<op_private> flags.
422 L<B::Debug> has been upgraded from version 1.23 to 1.24.
426 L<B::Deparse> has been upgraded from version 1.37 to 1.40.
430 L<B::Xref> has been upgraded from version 1.05 to 1.06.
432 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
436 L<base> has been upgraded from version 2.23 to 2.25.
440 L<bignum> has been upgraded from version 0.42 to 0.47.
444 L<Carp> has been upgraded from version 1.40 to 1.42.
448 L<charnames> has been upgraded from version 1.43 to 1.44.
452 L<Compress::Raw::Bzip2> has been upgraded from version 2.069 to 2.074.
456 L<Compress::Raw::Zlib> has been upgraded from version 2.069 to 2.074.
460 L<Config::Perl::V> has been upgraded from version 0.25 to 0.28.
464 L<CPAN> has been upgraded from version 2.11 to 2.18.
468 L<CPAN::Meta> has been upgraded from version 2.150005 to 2.150010.
472 L<Data::Dumper> has been upgraded from version 2.160 to 2.167.
474 The XS implementation now supports Deparse.
476 This fixes a stack management bug. [perl #130487].
480 L<DB_File> has been upgraded from version 1.835 to 1.840.
484 L<Devel::Peek> has been upgraded from version 1.23 to 1.26.
488 L<Devel::PPPort> has been upgraded from version 3.32 to 3.35.
492 L<Devel::SelfStubber> has been upgraded from version 1.05 to 1.06.
494 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
498 L<diagnostics> has been upgraded from version 1.34 to 1.36.
500 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
504 L<Digest> has been upgraded from version 1.17 to 1.17_01.
508 L<Digest::MD5> has been upgraded from version 2.54 to 2.55.
512 L<Digest::SHA> has been upgraded from version 5.95 to 5.96.
516 L<DynaLoader> has been upgraded from version 1.38 to 1.42.
520 L<Encode> has been upgraded from version 2.80 to 2.88.
524 L<encoding> has been upgraded from version 2.17 to 2.19.
526 This module's default mode is no longer supported as of Perl 5.25.3. It now
527 dies when imported, unless the C<Filter> option is being used.
531 L<encoding::warnings> has been upgraded from version 0.12 to 0.13.
533 This module is no longer supported as of Perl 5.25.3. It emits a warning to
534 that effect and then does nothing.
538 L<Errno> has been upgraded from version 1.25 to 1.28.
540 Document that using C<%!> loads Errno for you.
542 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
546 L<ExtUtils::Embed> has been upgraded from version 1.33 to 1.34.
548 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
552 L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker> has been upgraded from version 7.10_01 to 7.24.
556 L<ExtUtils::Miniperl> has been upgraded from version 1.05 to 1.06.
560 L<ExtUtils::ParseXS> has been upgraded from version 3.31 to 3.34.
564 L<ExtUtils::Typemaps> has been upgraded from version 3.31 to 3.34.
568 L<feature> has been upgraded from version 1.42 to 1.47.
570 Fixes the Unicode Bug in the range operator.
574 L<File::Copy> has been upgraded from version 2.31 to 2.32.
578 L<File::Fetch> has been upgraded from version 0.48 to 0.52.
582 L<File::Glob> has been upgraded from version 1.26 to 1.28.
584 Issue a deprecation message for C<File::Glob::glob()>.
588 L<File::Spec> has been upgraded from version 3.63 to 3.67.
592 L<FileHandle> has been upgraded from version 2.02 to 2.03.
596 L<Filter::Simple> has been upgraded from version 0.92 to 0.93.
598 It no longer treats C<no MyFilter> immediately following C<use MyFilter> as
599 end-of-file. [perl #107726]
603 L<Getopt::Long> has been upgraded from version 2.48 to 2.49.
607 L<Getopt::Std> has been upgraded from version 1.11 to 1.12.
611 L<Hash::Util> has been upgraded from version 0.19 to 0.22.
615 L<HTTP::Tiny> has been upgraded from version 0.056 to 0.070.
617 Internal 599-series errors now include the redirect history.
621 L<I18N::LangTags> has been upgraded from version 0.40 to 0.42.
623 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
627 L<IO> has been upgraded from version 1.36 to 1.38.
631 IO-Compress has been upgraded from version 2.069 to 2.074.
635 L<IO::Socket::IP> has been upgraded from version 0.37 to 0.38.
639 L<IPC::Cmd> has been upgraded from version 0.92 to 0.96.
643 L<IPC::SysV> has been upgraded from version 2.06_01 to 2.07.
647 L<JSON::PP> has been upgraded from version 2.27300 to 2.27400_02.
651 L<lib> has been upgraded from version 0.63 to 0.64.
653 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
657 L<List::Util> has been upgraded from version 1.42_02 to 1.46_02.
661 L<Locale::Codes> has been upgraded from version 3.37 to 3.42.
665 L<Locale::Maketext> has been upgraded from version 1.26 to 1.28.
669 L<Locale::Maketext::Simple> has been upgraded from version 0.21 to 0.21_01.
673 L<Math::BigInt> has been upgraded from version 1.999715 to 1.999806.
675 There have also been some core customizations.
679 L<Math::BigInt::FastCalc> has been upgraded from version 0.40 to 0.5005.
683 L<Math::BigRat> has been upgraded from version 0.260802 to 0.2611.
687 L<Math::Complex> has been upgraded from version 1.59 to 1.5901.
691 L<Memoize> has been upgraded from version 1.03 to 1.03_01.
695 L<Module::CoreList> has been upgraded from version 5.20170420 to 5.20170520.
699 L<Module::Load::Conditional> has been upgraded from version 0.64 to 0.68.
703 L<Module::Metadata> has been upgraded from version 1.000031 to 1.000033.
707 L<mro> has been upgraded from version 1.18 to 1.20.
711 L<Net::Ping> has been upgraded from version 2.43 to 2.55.
713 IPv6 addresses and C<AF_INET6> sockets are now supported, along with several
716 Remove sudo from 500_ping_icmp.t.
718 Avoid stderr noise in tests
720 Check for echo in new Net::Ping tests.
724 L<NEXT> has been upgraded from version 0.65 to 0.67.
728 L<Opcode> has been upgraded from version 1.34 to 1.39.
732 L<open> has been upgraded from version 1.10 to 1.11.
736 L<OS2::Process> has been upgraded from version 1.11 to 1.12.
738 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
742 L<overload> has been upgraded from version 1.26 to 1.28.
744 Its compilation speed has been improved slightly.
748 L<parent> has been upgraded from version 0.234 to 0.236.
752 L<perl5db.pl> has been upgraded from version 1.50 to 1.51.
754 Ignore F</dev/tty> on non-Unix systems. [perl #113960]
758 L<Perl::OSType> has been upgraded from version 1.009 to 1.010.
762 L<perlfaq> has been upgraded from version 5.021010 to 5.021011.
766 L<PerlIO> has been upgraded from version 1.09 to 1.10.
770 L<PerlIO::encoding> has been upgraded from version 0.24 to 0.25.
774 L<PerlIO::scalar> has been upgraded from version 0.24 to 0.26.
778 L<Pod::Checker> has been upgraded from version 1.60 to 1.73.
782 L<Pod::Functions> has been upgraded from version 1.10 to 1.11.
786 L<Pod::Html> has been upgraded from version 1.22 to 1.2202.
790 L<Pod::Perldoc> has been upgraded from version 3.25_02 to 3.28.
794 L<Pod::Simple> has been upgraded from version 3.32 to 3.35.
798 L<Pod::Usage> has been upgraded from version 1.68 to 1.69.
802 L<POSIX> has been upgraded from version 1.65 to 1.76. This remedies several
803 defects in making its symbols exportable. [perl #127821]
804 The C<POSIX::tmpnam()> interface has been removed,
805 see L</"POSIX::tmpnam() has been removed">.
806 Trying to import POSIX subs that have no real implementations
807 (like C<POSIX::atend()>) now fails at import time, instead of
808 waiting until runtime.
812 L<re> has been upgraded from version 0.32 to 0.34
814 This adds support for the new L<C<E<47>xx>|perlre/E<sol>x and E<sol>xx>
815 regular expression pattern modifier, and a change to the L<S<C<use re
816 'strict'>>|re/'strict' mode> experimental feature. When S<C<re
817 'strict'>> is enabled, a warning now will be generated for all
818 unescaped uses of the two characters C<}> and C<]> in regular
819 expression patterns (outside bracketed character classes) that are taken
820 literally. This brings them more in line with the C<)> character which
821 is always a metacharacter unless escaped. Being a metacharacter only
822 sometimes, depending on action at a distance, can lead to silently
823 having the pattern mean something quite different than was intended,
824 which the S<C<re 'strict'>> mode is intended to minimize.
828 L<Safe> has been upgraded from version 2.39 to 2.40.
832 L<Scalar::Util> has been upgraded from version 1.42_02 to 1.46_02.
836 L<Storable> has been upgraded from version 2.56 to 2.62.
838 Fixes [perl #130098].
842 L<Symbol> has been upgraded from version 1.07 to 1.08.
846 L<Sys::Syslog> has been upgraded from version 0.33 to 0.35.
850 L<Term::ANSIColor> has been upgraded from version 4.04 to 4.06.
854 L<Term::ReadLine> has been upgraded from version 1.15 to 1.16.
856 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
860 L<Test> has been upgraded from version 1.28 to 1.30.
862 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
866 L<Test::Harness> has been upgraded from version 3.36 to 3.38.
870 L<Test::Simple> has been upgraded from version 1.001014 to 1.302073.
874 L<Thread::Queue> has been upgraded from version 3.09 to 3.12.
878 L<Thread::Semaphore> has been upgraded from 2.12 to 2.13.
880 Added the C<down_timed> method.
884 L<threads> has been upgraded from version 2.07 to 2.15.
886 Compatibility with 5.8 has been restored.
888 Fixes [perl #130469].
892 L<threads::shared> has been upgraded from version 1.51 to 1.56.
894 This fixes [cpan #119529], [perl #130457]
898 L<Tie::Hash::NamedCapture> has been upgraded from version 0.09 to 0.10.
902 L<Time::HiRes> has been upgraded from version 1.9733 to 1.9741.
904 It now builds on systems with C++11 compilers (such as G++ 6 and Clang++
907 Now uses C<clockid_t>.
911 L<Time::Local> has been upgraded from version 1.2300 to 1.25.
915 L<Unicode::Collate> has been upgraded from version 1.14 to 1.19.
919 L<Unicode::UCD> has been upgraded from version 0.64 to 0.68.
921 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
925 L<version> has been upgraded from version 0.9916 to 0.9917.
929 L<VMS::DCLsym> has been upgraded from version 1.06 to 1.08.
931 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
935 L<warnings> has been upgraded from version 1.36 to 1.37.
939 L<XS::Typemap> has been upgraded from version 0.14 to 0.15.
943 L<XSLoader> has been upgraded from version 0.21 to 0.27.
945 Fixed a security hole in which binary files could be loaded from a path
946 outside of L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC>.
948 It now uses 3-arg C<open()> instead of 2-arg C<open()>. [perl #130122]
954 =head2 New Documentation
956 =head3 L<perldeprecation>
958 This file documents all upcoming deprecations, and some of the deprecations
959 which already have been removed. The purpose of this documentation is
960 two-fold: document what will disappear, and by which version, and serve
961 as a guide for people dealing with code which has features that no longer
962 work after an upgrade of their perl.
964 =head2 Changes to Existing Documentation
972 Use of unassigned code point or non-standalone grapheme for a delimiter will be a fatal error starting in Perl 5.30
974 This was changed to drop a leading C<v> in C<v5.30>, so it uses the same
975 style as other deprecation messages.
979 "\c%c" is more clearly written simply as "%s".
981 It was decided to undeprecate the use of C<\c%c>, see L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2017/02/msg242944.html>
985 Removed redundant C<dSP> from an example.
989 =head3 L<perlcommunity>
995 All references to Usenet have been removed.
1005 Updated documentation of C<scalar(%hash)>. See L</scalar(%hash) return
1006 signature changed> above.
1010 Use of single character variables, with the variable name a non printable
1011 character in the range C<\x80>-C<\xFF> is no longer allowed. Update the docs to
1022 All references to Usenet have been removed.
1032 Deprecations are to be marked with a D.
1033 C<"%s() is deprecated on :utf8 handles"> use a deprecation message, and as
1034 such, such be marked C<"(D deprecated)"> and not C<"(W deprecated)">.
1038 =head3 L<perlexperiment>
1044 Documented new feature: See L</Declaring a reference to a variable> above.
1054 Defined on aggregates is no longer allowed. Perlfunc was still reporting it as
1055 deprecated, and that it will be deleted in the future.
1059 Clarified documentation of L<C<seek()>|perlfunc/seek>,
1060 L<C<tell()>|perlfunc/tell> and L<C<sysseek()>|perlfunc/sysseek>.
1061 L<[perl #128607]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128607>
1065 Removed obsolete documentation of L<C<study()>|perlfunc/study>.
1075 Add C<pTHX_> to magic method examples.
1085 Document Tab VS Space.
1089 =head3 L<perlinterp>
1095 L<perlinterp> has been expanded to give a more detailed example of how to
1096 hunt around in the parser for how a given operator is handled.
1100 =head3 L<perllocale>
1106 Document C<NUL> collation handling.
1110 Some locales aren't compatible with Perl. Note the potential bad
1111 consequences of using them.
1115 =head3 L<perlmodinstall>
1121 All references to Usenet have been removed.
1125 =head3 L<perlmodlib>
1131 Updated the mirror list.
1135 All references to Usenet have been removed.
1139 =head3 L<perlnewmod>
1145 All references to Usenet have been removed.
1155 Added a section on calling methods using their fully qualified names.
1159 Do not discourage manual @ISA.
1173 Mention C<Moo> more.
1183 Clarify behavior single quote regexps.
1193 Several minor enhancements to the documentation.
1203 Fixed link to Crosby paper on hash complexity attack.
1213 Documented new feature: See L</Declaring a reference to a variable> above.
1223 Updated documentation of C<scalar(%hash)>. See L</scalar(%hash) return
1224 signature changed> above.
1228 =head3 L<perlunicode>
1234 Documented change to C<\p{I<script>}> to now use the improved Script_Extensions
1235 property. See L</Use of \p{script} uses the improved Script_Extensions
1240 Updated the text to correspond with changes in Unicode UTS#18, concerning
1241 regular expressions, and Perl compatibility with what it says.
1251 Removed obsolete documentation of C<${^ENCODING}>. See L</${^ENCODING} has
1252 been removed> above.
1256 Document C<@ISA>. Was documented other places, not not in L<perlvar>.
1262 =head2 New Diagnostics
1270 Since C<.> is now removed from C<@INC> by default, C<do> will now trigger
1271 a warning recommending to fix the C<do> statement:
1273 L<do "%s" failed, '.' is no longer in @INC|perldiag/do "%s" failed, '.' is no longer in @INC; did you mean do ".E<sol>%s"?>
1277 Using the empty pattern (which re-executes the last successfully-matched
1278 pattern) inside a code block in another regex, as in C</(?{ s!!new! })/>, has
1279 always previously yielded a segfault. It now produces an error:
1280 L<Infinite recursion in regex|perldiag/"Infinite recursion in regex">.
1284 L<The experimental declared_refs feature is not enabled|perldiag/"The experimental declared_refs feature is not enabled">
1286 (F) To declare references to variables, as in C<my \%x>, you must first enable
1289 no warnings "experimental::declared_refs";
1290 use feature "declared_refs";
1294 L<Version control conflict marker|perldiag/"Version control conflict marker">
1296 (F) The parser found a line starting with C<E<lt>E<lt>E<lt>E<lt>E<lt>E<lt>E<lt>>,
1297 C<E<gt>E<gt>E<gt>E<gt>E<gt>E<gt>E<gt>>, or C<=======>. These may be left by a
1298 version control system to mark conflicts after a failed merge operation.
1302 L<%s: command not found|perldiag/"%s: command not found">
1304 (A) You've accidentally run your script through B<bash> or another shell
1305 instead of Perl. Check the #! line, or manually feed your script into
1306 Perl yourself. The #! line at the top of your file could look like:
1312 L<%s: command not found: %s|perldiag/"%s: command not found: %s">
1314 (A) You've accidentally run your script through B<zsh> or another shell
1315 instead of Perl. Check the #! line, or manually feed your script into
1316 Perl yourself. The #! line at the top of your file could look like:
1322 L<Unescaped left brace in regex is deprecated here (and will be fatal in Perl 5.30), passed through in regex; marked by S<E<lt>-- HERE> in mE<sol>%sE<sol>|perldiag/"Unescaped left brace in regex is deprecated here (and will be fatal in Perl 5.30), passed through in regex; marked by S<<-- HERE> in m/%s/">
1324 Unescaped left braces are already illegal in some contexts in regular
1325 expression patterns, but, due to an oversight, no deprecation warning
1326 was raised in other contexts where they are intended to become illegal.
1327 This warning is now raised in these contexts.
1331 L<Bareword in require contains "%s"|perldiag/"Bareword in require contains "%s"">
1335 L<Bareword in require maps to empty filename|perldiag/"Bareword in require maps to empty filename">
1339 L<Bareword in require maps to disallowed filename "%s"|perldiag/"Bareword in require maps to disallowed filename "%s"">
1343 L<Bareword in require must not start with a double-colon: "%s"|perldiag/"Bareword in require must not start with a double-colon: "%s"">
1353 L<Use of unassigned code point or non-standalone grapheme for a delimiter will be a fatal error starting in Perl 5.30|perldiag/"Use of unassigned code point or non-standalone grapheme for a delimiter will be a fatal error starting in Perl 5.30">
1355 See L</Deprecations>
1359 L<Declaring references is experimental|perldiag/"Declaring references is experimental">
1361 (S experimental::declared_refs) This warning is emitted if you use a reference
1362 constructor on the right-hand side of C<my()>, C<state()>, C<our()>, or
1363 C<local()>. Simply suppress the warning if you want to use the feature, but
1364 know that in doing so you are taking the risk of using an experimental feature
1365 which may change or be removed in a future Perl version:
1367 no warnings "experimental::declared_refs";
1368 use feature "declared_refs";
1373 L<C<${^ENCODING}> is no longer supported. Its use will be fatal in Perl 5.28|perldiag/"${^ENCODING} is no longer supported. Its use will be fatal in Perl 5.28">
1375 (D deprecated) The special variable C<${^ENCODING}>, formerly used to implement
1376 the C<encoding> pragma, is no longer supported as of Perl 5.26.0.
1380 =head2 Changes to Existing Diagnostics
1386 When a C<require> fails, we now do not provide C<@INC> when the C<require>
1387 is for a file instead of a module.
1391 When C<@INC> is not scanned for a C<require> call, we no longer display
1392 C<@INC> to avoid confusion.
1396 Attribute "locked" is deprecated, and will disappear in Perl 5.28
1400 Attribute "unique" is deprecated, and will disappear in Perl 5.28
1404 Constants from lexical variables potentially modified elsewhere are
1405 deprecated. This will not be allowed in Perl 5.32
1409 Deprecated use of my() in false conditional. This will be a fatal error
1414 dump() better written as CORE::dump(). dump() will no longer be available
1419 ${^ENCODING} is no longer supported. Its use will be fatal in Perl 5.28
1423 File::Glob::glob() will disappear in perl 5.30. Use File::Glob::bsd_glob()
1428 %s() is deprecated on :utf8 handles. This will be a fatal error in Perl 5.30
1432 $* is no longer supported. Its use will be fatal in Perl 5.30
1436 $* is no longer supported. Its use will be fatal in Perl 5.30
1440 Opening dirhandle %s also as a file. This will be a fatal error in Perl 5.28
1444 Opening filehandle %s also as a directory. This will be a fatal
1449 Setting $/ to a reference to %s as a form of slurp is deprecated,
1450 treating as undef. This will be fatal in Perl 5.28
1454 Unescaped left brace in regex is deprecated here (and will be fatal
1455 in Perl 5.30), passed through in regex; marked by S<< E<lt>-- HERE >> in m/%s/
1459 Unknown charname '' is deprecated. Its use will be fatal in Perl 5.28
1463 Use of bare E<lt>E<lt> to mean E<lt>E<lt>"" is deprecated. Its use will be fatal in Perl 5.28
1467 Use of code point 0x%s is deprecated; the permissible max is 0x%s.
1468 This will be fatal in Perl 5.28
1472 Use of comma-less variable list is deprecated. Its use will be fatal
1477 Use of inherited AUTOLOAD for non-method %s() is deprecated. This
1478 will be fatal in Perl 5.28
1482 Use of strings with code points over 0xFF as arguments to %s operator
1483 is deprecated. This will be a fatal error in Perl 5.28
1487 Improve error for missing tie() package/method. This brings the error messages
1488 in line with the ones used for normal method calls, despite not using
1493 Make the sysread()/syswrite/() etc :utf8 handle warnings default. These
1494 warnings were under 'deprecated' previously.
1498 'do' errors now refer to 'do' (not 'require').
1502 Details as to the exact problem have been added to the diagnostics that
1503 occur when malformed UTF-8 is encountered when trying to convert to a
1508 Executing C<undef $x> where C<$x> is tied or magical no longer incorrectly
1509 blames the variable for an uninitialized-value warning encountered by the
1514 L<Unescaped left brace in regex is illegal here in regex; marked by S<E<lt>-- HERE> in mE<sol>%sE<sol>|perldiag/"Unescaped left brace in regex is illegal here in regex; marked by S<<-- HERE> in m/%s/">
1516 The word "here" has been added to the message that was raised in
1517 v5.25.1. This is to indicate that there are contexts in which unescaped
1518 left braces are not (yet) illegal.
1522 Code like C<$x = $x . "a"> was incorrectly failing to yield a
1523 L<use of uninitialized value|perldiag/"Use of uninitialized value%s">
1524 warning when C<$x> was a lexical variable with an undefined value. That has
1525 now been fixed. [perl #127877]
1529 When the error "Experimental push on scalar is now forbidden" is raised for
1530 the hash functions C<keys>, C<each>, and C<values>, it is now followed by
1531 the more helpful message, "Type of arg 1 to whatever must be hash or
1532 array". [perl #127976]
1536 C<undef *_; shift> or C<undef *_; pop> inside a subroutine, with no
1537 argument to C<shift> or C<pop>, began crashing in Perl 5.14.0, but has now
1542 C<< "string$scalar-E<gt>$*" >> now correctly prefers concat overloading to
1543 string overloading if C<< $scalar-E<gt>$* >> returns an overloaded object,
1544 bringing it into consistency with C<$$scalar>.
1548 C<< /@0{0*-E<gt>@*/*0 >> and similar contortions used to crash, but no longer
1549 do, but merely produce a syntax error. [perl #128171]
1553 C<do> or C<require> with a reference or typeglob which, when stringified,
1554 contains a null character started crashing in Perl 5.20.0, but has now been
1555 fixed. [perl #128182]
1559 =head1 Utility Changes
1561 =head2 F<c2ph> and F<pstruct>
1567 These old utilities have long since superceded by L<h2xs>, and are
1568 now gone from the distribution.
1572 =head2 F<Porting/pod_lib.pl>
1578 Removed spurious executable bit.
1582 Account for possibility of DOS file endings.
1586 =head2 F<Porting/sync-with-cpan>
1596 =head2 F<perf/benchmarks>
1602 Tidy file, rename some symbols.
1606 =head2 F<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl>
1612 Replace obscure character range with \w.
1616 =head2 F<t/porting/regen.t>
1622 try to be more helpful when tests fail.
1626 =head2 F<utils/h2xs.PL>
1632 Avoid infinite loop for enums.
1642 Long lines in the message body are now wrapped at 900 characters, to stay
1643 well within the 1000-character limit imposed by SMTP mail transfer agents.
1644 This is particularly likely to be important for the list of arguments to
1645 C<Configure>, which can readily exceed the limit if, for example, it names
1646 several non-default installation paths. This change also adds the first unit
1647 tests for perlbug. [perl #128020]
1651 =head1 Configuration and Compilation
1657 C<DEFAULT_INC_EXCLUDES_DOT> has been turned on as default.
1661 The C<dtrace> build process has further changes:
1667 If the C<-xnolibs> is available, use that so a F<dtrace> perl can be
1668 built within a FreeBSD jail.
1672 On systems that build a dtrace object file (FreeBSD, Solaris and
1673 SystemTap's dtrace emulation), copy the input objects to a separate
1674 directory and process them there, and use those objects in the link,
1675 since C<dtrace -G> also modifies these objects.
1679 Add libelf to the build on FreeBSD 10.x, since dtrace adds references
1684 Generate a dummy dtrace_main.o if C<dtrace -G> fails to build it. A
1685 default build on Solaris generates probes from the unused inline
1686 functions, while they don't on FreeBSD, which causes C<dtrace -G> to
1695 You can now disable perl's use of the PERL_HASH_SEED and
1696 PERL_PERTURB_KEYS environment variables by configuring perl with
1697 C<-Accflags=NO_PERL_HASH_ENV>.
1701 You can now disable perl's use of the PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG environment
1702 variable by configuring perl with
1703 C<-Accflags=-DNO_PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG>.
1707 Zero out the alignment bytes when calculating the bytes for 80-bit C<NaN>
1708 and C<Inf> to make builds more reproducible. [perl #130133]
1712 Since 5.18 for testing purposes we have included support for
1713 building perl with a variety of non-standard, and non-recommended
1714 hash functions. Since we do not recommend the use of these functions
1715 we have removed them and their corresponding build options. Specifically
1716 this includes the following build options:
1720 PERL_HASH_FUNC_SUPERFAST
1721 PERL_HASH_FUNC_MURMUR3
1722 PERL_HASH_FUNC_ONE_AT_A_TIME
1723 PERL_HASH_FUNC_ONE_AT_A_TIME_OLD
1724 PERL_HASH_FUNC_MURMUR_HASH_64A
1725 PERL_HASH_FUNC_MURMUR_HASH_64B
1729 Remove "Warning: perl appears in your path"
1731 This install warning is more or less obsolete, since most platforms already
1732 *will* have a /usr/bin/perl or similar provided by the OS.
1736 Reduce verbosity of "make install.man"
1738 Previously, two progress messages were emitted for each manpage: one by
1739 installman itself, and one by the function in install_lib.pl that it calls to
1740 actually install the file. Disabling the second of those in each case saves
1741 over 750 lines of unhelpful output.
1745 Cleanup for clang -Weverything support. [perl 129961]
1749 Configure: signbit scan was assuming too much, stop assuming negative 0.
1753 Various compiler warnings have been silenced.
1757 Several smaller changes have been made to remove impediments to compiling under
1762 Builds using C<USE_PAD_RESET> now work again; this configuration had
1767 A probe for C<gai_strerror> was added to F<Configure> that checks if the
1768 the gai_strerror() routine is available and can be used to
1769 translate error codes returned by getaddrinfo() into human
1774 F<Configure> now aborts if both "-Duselongdouble" and "-Dusequadmath" are
1776 L<[perl #126203]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=126203>
1780 Fixed a bug in which F<Configure> could append "-quadmath" to the archname even
1781 if it was already present.
1782 L<[perl #128538]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128538>
1786 Clang builds with "-DPERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT" or "-DPERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT_PRIVATE" have
1787 been fixed (by disabling Thread Safety Analysis for these configurations).
1791 F<make_ext.pl> no longer updates a module's F<pm_to_blib> file when no
1792 files require updates. This could cause dependencies, F<perlmain.c>
1793 in particular, to be rebuilt unnecessarily. [perl #126710]
1797 The output of C<perl -V> has been reformatted so that each configuration
1798 and compile-time option is now listed one per line, to improve
1803 C<Configure> now builds C<miniperl> and C<generate_uudmap> if you
1804 invoke it with C<-Dusecrosscompiler> but not C<-Dtargethost=somehost>.
1805 This means you can supply your target platform C<config.sh>, generate
1806 the headers and proceed to build your cross-target perl. [perl #127234]
1810 Builds with C<-Accflags=-DPERL_TRACE_OPS> now only dump the operator
1811 counts when the environment variable C<PERL_TRACE_OPS> to be set to a
1812 non-zero integer. This allows C<make test> to pass on such a build.
1816 When building with GCC 6 and link-time optimization (the C<-flto> option to
1817 C<gcc>), C<Configure> was treating all probed symbols as present on the
1818 system, regardless of whether they actually exist. This has been fixed.
1823 The F<t/test.pl> library is used for internal testing of Perl itself, and
1824 also copied by several CPAN modules. Some of those modules must work on
1825 older versions of Perl, so F<t/test.pl> must in turn avoid newer Perl
1826 features. Compatibility with Perl 5.8 was inadvertently removed some time
1827 ago; it has now been restored. [perl #128052]
1831 The build process no longer emits an extra blank line before building each
1832 "simple" extension (those with only F<*.pm> and F<*.pod> files).
1842 F<XS-APItest/t/utf8.t>: Several small fixes and enhancements.
1846 Tests for locales were erroneously using locales incompatible with Perl.
1850 Some parts of the test suite that try to exhaustively test edge cases in the
1851 regex implementation have been restricted to running for a maximum of five
1852 minutes. On slow systems they could otherwise take several hours, without
1853 significantly improving our understanding of the correctness of the code
1856 In addition, some of those test cases have been split into more files, to
1857 allow them to be run in parallel on suitable systems.
1861 A new internal facility allows analysing the time taken by the individual
1862 tests in Perl's own test suite; see F<Porting/harness-timer-report.pl>.
1866 F<t/re/regexp_nonull.t> has been added to test that the regular expression
1867 engine can handle scalars that do not have a null byte just past the end of
1872 A new test script, F<t/op/decl-refs.t>, has been added to test the new feature,
1873 "Declaring a reference to a variable".
1877 A new test script, F<t/re/anyof.t>, has been added to test that the ANYOF nodes
1878 generated by bracketed character classes are as expected.
1882 F<t/harness> now tries really hard not to run tests outside of the Perl
1883 source tree. [perl #124050]
1887 =head1 Platform Support
1889 =head2 New Platforms
1895 Perl now compiles under NetBSD on VAX machines. However, it's not
1896 possible for that platform to implement floating-point infinities and
1897 NaNs compatibly with most modern systems, which implement the IEEE-754
1898 floating point standard. The hexadecimal floating point (C<0x...p[+-]n>
1899 literals, C<printf %a>) is not implemented, either.
1900 The C<make test> passes 98% of tests.
1906 Test fixes and minor updates.
1910 Account for lack of C<inf>, C<nan>, and C<-0.0> support.
1916 =head2 Platform-Specific Notes
1922 don't treat -Dprefix=/usr as special, instead require an extra option
1923 -Ddarwin_distribution to produce the same results.
1927 Finish removing POSIX deprecated functions.
1931 OS X El Capitan doesn't implement the clock_gettime() or clock_getres() APIs,
1932 emulate them as necessary.
1936 Deprecated syscall(2) on macOS 10.12.
1940 Several tests have been updated to work (or be skipped) on EBCDIC platforms.
1944 L<Net::Ping> UDP test is skipped on HP-UX.
1948 The hints for Hurd have been improved enabling malloc wrap and reporting the
1949 GNU libc used (previously it was an empty string when reported).
1953 VAX floating point formats are now supported.
1961 The path separator for the C<PERL5LIB> and C<PERLLIB> environment entries is
1962 now a colon (C<:>) when running under a Unix shell. There is no change when
1963 running under DCL (it's still C<|>).
1967 Remove some VMS-specific hacks from C<showlex.t>. These were added 15 years
1968 ago, and are no longer necessary for any VMS version now supported.
1972 Move C<_pDEPTH> and C<_aDEPTH> after F<config.h> otherwise DEBUGGING
1973 may not be defined yet.
1977 VAXC has not been a possibility for a good long while, and the versions of the
1978 DEC/Compaq/HP/VSI C compiler that report themselves as "DEC" in a listing file
1979 are 15 years or more out-of-date and can be safely desupported.
1989 Support for compiling perl on Windows using Microsoft Visual Studio 2015
1990 (containing Visual C++ 14.0) has been added.
1992 This version of VC++ includes a completely rewritten C run-time library, some
1993 of the changes in which mean that work done to resolve a socket close() bug in
1994 perl #120091 and perl #118059 is not workable in its current state with this
1995 version of VC++. Therefore, we have effectively reverted that bug fix for
1996 VS2015 onwards on the basis that being able to build with VS2015 onwards is
1997 more important than keeping the bug fix. We may revisit this in the future to
1998 attempt to fix the bug again in a way that is compatible with VS2015.
2000 These changes do not affect compilation with GCC or with Visual Studio versions
2001 up to and including VS2013, i.e. the bug fix is retained (unchanged) for those
2004 Note that you may experience compatibility problems if you mix a perl built
2005 with GCC or VS E<lt>= VS2013 with XS modules built with VS2015, or if you mix a
2006 perl built with VS2015 with XS modules built with GCC or VS E<lt>= VS2013.
2007 Some incompatibility may arise because of the bug fix that has been reverted
2008 for VS2015 builds of perl, but there may well be incompatibility anyway because
2009 of the rewritten CRT in VS2015 (e.g. see discussion at
2010 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30412951).
2020 Tweaks for Win32 VC vs GCC detection makefile code. This fixes issue that CCHOME
2021 depends on CCTYPE, which in auto detect mode is set after CCHOME, so CCHOME uses
2022 the uninit CCTYPE var. Also fix else vs .ELSE in makefile.mk
2026 fp definitions have been updated.
2032 Fix some breakage, add 'undef' value for default_inc_excludes_dot in build
2037 Drop support for Linux a.out Linux has used ELF for over twenty years.
2041 OpenBSD 6 still does not support returning pid, gid or uid with SA_SIGINFO.
2042 Make sure this is accounted for.
2046 t/uni/overload.t: Skip hanging test on FreeBSD.
2050 =head1 Internal Changes
2056 The C<op_class()> API function has been added. This is like the existing
2057 C<OP_CLASS()> macro, but can more accurately determine what struct an op
2058 has been allocated as. For example C<OP_CLASS()> might return
2059 C<OA_BASEOP_OR_UNOP> indicating that ops of this type are usually
2060 allocated as an C<OP> or C<UNOP>; while C<op_class()> will return
2061 C<OPclass_BASEOP> or C<OPclass_UNOP> as appropriate.
2065 The output format of the C<op_dump()> function (as used by C<perl -Dx>)
2066 has changed: it now displays an "ASCII-art" tree structure, and shows more
2067 low-level details about each op, such as its address and class.
2071 New versions of macros like C<isALPHA_utf8> and C<toLOWER_utf8> have
2072 been added, each with the
2073 suffix C<_safe>, like C<isSPACE_utf8_safe>. These take an extra
2074 parameter, giving an upper limit of how far into the string it is safe
2075 to read. Using the old versions could cause attempts to read beyond the
2076 end of the input buffer if the UTF-8 is not well-formed, and their use
2077 now raises a deprecation warning. Details are at
2078 L<perlapi/Character classification>.
2082 Calling macros like C<isALPHA_utf8> on malformed UTF-8 have issued a
2083 deprecation warning since Perl v5.18. They now die.
2084 Similarly, macros like C<toLOWER_utf8> on malformed UTF-8 now die.
2088 Calling the functions C<utf8n_to_uvchr> and its derivatives, while
2089 passing a string length of 0 is now asserted against in DEBUGGING
2090 builds, and otherwise returns the Unicode REPLACEMENT CHARACTER. If
2091 you have nothing to decode, you shouldn't call the decode function.
2095 The functions C<utf8n_to_uvchr> and its derivatives now return the
2096 Unicode REPLACEMENT CHARACTER if called with UTF-8 that has the overlong
2097 malformation, and that malformation is allowed by the input parameters.
2098 This malformation is where the UTF-8 looks valid syntactically, but
2099 there is a shorter sequence that yields the same code point. This has
2100 been forbidden since Unicode version 3.1.
2104 The functions C<utf8n_to_uvchr> and its derivatives now accept an input
2105 flag to allow the overflow malformation. This malformation is when the
2106 UTF-8 may be syntactically valid, but the code point it represents is
2107 not capable of being represented in the word length on the platform.
2108 What "allowed" means in this case is that the function doesn't return an
2109 error, and advances the parse pointer to beyond the UTF-8 in question,
2110 but it returns the Unicode REPLACEMENT CHARACTER as the value of the
2111 code point (since the real value is not representable).
2115 The C<PADOFFSET> type has changed from being unsigned to signed, and
2116 several pad-related variables such as C<PL_padix> have changed from being
2117 of type C<I32> to type C<PADOFFSET>.
2121 The function C<L<perlapi/utf8n_to_uvchr>> has been changed to not
2122 abandon searching for other malformations when the first one is
2123 encountered. A call to it thus can generate multiple diagnostics,
2124 instead of just one.
2128 A new function, C<L<perlapi/utf8n_to_uvchr_error>>, has been added for
2129 use by modules that need to know the details of UTF-8 malformations
2130 beyond pass/fail. Previously, the only ways to know why a sequence was
2131 ill-formed was to capture and parse the generated diagnostics, or to do
2136 Several new functions for handling Unicode have been added to the API:
2137 C<L<perlapi/is_strict_utf8_string>>,
2138 C<L<perlapi/is_c9strict_utf8_string>>,
2139 C<L<perlapi/is_utf8_string_flags>>,
2140 C<L<perlapi/is_strict_utf8_string_loc>>,
2141 C<L<perlapi/is_strict_utf8_string_loclen>>,
2142 C<L<perlapi/is_c9strict_utf8_string_loc>>,
2143 C<L<perlapi/is_c9strict_utf8_string_loclen>>,
2144 C<L<perlapi/is_utf8_string_loc_flags>>,
2145 C<L<perlapi/is_utf8_string_loclen_flags>>,
2146 C<L<perlapi/is_utf8_fixed_width_buf_flags>>,
2147 C<L<perlapi/is_utf8_fixed_width_buf_loc_flags>>,
2148 C<L<perlapi/is_utf8_fixed_width_buf_loclen_flags>>.
2150 These functions are all extensions of the C<is_utf8_string_*()> functions,
2151 that apply various restrictions to the UTF-8 recognized as valid.
2155 A new API function C<sv_setvpv_bufsize()> allows simultaneously setting the
2156 length and allocated size of the buffer in an C<SV>, growing the buffer if
2161 A new API macro C<SvPVCLEAR()> sets its C<SV> argument to an empty string,
2162 like Perl-space C<$x = ''>, but with several optimisations.
2166 All parts of the internals now agree that the C<sassign> op is a C<BINOP>;
2167 previously it was listed as a C<BASEOP> in F<regen/opcodes>, which meant
2168 that several parts of the internals had to be special-cased to accommodate
2169 it. This oddity's original motivation was to handle code like C<$x ||= 1>;
2170 that is now handled in a simpler way.
2174 Several new internal C macros have been added that take a string literal as
2175 arguments, alongside existing routines that take the equivalent value as two
2176 arguments, a character pointer and a length. The advantage of this is that
2177 the length of the string is calculated automatically, rather than having to
2178 be done manually. These routines are now used where appropriate across the
2183 The code in F<gv.c> that determines whether a variable has a special meaning
2184 to Perl has been simplified.
2188 The C<DEBUGGING>-mode output for regex compilation and execution has been
2193 Several macros and functions have been added to the public API for
2194 dealing with Unicode and UTF-8-encoded strings. See
2195 L<perlapi/Unicode Support>.
2199 Use C<my_strlcat()> in C<locale.c>. While C<strcat()> is safe in this context,
2200 some compilers were optimizing this to C<strcpy()> causing a porting test to
2201 fail that looks for unsafe code. Rather than fighting this, we just use
2202 C<my_strlcat()> instead.
2206 Three new ops, C<OP_ARGELEM>, C<OP_ARGDEFELEM> and C<OP_ARGCHECK> have
2207 been added. These are intended principally to implement the individual
2208 elements of a subroutine signature, plus any overall checking required.
2212 Perl no longer panics when switching into some locales on machines with
2213 buggy C<strxfrm()> implementations in their libc. [perl #121734]
2217 Perl is now built with the C<PERL_OP_PARENT> compiler define enabled by
2218 default. To disable it, use the C<PERL_NO_OP_PARENT> compiler define.
2219 This flag alters how the C<op_sibling> field is used in C<OP> structures,
2220 and has been available optionally since perl 5.22.0.
2222 See L<perl5220delta/"Internal Changes"> for more details of what this
2227 The meanings of some internal SV flags have been changed
2229 OPpRUNTIME, SVpbm_VALID, SVpbm_TAIL, SvTAIL_on, SvTAIL_off, SVrepl_EVAL,
2234 Change C<hv_fetch(…, "…", …, …)> to C<hv_fetchs(…, "…", …)>
2236 The dual-life dists all use Devel::PPPort, so they can use this function even
2237 though it was only added in 5.10.
2241 =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
2247 C< $-{$name} > would leak an C<AV> on each access if the regular
2248 expression had no named captures. The same applies to access to any
2249 hash tied with L<Tie::Hash::NamedCapture> and C<< all =E<gt> 1 >>. [perl
2254 Attempting to use the deprecated variable C<$#> as the object in an
2255 indirect object method call could cause a heap use after free or
2256 buffer overflow. [perl #129274]
2260 When checking for an indirect object method call in some rare cases
2261 the parser could reallocate the line buffer but then continue to use
2262 pointers to the old buffer. [perl #129190]
2266 Supplying a glob as the format argument to L<perlfunc/formline> would
2267 cause an assertion failure. [perl #130722]
2271 Code like C< $value1 =~ qr/.../ ~~ $value2 > would have the match
2272 converted into a qr// operator, leaving extra elements on the stack to
2273 confuse any surrounding expression. [perl #130705]
2277 Since 5.24.0 in some obscure cases, a regex which included code blocks
2278 from multiple sources (e.g. via embedded via qr// objects) could end up
2279 with the wrong current pad and crash or give weird results. [perl #129881]
2283 Occasionally C<local()>s in a code block within a patterns weren't being
2284 undone when the pattern matching backtracked over the code block.
2289 Using C<substr()> to modify a magic variable could access freed memory
2290 in some cases. [perl #129340]
2294 Perl 5.25.9 was fixed so that under C<use utf8>, the entire Perl program
2295 is checked that the UTF-8 is wellformed. It turns out that several edge
2296 cases were missed, and are now fixed. [perl #126310] was the original
2301 Under C<use utf8>, the entire Perl program is now checked that the UTF-8
2302 is wellformed. This resolves [perl #126310].
2306 The range operator C<..> on strings now handles its arguments correctly when in
2307 the scope of the L<< C<unicode_strings>|feature/"The 'unicode_strings' feature" >>
2308 feature. The previous behaviour was sufficiently unexpected that we believe no
2309 correct program could have made use of it.
2313 The S<split> operator did not ensure enough space was allocated for
2314 its return value in scalar context. It could then write a single
2315 pointer immediately beyond the end of the memory block allocated for
2316 the stack. [perl #130262]
2320 Using a large code point with the C<W> pack template character with
2321 the current output position aligned at just the right point could
2322 cause a write a single zero byte immediately beyond the end of an
2323 allocated buffer. [perl #129149]
2327 Supplying the form picture argument as part of the form argument list
2328 where the picture specifies modifying the argument could cause an
2329 access to the new freed compiled form. [perl #129125]
2333 Fix a problem with sort's build-in compare, where it would not sort
2334 correctly with 64-bit integers, and non-long doubles. [perl #130335]
2338 Fix issues with /(?{ ... E<lt>E<lt>EOF })/ that broke Method-Signatures. [perl #130398]
2342 Fix a macro which caused syntax error on an EBCDIC build.
2346 Prevent tests from getting hung up on 'NonStop' option. [perl #130445]
2350 Fixed an assertion failure with C<chop> and C<chomp>, which
2351 could be triggered by C<chop(@x =~ tr/1/1/)>. [perl #130198].
2355 Fixed a comment skipping error under C</x>; it could stop skipping a
2356 byte early, which could be in the middle of a UTF-8 character.
2361 F<perldb> now ignores F</dev/tty> on non-Unix systems. [perl #113960];
2365 Fix assertion failure for C<{}-E<gt>$x> when C<$x> isn't defined. [perl #130496].
2369 DragonFly BSD now has support for setproctitle(). [perl #130068].
2373 Fix an assertion error which could be triggered when lookahead string
2374 in patterns exceeded a minimum length. [perl #130522].
2378 Only warn once per literal about a misplaced C<_>. [perl #70878].
2382 Ensure range-start is set after error in C<tr///>. [perl #129342].
2386 Don't read past start of string for unmatched backref; otherwise,
2387 we may have heap buffer overflow. [perl #129377].
2391 Properly recognize mathematical digit ranges starting at U+1D7E.
2392 C<use re 'strict'> is supposed to warn if you use a range whose start
2393 and end digit aren't from the same group of 10. It didn't do that
2394 for five groups of mathematical digits starting at U+1D7E.
2398 A sub containing a "forward" declaration with the same name (e.g.,
2399 C<sub c { sub c; }>) could sometimes crash or loop infinitely. [perl
2404 A crash in executing a regex with a floating UTF-8 substring against a
2405 target string that also used UTF-8 has been fixed. [perl #129350]
2409 Previously, a shebang line like C<#!perl -i u> could be erroneously
2410 interpreted as requesting the C<-u> option. This has been fixed. [perl
2415 The regex engine was previously producing incorrect results in some rare
2416 situations when backtracking past a trie that matches only one thing; this
2417 showed up as capture buffers (C<$1>, C<$2>, etc) erroneously containing data
2418 from regex execution paths that weren't actually executed for the final
2419 match. [perl #129897]
2423 Certain regexes making use of the experimental C<regex_sets> feature could
2424 trigger an assertion failure. This has been fixed. [perl #129322]
2428 Invalid assignments to a reference constructor (e.g., C<\eval=time>) could
2429 sometimes crash in addition to giving a syntax error. [perl #125679]
2433 The parser could sometimes crash if a bareword came after C<evalbytes>.
2438 Autoloading via a method call would warn erroneously ("Use of inherited
2439 AUTOLOAD for non-method") if there was a stub present in the package into
2440 which the invocant had been blessed. The warning is no longer emitted in
2441 such circumstances. [perl #47047]
2445 A sub containing with a "forward" declaration with the same name (e.g.,
2446 C<sub c { sub c; }>) could sometimes crash or loop infinitely. [perl
2451 The use of C<splice> on arrays with nonexistent elements could cause other
2452 operators to crash. [perl #129164]
2456 Fixed case where C<re_untuit_start> will overshoot the length of a utf8
2457 string. [perl #129012]
2461 Handle C<CXt_SUBST> better in C<Perl_deb_stack_all>, previously it wasn't
2462 checking that the I<current> C<cx> is the right type, and instead was always
2463 checking the base C<cx> (effectively a noop). [perl #129029]
2467 Fixed two possible use-after-free bugs in C<Perl_yylex>. C<Perl_yylex>
2468 maintains up to two pointers into the parser buffer, one of which can
2469 become stale under the right conditions. [perl #129069]
2473 Fixed a crash with C<s///l> where it thought it was dealing with UTF-8
2474 when it wasn't. [perl #129038]
2478 Fixed place where regex was not setting the syntax error correctly.
2483 The C<&.> operator (and the C<&> operator, when it treats its arguments as
2484 strings) were failing to append a trailing null byte if at least one string
2485 was marked as utf8 internally. Many code paths (system calls, regexp
2486 compilation) still expect there to be a null byte in the string buffer
2487 just past the end of the logical string. An assertion failure was the
2488 result. [perl #129287]
2492 Check C<pack_sockaddr_un()>'s return value because C<pack_sockaddr_un()>
2493 silently truncates the supplied path if it won't fit into the C<sun_path>
2494 member of C<sockaddr_un>. This may change in the future, but for now
2495 check the path in theC<sockaddr> matches the desired path, and skip if
2496 it doesn't. [perl #128095]
2500 Make sure C<PL_oldoldbufptr> is preserved in C<scan_heredoc()>. In some
2501 cases this is used in building error messages. [perl #128988]
2505 Check for null PL_curcop in IN_LC() [perl #129106]
2509 Fixed the parser error handling for an 'C<:attr(foo>' that does not have
2514 Fix C<Perl_delimcpy()> to handle a backslash as last char, this
2515 actually fixed two bugs, [perl #129064] and [perl #129176].
2519 [perl #129267] rework gv_fetchmethod_pvn_flags separator parsing to
2520 prevent possible string overrun with invalid len in gv.c
2524 Problems with in-place array sorts: code like C<@a = sort { ... } @a>,
2525 where the source and destination of the sort are the same plain array, are
2526 optimised to do less copying around. Two side-effects of this optimisation
2527 were that the contents of C<@a> as visible to to sort routine were
2528 partially sorted, and under some circumstances accessing C<@a> during the
2529 sort could crash the interpreter. Both these issues have been fixed, and
2530 Sort functions see the original value of C<@a>.
2534 Non-ASCII string delimiters are now reported correctly in error messages
2535 for unterminated strings. [perl #128701]
2539 C<pack("p", ...)> used to emit its warning ("Attempt to pack pointer to
2540 temporary value") erroneously in some cases, but has been fixed.
2544 C<@DB::args> is now exempt from "used once" warnings. The warnings only
2545 occurred under B<-w>, because F<warnings.pm> itself uses C<@DB::args>
2550 The use of built-in arrays or hash slices in a double-quoted string no
2551 longer issues a warning ("Possible unintended interpolation...") if the
2552 variable has not been mentioned before. This affected code like
2553 C<qq|@DB::args|> and C<qq|@SIG{'CHLD', 'HUP'}|>. (The special variables
2554 C<@-> and C<@+> were already exempt from the warning.)
2558 C<gethostent> and similar functions now perform a null check internally, to
2559 avoid crashing with torsocks. This was a regression from 5.22. [perl
2564 C<defined *{'!'}>, C<defined *{'['}>, and C<defined *{'-'}> no longer leak
2565 memory if the typeglob in question has never been accessed before.
2569 In 5.25.4 fchown() was changed not to accept negative one as an argument
2570 because in some platforms that is an error. However, in some other platforms
2571 that is an acceptable argument. This change has been reverted [perl #128967].
2575 Mentioning the same constant twice in a row (which is a syntax error) no
2576 longer fails an assertion under debugging builds. This was a regression
2577 from 5.20. [perl #126482]
2581 Many issues relating to C<printf "%a"> of hexadecimal floating point
2582 were fixed. In addition, the "subnormals" (formerly known as "denormals")
2583 floating point anumbers are now supported both with the plain IEEE 754
2584 floating point numbers (64-bit or 128-bit) and the x86 80-bit
2585 "extended precision". Note that subnormal hexadecimal floating
2586 point literals will give a warning about "exponent underflow".
2587 [perl #128843, #128889, #128890, #128893, #128909, #128919]
2591 A regression in 5.24 with C<tr/\N{U+...}/foo/> when the code point was between
2592 128 and 255 has been fixed. [perl #128734].
2596 A regression from the previous development release, 5.23.3, where
2597 compiling a regular expression could crash the interpreter has been
2598 fixed. [perl #128686].
2602 Use of a string delimiter whose code point is above 2**31 now works
2603 correctly on platforms that allow this. Previously, certain characters,
2604 due to truncation, would be confused with other delimiter characters
2605 with special meaning (such as C<?> in C<m?...?>), resulting
2606 in inconsistent behaviour. Note that this is non-portable,
2607 and is based on Perl's extension to UTF-8, and is probably not
2608 displayable nor enterable by any editor. [perl #128738]
2612 C<@{x> followed by a newline where C<x> represents a control or non-ASCII
2613 character no longer produces a garbled syntax error message or a crash.
2618 An assertion failure with C<%: = 0> has been fixed.
2619 L<[perl #128238]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128238>
2623 In Perl 5.18, the parsing of C<"$foo::$bar"> was accidentally changed, such
2624 that it would be treated as C<$foo."::".$bar>. The previous behavior, which
2625 was to parse it as C<$foo:: . $bar>, has been restored.
2626 L<[perl #128478]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128478>
2630 Since Perl 5.20, line numbers have been off by one when perl is invoked with
2631 the B<-x> switch. This has been fixed.
2632 L<[perl #128508]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128508>
2636 Vivifying a subroutine stub in a deleted stash (e.g., C<delete $My::{"Foo::"};
2637 \&My::Foo::foo>) no longer crashes. It had begun crashing in Perl 5.18.
2638 L<[perl #128532]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128532>
2642 Some obscure cases of subroutines and file handles being freed at the same time
2643 could result in crashes, but have been fixed. The crash was introduced in Perl
2645 L<[perl #128597]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128597>
2649 Code that looks for a variable name associated with an uninitialized value
2650 could cause an assertion in cases where magic is involved, such as
2651 C<$ISA[0][0]>. This has now been fixed.
2652 L<[perl #128253]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128253>
2656 A crash caused by code generating the warning "Subroutine STASH::NAME
2657 redefined" in cases such as C<sub P::f{} undef *P::; *P::f =sub{};> has been
2658 fixed. In these cases, where the STASH is missing, the warning will now appear
2659 as "Subroutine NAME redefined".
2660 L<[perl #128257]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128257>
2664 Fixed an assertion triggered by some code that handles deprecated behavior in
2665 formats, e.g. in cases like this:
2671 L<[perl #128255]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128255>
2675 A possible divide by zero in string transformation code on Windows has been
2676 avoided, fixing a crash when collating an empty string.
2677 L<[perl #128618]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128618>
2681 Some regular expression parsing glitches could lead to assertion failures with
2682 regular expressions such as C</(?E<lt>=/> and C</(?E<lt>!/>. This has now been fixed.
2683 L<[perl #128170]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128170>
2687 C< until ($x = 1) { ... } > and C< ... until $x = 1 > now properly
2688 warn when syntax warnings are enabled. [perl #127333]
2692 socket() now leaves the error code returned by the system in C<$!> on
2693 failure. [perl #128316]
2697 Assignment variants of any bitwise ops under the C<bitwise> feature would
2698 crash if the left-hand side was an array or hash. [perl #128204]
2702 C<require> followed by a single colon (as in C<foo() ? require : ...> is
2703 now parsed correctly as C<require> with implicit $_, rather than
2704 C<require "">. [perl #128307]
2708 Scalar C<keys %hash> can now be assigned to consistently in all scalar
2709 lvalue contexts. Previously it worked for some contexts but not others.
2713 List assignment to C<vec> or C<substr> with an array or hash for its first
2714 argument used to result in crashes or "Can't coerce" error messages at run
2715 time, unlike scalar assignment, which would give an error at compile time.
2716 List assignment now gives a compile-time error, too. [perl #128260]
2720 Expressions containing an C<&&> or C<||> operator (or their synonyms C<and>
2721 and C<or>) were being compiled incorrectly in some cases. If the left-hand
2722 side consisted of either a negated bareword constant or a negated C<do {}>
2723 block containing a constant expression, and the right-hand side consisted of
2724 a negated non-foldable expression, one of the negations was effectively
2725 ignored. The same was true of C<if> and C<unless> statement modifiers,
2726 though with the left-hand and right-hand sides swapped. This long-standing
2727 bug has now been fixed. [perl #127952]
2731 C<reset> with an argument no longer crashes when encountering stash entries
2732 other than globs. [perl #128106]
2736 Assignment of hashes to, and deletion of, typeglobs named C<*::::::> no
2737 longer causes crashes. [perl #128086]
2741 Handle SvIMMORTALs in LHS of list assign. [perl #129991]
2745 [perl #130010] a5540cf breaks texinfo
2747 This involved user-defined Unicode properties.
2751 Fix error message for unclosed C<\N{> in regcomp.
2753 An unclosed C<\N{> could give the wrong error message
2754 C<"\N{NAME} must be resolved by the lexer">.
2758 List assignment in list context where the LHS contained aggregates and
2759 where there were not enough RHS elements, used to skip scalar lvalues.
2760 Previously, C<(($a,$b,@c,$d) = (1))> in list context returned C<($a)>; now
2761 it returns C<($a,$b,$d)>. C<(($a,$b,$c) = (1))> is unchanged: it still
2762 returns C<($a,$b,$c)>. This can be seen in the following:
2764 sub inc { $_++ for @_ }
2765 inc(($a,$b,@c,$d) = (10))
2767 Formerly, the values of C<($a,$b,$d)> would be left as C<(11,undef,undef)>;
2768 now they are C<(11,1,1)>.
2774 The basic problem is that code like this: /(?{ s!!! })/ can trigger infinite
2775 recursion on the C stack (not the normal perl stack) when the last successful
2776 pattern in scope is itself. Since the C stack overflows this manifests as an
2777 untrappable error/segfault, which then kills perl.
2779 We avoid the segfault by simply forbidding the use of the empty pattern when it
2780 would resolve to the currently executing pattern.
2784 [perl 128997] Avoid reading beyond the end of the line buffer when there's a
2785 short UTF-8 character at the end.
2789 [perl 129950] fix firstchar bitmap under utf8 with prefix optimisation.
2793 [perl 129954] Carp/t/arg_string.t: be liberal in f/p formats.
2797 [perl 129928] make do "a\0b" fail silently instead of throwing.
2801 [perl 129130] make chdir allocate the stack it needs.
2805 =head1 Known Problems
2811 Some modules have been broken by the L<context stack rework|/Internal Changes>.
2812 These modules were relying on non-guaranteed implementation details in perl.
2813 Their maintainers have been informed, and should contact perl5-porters for
2814 advice if needed. Below is a subset of these modules:
2818 =item * L<Algorithm::Permute>
2822 L<Coro> and perl v5.22.0 were already incompatible due to a change in the perl,
2823 and the reworking on the perl context stack creates a further incompatibility.
2824 perl5-porters has L<discussed the issue on the mailing
2825 list|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2016/05/msg236174.html>.
2827 =item * L<Data::Alias>
2831 =item * L<Scope::Upper>
2839 The module L<lexical::underscore> no longer works on perl v5.24.0, because perl
2840 no longer has a lexical C<$_>!
2844 C<mod_perl> has been patched for compatibility for v5.22.0 and later but no
2845 release has been made. The relevant patch (and other changes) can be found in
2846 their source code repository, L<mirrored at
2847 GitHub|https://github.com/apache/mod_perl/commit/82827132efd3c2e25cc413c85af61bb63375da6e>.
2851 =head1 Errata From Previous Releases
2857 Parsing bad POSIX charclasses no longer leaks memory. This was fixed in Perl
2859 L<[perl #128313]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=128313>
2863 Fixed issues with recursive regexes. The behavior was fixed in Perl 5.24.0.
2864 L<[perl #126182]|https://rt.perl.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=126182>
2870 Jon Portnoy (AVENJ), a prolific Perl author and admired Gentoo community
2871 member, has passed away on August 10, 2016. He will be remembered and
2872 missed by all those with which he came in contact and enriched with his
2873 intellect, wit, and spirit.
2875 It is with great sadness we also note Kip Hampton's passing.. Probably
2876 best known as the author of the Perl & XML column on XML.com, he was a
2877 core contributor to AxKit, an XML server platform that became an Apache
2878 Foundation project. He was a frequent speaker in the early days at
2879 OSCON, and most recently at YAPC::NA in Madison. He was frequently on
2880 irc.perl.org as `ubu`, generally in the #axkit-dahut community, the
2881 group responsible for YAPC::NA Asheville in 2011.
2883 Kip and his constant contributions to the community will be greatly
2886 =head1 Acknowledgements
2888 Perl 5.26.0 represents approximately 12 months of development since Perl 5.24.0
2889 and contains approximately 370,000 lines of changes across 2,600 files from 86
2892 Excluding auto-generated files, documentation and release tools, there were
2893 approximately 230,000 lines of changes to 1,800 .pm, .t, .c and .h files.
2895 Perl continues to flourish into its third decade thanks to a vibrant community
2896 of users and developers. The following people are known to have contributed the
2897 improvements that became Perl 5.24.1:
2899 Aaron Crane, Abigail, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Alex Vandiver, Andreas
2900 König, Andreas Voegele, Andrew Fresh, Andy Lester, Aristotle Pagaltzis, Chad
2901 Granum, Chase Whitener, Chris 'BinGOs' Williams, Chris Lamb, Christian Hansen,
2902 Christian Millour, Colin Newell, Craig A. Berry, Dagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker, Dan
2903 Collins, Daniel Dragan, Dave Cross, Dave Rolsky, David Golden, David H.
2904 Gutteridge, David Mitchell, Dominic Hargreaves, Doug Bell, E. Choroba, Ed Avis,
2905 Father Chrysostomos, François Perrad, Hauke D, H.Merijn Brand, Hugo van der
2906 Sanden, Ivan Pozdeev, James E Keenan, James Raspass, Jarkko Hietaniemi, Jerry
2907 D. Hedden, Jim Cromie, J. Nick Koston, John Lightsey, Karen Etheridge, Karl
2908 Williamson, Leon Timmermans, Lukas Mai, Matthew Horsfall, Maxwell Carey, Misty
2909 De Meo, Neil Bowers, Nicholas Clark, Nicolas R., Niko Tyni, Pali, Paul
2910 Marquess, Peter Avalos, Petr Písař, Pino Toscano, Rafael Garcia-Suarez, Reini
2911 Urban, Renee Baecker, Ricardo Signes, Richard Levitte, Rick Delaney, Salvador
2912 Fandiño, Samuel Thibault, Sawyer X, Sébastien Aperghis-Tramoni, Sergey
2913 Aleynikov, Shlomi Fish, Smylers, Stefan Seifert, Steffen Müller, Stevan
2914 Little, Steve Hay, Steven Humphrey, Sullivan Beck, Theo Buehler, Thomas Sibley,
2915 Todd Rinaldo, Tomasz Konojacki, Tony Cook, Unicode Consortium, Yaroslav Kuzmin,
2918 The list above is almost certainly incomplete as it is automatically generated
2919 from version control history. In particular, it does not include the names of
2920 the (very much appreciated) contributors who reported issues to the Perl bug
2923 Many of the changes included in this version originated in the CPAN modules
2924 included in Perl's core. We're grateful to the entire CPAN community for
2925 helping Perl to flourish.
2927 For a more complete list of all of Perl's historical contributors, please see
2928 the F<AUTHORS> file in the Perl source distribution.
2930 =head1 Reporting Bugs
2932 If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles recently
2933 posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl bug database at
2934 L<https://rt.perl.org/> . There may also be information at
2935 L<http://www.perl.org/> , the Perl Home Page.
2937 If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the L<perlbug> program
2938 included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down to a tiny but
2939 sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the output of C<perl -V>,
2940 will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be analysed by the Perl porting team.
2942 If the bug you are reporting has security implications which make it
2943 inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then see
2944 L<perlsec/SECURITY VULNERABILITY CONTACT INFORMATION>
2945 for details of how to report the issue.
2949 The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details on
2952 The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
2954 The F<README> file for general stuff.
2956 The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.