1 Changes in version 2.27
2 -----------------------
4 * Fix several problems with internal and external use of 'die' and
7 * Fixed some bugs with subtle combinations of bundling_override and
10 * A callback routine that is associated with a hash-valued option will
11 now have both the hask key and the value passed. It used to get only
14 * Eliminated the use of autoloading. Autoloading kept generating
15 problems during development, and when using perlcc.
17 * Lots of internal restructoring to make room for extensions.
19 * Redesigned the regression tests.
21 Changes in version 2.26
22 -----------------------
24 * New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
25 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
28 * Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
30 * Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
32 Changes in version 2.26
33 -----------------------
35 * New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
36 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
39 * Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
41 * Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
43 Changes in version 2.25
44 -----------------------
46 * Change handling of a lone "-" on the command line. It will now be
47 treated as a non-option unless an explicit specification was passed
48 to GetOptions. See the manual.
49 In the old implementation an error was signalled, so no
50 compatibility breaks are expected from this change.
52 * Add $VERSION_STRING. This is the string form of $VERSION. Usually
53 they are identical, unless it is a pre-release in which case
54 $VERSION will be (e.g.) 2.2403 and $VERSION_STRING will be "2.24_03".
56 Changes in version 2.24
57 -----------------------
59 * Add object oriented interface:
62 $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser;
63 $p->configure(...configuration options...);
64 if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ...
66 * Add configuration at 'use' time:
68 use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling);
70 * Add configuration options "gnu_getopt" and "gnu_compat".
72 "gnu_compat" controls whether --opt= is allowed, and what it should
73 do. Without "gnu_compat", --opt= gives an error. With "gnu_compat",
74 --opt= will give option "opt" and empty value.
75 This is the way GNU getopt_long does it.
77 "gnu_getopt" is a short way of setting "gnu_compat bundling permute
78 no_getopt_compat. With "gnu_getopt", command line handling should be
79 fully compatible with GNU getopt_long.
81 * Correct warnings when the user specified an array or hash
82 destination using a non-lowercase option, e.g. "I=s@".
84 * Correct ambiguous use of 'set' and 'reset' in the Configuration
85 section of the documentation.
87 * Add configuration option "posix_default" to reset to defaults as if
88 POSIXLY_CORRECT were set.
90 * Disallow "no" prefix on configuration options "default", "prefix" and
93 * Add a section "Trouble Shooting" to the documentation, with
94 frequently asked questions.
96 Changes in version 2.23
97 -----------------------
99 * When a call-back routine issues 'die', messages starting with "!"
100 are treated specially. Currently, only "!FINISH" is recognised (see
101 the next bullet point). Other messages that start with "!" are
104 * Change 'die("FINISH") (see changes in 2.21) to die("!FINISH"). This
105 is an incompatible change, but I guess noone is using this yet.
107 Changes in version 2.22
108 -----------------------
110 * Fixes a bug in the combination of aliases and negation.
112 Old: "foo|bar!" allowed negation on foo, but not on bar.
113 New: "foo|bar!" allows negation on foo and bar.
115 Caveat: "foo|f!", with bundling, issues the warning that negation on
116 a short option is ignored. To obtain the desired behaviour, use
118 "foo!" => \$opt_foo, "f" => \$opt_foo
120 "foo|f" => \$opt_foo, "nofoo" => sub { $opt_foo = 0 }
122 Remember that this is _only_ required when bundling is in effect.
124 Changes in version 2.21
125 -----------------------
129 * User defined subroutines should use 'die' to signal errors.
131 * User defined subroutines can preliminary terminate options
132 processing by calling die("FINISH");
134 * Correct erroneous install of Getopt::Long manpage.
135 Previous versions seem to install Getopt::GetoptLong instead of
138 Changes in version 2.20
139 -----------------------
141 * Prevent the magic argument "<>" from being interpreted as option
142 starter characters if it is the first argument passed.
143 To use the characters "<>" as option starters, pass "><" instead.
145 * Changed license: Getopt::Long may now also be used under the Perl
148 * Changed the file name of the distribution kit from "GetoptLong..."
149 to "Getopt-Long-..." to match the standards.
151 Changes in version 2.19
152 -----------------------
154 * Fix a warning bug with bundling_override.
156 There's no version 2.18
157 -----------------------
159 Changes in version 2.17
160 -----------------------
162 * Getopt::Long::config is renamed Getopt::Long::Configure. The old
163 name will remain supported without being documented.
165 * Options can have the specifier '+' to denote that the option value
166 must be incremented each time the option occurs on the command line.
170 Getopt::Long::Configure("bundling");
171 GetOptions ("v+" => \$more);
172 print STDOUT ("more = $more\n");
174 will print "more = 3" when called with "-v", "more = 4" when called
175 with "-vv" (or "-v -v"), and so on.
177 * Getopt::Long now uses autoloading. This substantially reduces the
178 resources required to 'use Getopt::Long' (about 100 lines of over
181 * It is now documented that global option variables like $opt_foo
182 need to be declared using 'use vars ...' when running under 'use
185 * To install, it is now required to use the official procedure:
192 Changes in version 2.16
193 -----------------------
195 * A couple of small additional fixes to the $` $& $' fixes.
197 * The option prefix can be set using config("prefix=...") or, more
198 powerful, with config("prefix_pattern=..."); see the documentation
201 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
203 This version is identical to 2.15, which was not released.
205 There's no version 2.14
206 -----------------------
208 Changes in version 2.13
209 -----------------------
211 * All regexps are changed to avoid the use of $`, $& and $'. Using one
212 of these causes all pattern matches in the program to be much slower
215 * Configuration errors are signalled using die() and will cause the
216 program to be terminated (unless eval{...} or $SIG{__DIE__} is
219 * Option parsing errors are now signalled with calls to warn().
221 * In option bundles, numeric values may be embedded in the bundle
224 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
226 * Removed non-standard version number matching. Version 1.121 is now
227 more than 1.12 but less than 1.13.
229 Changes in version 2.12
230 -----------------------
232 * A single question mark is allowed as an alias to an option, e.g.
234 GetOptions ("help|?", ...)
236 Changes in version 2.11
237 -----------------------
239 * User linkage may be an object, provided the object is really a hash.
244 sub new () { return bless {}; }
247 my $linkage = Foo->new();
249 GetOptions ($linkage, ... );
251 * Some bug fixes in handling obscure cases of pass-through.
253 Changes in version 2.9
254 ----------------------
256 * A new way to configure Getopt::Long. Instead of setting module local
257 variables, routine Getopt::Long::config can be called with the names
258 of options to be set or reset, e.g.
260 Getopt::Long::config ("no_auto_abbrev", "ignore_case");
262 Configuring by using the module local variables is deprecated, but
263 it will continue to work for backwark compatibility.
265 Changes in version 2.6
266 ----------------------
268 * Handle ignorecase even if autoabbrev is off.
272 Changes in version 2.4
273 ----------------------
275 * Pass-through of unrecognized options. Makes it easy to write wrapper
276 programs that process some of the command line options but pass the
277 others to another program.
279 * Options can be of type HASH, now you can say
283 and have $opt_define{"foo"} set to "bar".
285 * An enhanced skeleton program, skel2.pl, that combines the power of
286 Getopt::Long with Pod::Usage.
287 Module Pod::Usage can be obtained from CPAN,
288 http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Brad_Appleton.
290 Possible incompatibility in version 2.4
291 ---------------------------------------
293 Previous versions of Getopt::Long always downcased the option variable
294 names when ignorecase was in effect. This bug has been corrected. As a
295 consequence, &GetOptions ("Foo") will now set variable $opt_Foo