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 v5.17.4
12 This document describes differences between the 5.17.3 release and the 5.17.4
15 If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.17.2, first read
16 L<perl5173delta>, which describes differences between 5.17.2 and 5.17.3.
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 ]
30 =head2 Latest Unicode 6.2 beta is included
32 This is supposed to be the final data for 6.2, unless glitches are
33 found. The earlier experimental 6.2 beta data has been reverted, and
34 this used instead. Not all the changes that were proposed for 6.2 and
35 that were in the earlier beta versions are actually going into 6.2. In
36 particular, there are no changes from 6.1 in the General_Category of any
37 characters. 6.2 does revise the C<\X> handling for the REGIONAL
38 INDICATOR characters that were added in Unicode 6.0. Perl now for the
39 first time fully handles this revision.
43 XXX Any security-related notices go here. In particular, any security
44 vulnerabilities closed should be noted here rather than in the
45 L</Selected Bug Fixes> section.
47 [ List each security issue as a =head2 entry ]
49 =head1 Incompatible Changes
51 XXX For a release on a stable branch, this section aspires to be:
53 There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.XXX.XXX
54 If any exist, they are bugs, and we request that you submit a
55 report. See L</Reporting Bugs> below.
57 [ List each incompatible change as a =head2 entry ]
61 XXX Any deprecated features, syntax, modules etc. should be listed here. In
62 particular, deprecated modules should be listed here even if they are listed as
63 an updated module in the L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
65 [ List each deprecation as a =head2 entry ]
67 =head1 Performance Enhancements
69 XXX Changes which enhance performance without changing behaviour go here.
70 There may well be none in a stable release.
72 [ List each enhancement as a =item entry ]
78 Speed up in regular expression matching against Unicode properties. The
79 largest gain is for C<\X>, the Unicode "extended grapheme cluster". The
80 gain for it is about 35% - 40%. Bracketed character classes, e.g.,
81 C<[0-9\x{100}]> containing code points above 255 are also now faster.
85 =head1 Modules and Pragmata
87 XXX All changes to installed files in F<cpan/>, F<dist/>, F<ext/> and F<lib/>
88 go here. If Module::CoreList is updated, generate an initial draft of the
89 following sections using F<Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl>, which prints stub
90 entries to STDOUT. Results can be pasted in place of the '=head2' entries
91 below. A paragraph summary for important changes should then be added by hand.
92 In an ideal world, dual-life modules would have a F<Changes> file that could be
95 [ Within each section, list entries as a =item entry ]
97 =head2 New Modules and Pragmata
107 =head2 Updated Modules and Pragmata
113 L<File::Copy> has been upgraded from version 2.23 to 2.24. C<copy()> no longer
114 zeros files when copying into the same directory, and also now fails (as it has
115 long been documented to do) when attempting to copy a file over itself.
119 L<Socket> has been upgraded from version 2.004 to 2.006.
120 C<unpack_sockaddr_in()> and C<unpack_sockaddr_in6()> now return just the IP
121 address in scalar context, and C<inet_ntop()> now guards against incorrect
122 length scalars being passed in.
126 =head2 Removed Modules and Pragmata
138 XXX Changes to files in F<pod/> go here. Consider grouping entries by
139 file and be sure to link to the appropriate page, e.g. L<perlfunc>.
141 =head2 New Documentation
143 XXX Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here.
147 XXX Description of the purpose of the new file here
149 =head2 Changes to Existing Documentation
151 XXX Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here.
152 However, any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in the L</Diagnostics>
161 XXX Description of the change here
167 The following additions or changes have been made to diagnostic output,
168 including warnings and fatal error messages. For the complete list of
169 diagnostic messages, see L<perldiag>.
171 XXX New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here. Also
172 include any changes in L<perldiag> that reconcile it to the C<C> code.
174 =head2 New Diagnostics
176 XXX Newly added diagnostic messages go under here, separated into New Errors
185 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
195 XXX L<message|perldiag/"message">
199 =head2 Changes to Existing Diagnostics
201 XXX Changes (i.e. rewording) of diagnostic messages go here
207 XXX Describe change here
211 =head1 Utility Changes
213 XXX Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go here.
214 Most of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>.
216 [ List utility changes as a =head3 entry for each utility and =item
217 entries for each change
218 Use L<XXX> with program names to get proper documentation linking. ]
230 =head1 Configuration and Compilation
232 XXX Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools
233 go here. Any other changes to the Perl build process should be listed here.
234 However, any platform-specific changes should be listed in the
235 L</Platform Support> section, instead.
237 [ List changes as a =item entry ].
249 XXX Any significant changes to the testing of a freshly built perl should be
250 listed here. Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here as do any
251 large changes to the testing harness (e.g. when parallel testing was added).
252 Changes to existing files in F<t/> aren't worth summarizing, although the bugs
253 that they represent may be covered elsewhere.
255 [ List each test improvement as a =item entry ]
265 =head1 Platform Support
267 XXX Any changes to platform support should be listed in the sections below.
269 [ Within the sections, list each platform as a =item entry with specific
270 changes as paragraphs below it. ]
274 XXX List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous
275 versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/>
276 directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the
281 =item XXX-some-platform
287 =head2 Discontinued Platforms
293 Support for VM/ESA has been removed. The port was tested on 2.3.0, which
294 IBM ended service on in March 2002. 2.4.0 ended service in June 2003, and
295 was superseded by Z/VM. The current version of Z/VM is V6.2.0, and scheduled
296 for end of service on 2015/04/30.
300 =head2 Platform-Specific Notes
302 XXX List any changes for specific platforms. This could include configuration
303 and compilation changes or changes in portability/compatibility. However,
304 changes within modules for platforms should generally be listed in the
305 L</Modules and Pragmata> section.
309 =item XXX-some-platform
315 =head1 Internal Changes
317 XXX Changes which affect the interface available to C<XS> code go here. Other
318 significant internal changes for future core maintainers should be noted as
321 [ List each change as a =item entry ]
331 =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
333 XXX Important bug fixes in the core language are summarized here. Bug fixes in
334 files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarized in L</Modules and Pragmata>.
336 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
346 =head1 Known Problems
348 XXX Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any
349 tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here. Unfixed
350 platform specific bugs also go here.
352 [ List each fix as a =item entry ]
364 XXX If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary
367 =head1 Acknowledgements
369 XXX Generate this with:
371 perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.17.3..HEAD
373 =head1 Reporting Bugs
375 If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles recently
376 posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl bug database at
377 http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ . There may also be information at
378 http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page.
380 If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the L<perlbug> program
381 included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down to a tiny but
382 sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the output of C<perl -V>,
383 will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be analysed by the Perl porting team.
385 If the bug you are reporting has security implications, which make it
386 inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then please send it
387 to perl5-security-report@perl.org. This points to a closed subscription
388 unarchived mailing list, which includes all the core committers, who will be
389 able to help assess the impact of issues, figure out a resolution, and help
390 co-ordinate the release of patches to mitigate or fix the problem across all
391 platforms on which Perl is supported. Please only use this address for
392 security issues in the Perl core, not for modules independently distributed on
397 The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details on
400 The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
402 The F<README> file for general stuff.
404 The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.