=head1 NAME
-perlpolicy - Various and sundry policies and commitments related to the perl core
+perlpolicy - Various and sundry policies and commitments related to the Perl core
=head1 DESCRIPTION
policies about how the Perl 5 Porters collectively develop and maintain
the Perl core.
+=head1 GOVERNANCE
+
+=head2 Perl 5 Porters
+
+Subscribers to perl5-porters (the porters themselves) come in several flavours.
+Some are quiet curious lurkers, who rarely pitch in and instead watch
+the ongoing development to ensure they're forewarned of new changes or
+features in Perl. Some are representatives of vendors, who are there
+to make sure that Perl continues to compile and work on their
+platforms. Some patch any reported bug that they know how to fix,
+some are actively patching their pet area (threads, Win32, the regexp
+-engine), while others seem to do nothing but complain. In other
+words, it's your usual mix of technical people.
+
+Over this group of porters presides Larry Wall. He has the final word
+in what does and does not change in any of the Perl programming languages.
+These days, Larry spends most of his time on Perl 6, while Perl 5 is
+shepherded by a "pumpking", a porter responsible for deciding what
+goes into each release and ensuring that releases happen on a regular
+basis.
+
+Larry sees Perl development along the lines of the US government:
+there's the Legislature (the porters), the Executive branch (the
+-pumpking), and the Supreme Court (Larry). The legislature can
+discuss and submit patches to the executive branch all they like, but
+the executive branch is free to veto them. Rarely, the Supreme Court
+will side with the executive branch over the legislature, or the
+legislature over the executive branch. Mostly, however, the
+legislature and the executive branch are supposed to get along and
+work out their differences without impeachment or court cases.
+
+You might sometimes see reference to Rule 1 and Rule 2. Larry's power
+as Supreme Court is expressed in The Rules:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item 1
+
+Larry is always by definition right about how Perl should behave.
+This means he has final veto power on the core functionality.
+
+=item 2
+
+Larry is allowed to change his mind about any matter at a later date,
+regardless of whether he previously invoked Rule 1.
+
+=back
+
+Got that? Larry is always right, even when he was wrong. It's rare
+to see either Rule exercised, but they are often alluded to.
+
=head1 MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT
Perl 5 is developed by a community, not a corporate entity. Every change
=item *
-We "officially" support the two most recent stable release
-series'. As of the release of 5.14.0, we will "officially"
-end support for Perl 5.10, other than providing security
+We "officially" support the two most recent stable release series. 5.14.x
+and earlier are now out of support. As of the release of 5.20.0, we will
+"officially" end support for Perl 5.16.x, other than providing security
updates as described below.
=item *
To the best of our ability, we will attempt to fix critical issues
-in the two most recent stable 5.x release series'. Fixes for the
+in the two most recent stable 5.x release series. Fixes for the
current release series take precedence over fixes for the previous
release series.
=item *
To the best of our ability, we will provide "critical" security patches
-/ releases for any major version of Perl initially released within the
-past three years. We can only commit to providing these for the most
-recent .y release in any 5.x.y series.
+/ releases for any major version of Perl whose 5.x.0 release was within
+the past three years. We can only commit to providing these for the
+most recent .y release in any 5.x.y series.
=item *
New syntax and semantics which don't break existing language constructs
and syntax have a much lower bar. They merely need to prove themselves
-to be useful, elegant, well designed and well tested.
+to be useful, elegant, well designed, and well tested.
=head2 Terminology
=item deprecated
If something in the Perl core is marked as B<deprecated>, we may remove it
-from the core in the next stable release series, though we may not. As of
+from the core in the future, though we might not. Generally, backward
+incompatible changes will have deprecation warnings for two release
+cycles before being removed, but may be removed after just one cycle if
+the risk seems quite low or the benefits quite high.
+
+As of
Perl 5.12, deprecated features and modules warn the user as they're used.
-If you use a deprecated feature and believe that its removal from the Perl
-core would be a mistake, please contact the perl5-porters mailinglist and
-plead your case. We don't deprecate things without a good reason, but
-sometimes there's a counterargument we haven't considered. Historically,
-we did not distinguish between "deprecated" and "discouraged" features.
+When a module is deprecated, it will also be made available on CPAN.
+Installing it from CPAN will silence deprecation warnings for that module.
+
+If you use a deprecated feature or module and believe that its removal from
+the Perl core would be a mistake, please contact the perl5-porters
+mailinglist and plead your case. We don't deprecate things without a good
+reason, but sometimes there's a counterargument we haven't considered.
+Historically, we did not distinguish between "deprecated" and "discouraged"
+features.
=item discouraged
From time to time, we may mark language constructs and features which we
consider to have been mistakes as B<discouraged>. Discouraged features
-aren't candidates for removal in the next major release series, but
+aren't currently candidates for removal, but
we may later deprecate them if they're found to stand in the way of a
-significant improvement to the core.
+significant improvement to the Perl core.
=item removed
-Once a feature, construct or module has been marked as deprecated for a
-stable release cycle, we may remove it from the core. Unsurprisingly,
-we say we've B<removed> these things.
+Once a feature, construct or module has been marked as deprecated, we
+may remove it from the Perl core. Unsurprisingly,
+we say we've B<removed> these things. When a module is removed, it will
+no longer ship with Perl, but will continue to be available on CPAN.
=back
=item *
-Documentation updates are acceptable.
+Acceptable documentation updates are those that correct factual errors,
+explain significant bugs or deficiencies in the current implementation,
+or fix broken markup.
=item *
=item *
Patches that fix crashing bugs that do not otherwise change Perl's
-functionality or negatively impact performance are acceptable.
+functionality or negatively impact performance are acceptable.
=item *
=item *
-Updates to dual-life modules should consist of minimal patches to
+Patches that fix regressions in perl's behavior relative to previous
+releases are acceptable.
+
+=item *
+
+Updates to dual-life modules should consist of minimal patches to
fix crashing or security issues (as above).
=item *
=head2 Getting changes into a maint branch
Historically, only the pumpking cherry-picked changes from bleadperl
-into maintperl. This has...scaling problems. At the same time,
+into maintperl. This has scaling problems. At the same time,
maintenance branches of stable versions of Perl need to be treated with
-great care. To that end, we're going to try out a new process for
-maint-5.12.
+great care. To that end, as of Perl 5.12, we have a new process for
+maint branches.
-Any committer may cherry-pick any commit from blead to maint-5.12 if
+Any committer may cherry-pick any commit from blead to a maint branch if
they send mail to perl5-porters announcing their intent to cherry-pick
-a specific commit along with a rationale for doing so and at least two
+a specific commit along with a rationale for doing so and at least two
other committers respond to the list giving their assent. (This policy
applies to current and former pumpkings, as well as other committers.)
From time to time, a script, module, or set of modules (hereafter referred
to simply as a "module") will prove so widely useful and/or so integral to
the correct functioning of Perl itself that it should be distributed with
-Perl core. This should never be done without the author's explicit
+the Perl core. This should never be done without the author's explicit
consent, and a clear recognition on all parts that this means the module
is being distributed under the same terms as Perl itself. A module author
should realize that inclusion of a module into the Perl core will
=item *
-The version of the module in the core should still be considered the
+The version of the module in the Perl core should still be considered the
work of the original author. All patches, bug reports, and so
forth should be fed back to them. Their development directions
should be respected whenever possible.
If the author's vision of the future of their module is sufficiently
different from the vision of the pumpkin holder and perl5-porters as a
whole so as to cause serious problems for Perl, the pumpkin holder may
-choose to formally fork the version of the module in the core from the
+choose to formally fork the version of the module in the Perl core from the
one maintained by the author. This should not be done lightly and
should B<always> if at all possible be done only after direct input
from Larry. If this is done, it must then be made explicit in the
-module as distributed with Perl core that it is a forked version and
+module as distributed with the Perl core that it is a forked version and
that while it is based on the original author's work, it is no longer
maintained by them. This must be noted in both the documentation and
in the comments in the source of the module.
run without modification. More often, examples will consist
of a snippet of code containing only the "important" bits.
The definition of "important" varies from snippet to snippet.
-Sometimes it's important to declare C<use strict;> and C<use warnings;>,
+Sometimes it's important to declare C<use strict> and C<use warnings>,
initialize all variables and fully catch every error condition.
More often than not, though, those things obscure the lesson
the example was intended to teach.
In general, documentation should describe what Perl does "now" rather
than what it used to do. It's perfectly reasonable to include notes
in documentation about how behaviour has changed from previous releases,
-but, with the exception of perlfaq, documentation isn't "dual-life" --
+but, with very few exceptions, documentation isn't "dual-life" --
it doesn't need to fully describe how all old versions used to work.
+=head1 STANDARDS OF CONDUCT
+
+The official forum for the development of perl is the perl5-porters mailing
+list, mentioned above, and its bugtracker at rt.perl.org. All participants in
+discussion there are expected to adhere to a standard of conduct.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+Always be civil.
+
+=item *
+
+Heed the moderators.
+
+=back
+
+Civility is simple: stick to the facts while avoiding demeaning remarks and
+sarcasm. It is not enough to be factual. You must also be civil. Responding
+in kind to incivility is not acceptable.
+
+If the list moderators tell you that you are not being civil, carefully
+consider how your words have appeared before responding in any way. You may
+protest, but repeated protest in the face of a repeatedly reaffirmed decision
+is not acceptable.
+
+Unacceptable behavior will result in a public and clearly identified warning.
+Repeated unacceptable behavior will result in removal from the mailing list.
+The first removal is for one month. Subsequent removals will double in length.
+After six months with no warning, a user's ban length is reset. Removals, like
+warnings, are public.
+
+The list of moderators will be public knowledge. At present, it is: Ricardo
+Signes.
=head1 CREDITS
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff