=head1 NAME
-perl571delta - what's new for perl v5.7.2
+perl572delta - what's new for perl v5.7.2
=head1 DESCRIPTION
usually the system malloc on such platforms are much better optimized
for such large memory models than the Perl malloc.
-=head2 Future Deprecations
+=head2 AIX Dynaloading
+
+The AIX dynaloading now uses in AIX releases 4.3 and newer the native
+dlopen interface of AIX instead of the old emulated interface. This
+change will probably break backward compatibility with compiled
+modules. The change was made to make Perl more compliant with other
+applications like modperl which are using the AIX native interface.
+
+=head2 Socket Extension Dynamic in VMS
+
+The Socket extension is now dynamically loaded instead of being
+statically built in. This may or may not be a problem with ancient
+TCP/IP stacks of VMS: we do not know since we weren't able to test
+Perl in such configurations.
+
+=head2 Different Definition of the Unicode Character Classes \p{In...}
+
+As suggested by the Unicode consortium, the Unicode character classes
+now prefer I<scripts> as opposed to I<blocks> (as defined by Unicode);
+in Perl, when the C<\p{In....}> and the C<\p{In....}> regular expression
+constructs are used. This has changed the definition of some of those
+character classes.
+
+The difference between scripts and blocks is that scripts are the
+glyphs used by a language or a group of languages, while the blocks
+are more artificial groupings of 256 characters based on the Unicode
+numbering.
+
+In general this change results in more inclusive Unicode character
+classes, but changes to the other direction also do take place:
+for example while the script C<Latin> includes all the Latin
+characters and their various diacritic-adorned versions, it
+does not include the various punctuation or digits (since they
+are not solely C<Latin>).
+
+Changes in the character class semantics may have happened if a script
+and a block happen to have the same name, for example C<Hebrew>.
+In such cases the script wins and C<\p{InHebrew}> now means the script
+definition of Hebrew. The block definition in still available,
+though, by appending C<Block> to the name: C<\p{InHebrewBlock}> means
+what C<\p{InHebrew}> meant in perl 5.6.0. For the full list
+of affected character classes, see L<perlunicode/Blocks>.
+
+=head2 Deprecations
The current user-visible implementation of pseudo-hashes (the weird
use of the first array element) is deprecated starting from Perl 5.8.0
-and will be removed in Perl 5.10.0, and the feature will be implemented
-differently. Not only is the current interface rather ugly, but the
-current implementation slows down normal array and hash use quite
-noticeably. The 'fields' pragma interface will remain available.
+and will be removed in Perl 5.10.0, and the feature will be
+implemented differently. Not only is the current interface rather
+ugly, but the current implementation slows down normal array and hash
+use quite noticeably. The C<fields> pragma interface will remain
+available.
+
+The syntaxes C<@a->[...]> and C<@h->{...}> have now been deprecated.
The suidperl is also considered to be too much a risk to continue
maintaining and the suidperl code is likely to be removed in a future
release.
+The C<package;> syntax (C<package> without an argument has been
+deprecated. Its semantics were never that clear and its
+implementation even less so. If you have used that feature to
+disallow all but fully qualified variables, C<use strict;> instead.
+
+The chdir(undef) and chdir('') behaviors to match chdir() has been
+deprecated. In future versions, chdir(undef) and chdir('') will
+simply fail.
+
=head1 Core Enhancements
-In general a lot of fixing has happened in the area of Perl's understanding
-of numbers, both integer and floating point. Since in many systems the
-standard number parsing functions like C<strtoul()> and C<atof()> seem
-to have bugs, Perl tries to work around their deficiencies. This results
-hopefully in more accurate numbers.
+In general a lot of fixing has happened in the area of Perl's
+understanding of numbers, both integer and floating point. Since in
+many systems the standard number parsing functions like C<strtoul()>
+and C<atof()> seem to have bugs, Perl tries to work around their
+deficiencies. This results hopefully in more accurate numbers.
=over 4
=item *
-VMS now works under PerlIO.
+GMAGIC (right-hand side magic) could in many cases such as string
+concatenation be invoked too many times.
=item *
-GMAGIC (right-hand side magic) could in many cases such as concatenation
-of string be invoked too many times.
+Lexicals I: lexicals outside an eval "" weren't resolved
+correctly inside a subroutine definition inside the eval "" if they
+were not already referenced in the top level of the eval""ed code.
=item *
-The MAGIC constants (e.g. C<'P'>) have been macrofied
-(e.g. C<PERL_MAGIC_TIED>) for better source code readability
-and maintainability.
+Lexicals II: lexicals leaked at file scope into subroutines that
+were declared before the lexicals.
+
+=item *
+
+Lvalue subroutines can now return C<undef> in list context.
=item *
=item *
+A new special regular expression variable has been introduced:
+C<$^N>, which contains the most-recently closed group (submatch).
+
+=item *
+
L<utime> now supports C<utime undef, undef, @files> to change the
-times to the current time.
+file timestamps to the current time.
=item *
The Perl parser has been stress tested using both random input and
Markov chain input.
+=item *
+
+C<eval "v200"> now works.
+
+=item *
+
+VMS now works under PerlIO.
+
+=item *
+
+END blocks are now run even if you exit/die in a BEGIN block.
+The execution of END blocks is now controlled by
+PL_exit_flags & PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END. This enables the new
+behaviour for perl embedders. This will default in 5.10. See
+L<perlembed>.
+
=back
=head1 Modules and Pragmata
-=head2 New Modules and Distribution
+=head2 New Modules and Distributions
=over 4
=item *
+L<I18N::Langinfo> - query locale information
+
+=item *
+
L<I18N::LangTags> - functions for dealing with RFC3066-style language tags
=item *
L<libnet> - a collection of perl5 modules related to network programming
+Perl installation leaves libnet unconfigured, use F<libnetcfg> to configure.
+
=item *
L<List::Util> - selection of general-utility list subroutines
L<Time::Piece> - Object Oriented time objects
+(Previously known as L<Time::Object>.)
+
+=item *
+
+L<Time::Seconds> - a simple API to convert seconds to other date values
+
+=item *
+
+L<UnicodeCD> - Unicode Character Database
+
=back
=head2 Updated And Improved Modules and Pragmata
=item *
-L<vars> now supports declaring qualified variables.
+L<IO::Socket::INET> now supports C<LocalPort> of zero (usually meaning
+that the operating system will make one up.)
+
+=item *
+
+The L<vars> pragma now supports declaring fully qualified variables.
+(Something that C<our()> does not and will not support.)
=back
=item *
+L<h2ph> now supports C trigraphs.
+
+=item *
+
L<h2xs> uses the new L<ExtUtils::Constant> module which will affect
newly created extensions that define constants. Since the new code is
more correct (if you have two constants where the first one is a
old code that used floating point numbers even for integer constants),
and slightly faster, you might want to consider regenerating your
extension code (the new scheme makes regenerating easy).
+L<h2xs> now also supports C trigraphs.
=item *
=item *
-AIX should now work better with gcc. Also longdouble support in AIX
-should be better now. See L<perlaix>.
+AIX should now work better with gcc, threads, and 64-bitness. Also the
+
long doubles support in AIX should be better now. See L<perlaix>.
=item *
=item *
+DYNIX/ptx platform (a.k.a. dynixptx) is supported at or near osvers 4.5.2.
+
+=item *
+
Several MacOS (Classic) portability patches have been applied. We
hope to get a fully working port by 5.8.0. (The remaining problems
relate to the changed IO model of Perl.) See L<perlmacos>.
=item *
-The C code has been made much more C<gcc -Wall> clean. Some warning
-messages still remain, though, so if you are compiling with gcc you
-will see some warnings about dubious practices. The warnings are
-being worked on.
-
-=item *
-
In AFS installations one can configure the root of the AFS to be
somewhere else than the default F</afs> by using the Configure
parameter C<-Dafsroot=/some/where/else>.
=back
-=head1 Changed Internals
+=head1 Source Code Enhancements
+
+=head2 MAGIC constants
+
+The MAGIC constants (e.g. C<'P'>) have been macrofied
+(e.g. C<PERL_MAGIC_TIED>) for better source code readability
+and maintainability.
+
+=head2 Better commented code
+
+F<perly.c>, F<sv.c>, and F<sv.h> have now been extensively commented.
=head2 Regex pre-/post-compilation items matched up
C<offsets> member of the C<struct regexp>. See L<perldebguts> for more
complete information.
+=head2 gcc -Wall
+
+The C code has been made much more C<gcc -Wall> clean. Some warning
+messages still remain, though, so if you are compiling with gcc you
+will see some warnings about dubious practices. The warnings are
+being worked on.
+
=head1 New Tests
Several new tests have been added, especially for the F<lib> subsection.
changes since 5.7.0) this section is cumulative containing known
problems for all the 5.7 releases.
-=head2 AIX vac 5.0.0.0 May Produce Buggy Code For Perl
+=head2 AIX
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+In AIX 4.2 Perl extensions that use C++ functions that use statics
+may have problems in that the statics are not getting initialized.
+In newer AIX releases this has been solved by linking Perl with
+the libC_r library, but unfortunately in AIX 4.2 the said library
+has an obscure bug where the various functions related to time
+(such as time() and gettimeofday()) return broken values, and
+therefore in AIX 4.2 Perl is not linked against the libC_r.
+
+=item *
+
+vac 5.0.0.0 May Produce Buggy Code For Perl
The AIX C compiler vac version 5.0.0.0 may produce buggy code,
resulting in few random tests failing, but when the failing tests
vac version 5.0.1.0, that has been known to compile Perl correctly.
"lslpp -L|grep vac.C" will tell you the vac version.
+=back
+
+=head2 Amiga Perl Invoking Mystery
+
+One cannot call Perl using the C<volume:> syntax, that is, C<perl -v>
+works, but for example C<bin:perl -v> doesn't. The exact reason is
+known but the current suspect is the F<ixemul> library.
+
=head2 lib/ftmp-security tests warn 'system possibly insecure'
Don't panic. Read INSTALL 'make test' section instead.
-=head2 lib/io_multihomed Fails In LP64-Configured HP-UX
+=head2 Cygwin intermittent failures of lib/Memoize/t/expire_file 11 and 12
+
+The subtests 11 and 12 sometimes fail and sometimes work.
+
+=head2 HP-UX lib/io_multihomed Fails When LP64-Configured
The lib/io_multihomed test may hang in HP-UX if Perl has been
configured to be 64-bit. Because other 64-bit platforms do not hang in
test attempts to create and connect to "multihomed" sockets (sockets
which have multiple IP addresses).
-=head2 Test lib/posix Subtest 9 Fails In LP64-Configured HP-UX
+=head2 HP-UX lib/posix Subtest 9 Fails When LP64-Configured
If perl is configured with -Duse64bitall, the successful result of the
subtest 10 of lib/posix may arrive before the successful result of the
subtest 9, which confuses the test harness so much that it thinks the
subtest 9 failed.
-=head2 lib/b test 19
-
-The test fails on various platforms (PA64 and IA64 are known), but the
-exact cause is still being investigated.
-
=head2 Linux With Sfio Fails op/misc Test 48
No known fix.
-=head2 sigaction test 13 in VMS
-
-The test is known to fail; whether it's because of VMS of because
-of faulty test is not known.
-
-=head2 sprintf tests 129 and 130
+=head2 OS/390
+
+OS/390 has rather many test failures but the situation is actually
+better than it was in 5.6.0, it's just that so many new modules and
+tests have been added.
+
+ Failed Test Stat Wstat Total Fail Failed List of Failed
+ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ ../ext/B/Deparse.t 14 1 7.14% 14
+ ../ext/B/Showlex.t 1 1 100.00% 1
+ ../ext/Encode/Encode/Tcl.t 610 13 2.13% 592 594 596 598
+ 600 602 604-610
+ ../ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_unix.t 113 28928 5 3 60.00% 3-5
+ ../ext/POSIX/POSIX.t 29 1 3.45% 14
+ ../ext/Storable/t/lock.t 255 65280 5 3 60.00% 3-5
+ ../lib/locale.t 129 33024 117 19 16.24% 99-117
+ ../lib/warnings.t 434 1 0.23% 75
+ ../lib/ExtUtils.t 27 1 3.70% 25
+ ../lib/Math/BigInt/t/bigintpm.t 1190 1 0.08% 1145
+ ../lib/Unicode/UCD.t 81 48 59.26% 1-16 49-64 66-81
+ ../lib/User/pwent.t 9 1 11.11% 4
+ op/pat.t 660 6 0.91% 242-243 424-425
+ 626-627
+ op/split.t 0 9 ?? ?? % ??
+ op/taint.t 174 3 1.72% 156 162 168
+ op/tr.t 70 3 4.29% 50 58-59
+ Failed 16/422 test scripts, 96.21% okay. 105/23251 subtests failed, 99.55% okay.
+
+=head2 op/sprintf tests 129 and 130
The op/sprintf tests 129 and 130 are known to fail on some platforms.
Examples include any platform using sfio, and Compaq/Tandem's NonStop-UX.
The failing platforms do not comply with the ANSI C Standard, line
19ff on page 134 of ANSI X3.159 1989 to be exact. (They produce
-something else than "1" and "-1" when formatting 0.6 and -0.6 using
+something other than "1" and "-1" when formatting 0.6 and -0.6 using
the printf format "%.0f", most often they produce "0" and "-0".)
=head2 Failure of Thread tests
the 5.005 threading implementation. These are not new failures--Perl
5.005_0x has the same bugs, but didn't have these tests.
-lib/Memoize/t/correctness.t 23-25
-lib/Memoize/t/unmemoize.t 2-5
-t/pragma/autouse.t 4
-t/lib/thr5005.t 19-20
+ lib/autouse.t 4
+ t/lib/thr5005.t 19-20
+
+=head2 UNICOS
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+ext/POSIX/sigaction subtests 6 and 13 may fail.
+
+=item *
+
+lib/ExtUtils may spuriously claim that subtest 28 failed,
+which is interesting since the test only has 27 tests.
+
+=item *
+
+Numerous numerical test failures
+
+ op/numconvert 209,210,217,218
+ op/override 7
+ ext/Time/HiRes/HiRes 9
+ lib/Math/BigInt/t/bigintpm 1145
+ lib/Math/Trig 25
+
+These tests fail because of yet unresolved floating point inaccuracies.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 UTS
+
+There are a few known test failures, see L<perluts>.
+
+=head2 VMS
+
+Rather many tests are failing in VMS but that actually more tests
+succeed in VMS than they used to, it's just that there are many,
+many more tests than there used to be.
+
+Here are the known failures from some compiler/platform combinations.
+
+DEC C V5.3-006 on OpenVMS VAX V6.2
+
+ [-.ext.list.util.t]tainted..............FAILED on test 3
+ [-.ext.posix]sigaction..................FAILED on test 7
+ [-.ext.time.hires]hires.................FAILED on test 14
+ [-.lib.file.find]taint..................FAILED on test 17
+ [-.lib.math.bigint.t]bigintpm...........FAILED on test 1183
+ [-.lib.test.simple.t]exit...............FAILED on test 1
+ [.lib]vmsish............................FAILED on test 13
+ [.op]sprintf............................FAILED on test 12
+ Failed 8/399 tests, 91.23% okay.
+
+DEC C V6.0-001 on OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-1 and
+Compaq C V6.2-008 on OpenVMS Alpha V7.1
+
+ [-.ext.list.util.t]tainted..............FAILED on test 3
+ [-.lib.file.find]taint..................FAILED on test 17
+ [-.lib.test.simple.t]exit...............FAILED on test 1
+ [.lib]vmsish............................FAILED on test 13
+ Failed 4/399 tests, 92.48% okay.
+
+Compaq C V6.4-005 on OpenVMS Alpha 7.2.1
+
+ [-.ext.b]showlex........................FAILED on test 1
+ [-.ext.list.util.t]tainted..............FAILED on test 3
+ [-.lib.file.find]taint..................FAILED on test 17
+ [-.lib.test.simple.t]exit...............FAILED on test 1
+ [.lib]vmsish............................FAILED on test 13
+ [.op]misc...............................FAILED on test 49
+ Failed 6/401 tests, 92.77% okay.
+
+=head2 Win32
+
+In multi-CPU boxes there are some problems with the I/O buffering:
+some output may appear twice.
=head2 Localising a Tied Variable Leaks Memory
The compiler suite is slowly getting better but is nowhere near
working order yet.
+=head2 The Long Double Support is Still Experimental
+
+The ability to configure Perl's numbers to use "long doubles",
+floating point numbers of hopefully better accuracy, is still
+experimental. The implementations of long doubles are not yet
+widespread and the existing implementations are not quite mature
+or standardised, therefore trying to support them is a rare
+and moving target. The gain of more precision may also be offset
+by slowdown in computations (more bits to move around, and the
+operations are more likely to be executed by less optimised
+libraries).
+
=head1 Reporting Bugs
If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff