Perl history in brief, by Larry Wall:
- Perl 0 introduced Perl to my officemates.
- Perl 1 introduced Perl to the world, and changed /\(...\|...\)/ to
- /(...|...)/. \(Dan Faigin still hasn't forgiven me. :-\)
- Perl 2 introduced Henry Spencer's regular expression package.
- Perl 3 introduced the ability to handle binary data (embedded nulls).
- Perl 4 introduced the first Camel book. Really. We mostly just
- switched version numbers so the book could refer to 4.000.
- Perl 5 introduced everything else, including the ability to
- introduce everything else.
+ Perl 0 introduced Perl to my officemates.
+ Perl 1 introduced Perl to the world, and changed /\(...\|...\)/ to
+ /(...|...)/. \(Dan Faigin still hasn't forgiven me. :-\)
+ Perl 2 introduced Henry Spencer's regular expression package.
+ Perl 3 introduced the ability to handle binary data (embedded nulls).
+ Perl 4 introduced the first Camel book. Really. We mostly just
+ switched version numbers so the book could refer to 4.000.
+ Perl 5 introduced everything else, including the ability to
+ introduce everything else.
=head1 THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN
Sarathy, Graham Barr, Jarkko Hietaniemi, Hugo van der Sanden,
Michael Schwern, Rafael Garcia-Suarez, Nicholas Clark, Richard Clamp,
Leon Brocard, Dave Mitchell, Jesse Vincent, Ricardo Signes, Steve Hay,
-Matt S Trout, David Golden, Florian Ragwitz, Tatsuhiko Miyagawa
-and Chris C<BinGOs> Williams.
+Matt S Trout, David Golden, Florian Ragwitz, Tatsuhiko Miyagawa,
+Chris C<BinGOs> Williams, Zefram, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Stevan
+Little, Dave Rolsky, Max Maischein, Abigail, Jesse Luehrs, Tony Cook,
+Dominic Hargreaves, Aaron Crane, Aristotle Pagaltzis, Matthew Horsfall
+and Peter Martini.
=head2 PUMPKIN?
[from Porting/pumpkin.pod in the Perl source code distribution]
+=for disclaimer orking cows is hazardous, and not legal in all jurisdictions
+
Chip Salzenberg gets credit for that, with a nod to his cow orker,
David Croy. We had passed around various names (baton, token, hot
potato) but none caught on. Then, Chip asked:
Who has the patch pumpkin?
-To explain: David Croy once told me once that at a previous job,
+To explain: David Croy once told me that at a previous job,
there was one tape drive and multiple systems that used it for backups.
But instead of some high-tech exclusion software, they used a low-tech
method to prevent multiple simultaneous backups: a stuffed pumpkin.
1.001..10 1988-Jan-30
1.011..14 1988-Feb-02
Schwern 1.0.15 2002-Dec-18 Modernization
- Richard 1.0.16 2003-Dec-18
+ Richard 1.0_16 2003-Dec-18
Larry 2.000 1988-Jun-05
Leon 5.005_04-RC1 2004-Feb-05
5.005_04-RC2 2004-Feb-18
5.005_04 2004-Feb-23
+ 5.005_05-RC1 2009-Feb-16
Sarathy 5.005_50 1998-Jul-26 The 5.6 development track.
5.005_51 1998-Aug-10
Jesse 5.11.3 2009-Dec-20
Ricardo 5.11.4 2010-Jan-20
Steve 5.11.5 2010-Feb-20
- Jesse 5.12.0-RC1 2010-Mar-29
+ Jesse 5.12.0-RC0 2010-Mar-21
+ 5.12.0-RC1 2010-Mar-29
+ 5.12.0-RC2 2010-Apr-01
+ 5.12.0-RC3 2010-Apr-02
+ 5.12.0-RC4 2010-Apr-06
+ 5.12.0-RC5 2010-Apr-09
Jesse 5.12.0 2010-Apr-12
- Jesse 5.12.1 2010-May-16 The 5.12 maintenance track
- Jesse 5.12.2 2010-Sep-06
+ Jesse 5.12.1-RC2 2010-May-13 The 5.12 maintenance track
+ 5.12.1-RC1 2010-May-09
+ 5.12.1 2010-May-16
+ 5.12.2-RC2 2010-Aug-31
+ 5.12.2 2010-Sep-06
+ Ricardo 5.12.3-RC1 2011-Jan-09
+ Ricardo 5.12.3-RC2 2011-Jan-14
+ Ricardo 5.12.3-RC3 2011-Jan-17
+ Ricardo 5.12.3 2011-Jan-21
+ Leon 5.12.4-RC1 2011-Jun-08
+ Leon 5.12.4 2011-Jun-20
+ Dominic 5.12.5 2012-Nov-10
Leon 5.13.0 2010-Apr-20 The 5.13 development track
Ricardo 5.13.1 2010-May-20
Steve 5.13.5 2010-Sep-19
Miyagawa 5.13.6 2010-Oct-20
BinGOs 5.13.7 2010-Nov-20
+ Zefram 5.13.8 2010-Dec-20
+ Jesse 5.13.9 2011-Jan-20
+ Ævar 5.13.10 2011-Feb-20
+ Florian 5.13.11 2011-Mar-20
+ Jesse 5.14.0RC1 2011-Apr-20
+ Jesse 5.14.0RC2 2011-May-04
+ Jesse 5.14.0RC3 2011-May-11
+
+ Jesse 5.14.0 2011-May-14 The 5.14 maintenance track
+ Jesse 5.14.1 2011-Jun-16
+ Florian 5.14.2-RC1 2011-Sep-19
+ 5.14.2 2011-Sep-26
+ Dominic 5.14.3 2012-Oct-12
+ David M 5.14.4-RC1 2013-Mar-05
+ David M 5.14.4-RC2 2013-Mar-07
+ David M 5.14.4 2013-Mar-10
+
+ David G 5.15.0 2011-Jun-20 The 5.15 development track
+ Zefram 5.15.1 2011-Jul-20
+ Ricardo 5.15.2 2011-Aug-20
+ Stevan 5.15.3 2011-Sep-20
+ Florian 5.15.4 2011-Oct-20
+ Steve 5.15.5 2011-Nov-20
+ Dave R 5.15.6 2011-Dec-20
+ BinGOs 5.15.7 2012-Jan-20
+ Max M 5.15.8 2012-Feb-20
+ Abigail 5.15.9 2012-Mar-20
+ Ricardo 5.16.0-RC0 2012-May-10
+ Ricardo 5.16.0-RC1 2012-May-14
+ Ricardo 5.16.0-RC2 2012-May-15
+
+ Ricardo 5.16.0 2012-May-20 The 5.16 maintenance track
+ Ricardo 5.16.1 2012-Aug-08
+ Ricardo 5.16.2 2012-Nov-01
+ Ricardo 5.16.3-RC1 2013-Mar-06
+ Ricardo 5.16.3 2013-Mar-11
+
+ Zefram 5.17.0 2012-May-26 The 5.17 development track
+ Jesse L 5.17.1 2012-Jun-20
+ TonyC 5.17.2 2012-Jul-20
+ Steve 5.17.3 2012-Aug-20
+ Florian 5.17.4 2012-Sep-20
+ Florian 5.17.5 2012-Oct-20
+ Ricardo 5.17.6 2012-Nov-20
+ Dave R 5.17.7 2012-Dec-18
+ Aaron 5.17.8 2013-Jan-20
+ BinGOs 5.17.9 2013-Feb-20
+ Max M 5.17.10 2013-Mar-21
+ Ricardo 5.17.11 2013-Apr-20
+
+ Ricardo 5.18.0-RC1 2013-May-11 The 5.18 maintenance track
+ Ricardo 5.18.0-RC2 2013-May-12
+ Ricardo 5.18.0-RC3 2013-May-13
+ Ricardo 5.18.0-RC4 2013-May-15
+ Ricardo 5.18.0 2013-May-18
+ Ricardo 5.18.1-RC1 2013-Aug-01
+ Ricardo 5.18.1-RC2 2013-Aug-03
+ Ricardo 5.18.1-RC3 2013-Aug-08
+ Ricardo 5.18.1 2013-Aug-12
+ Ricardo 5.18.2 2014-Jan-06
+ Ricardo 5.18.3-RC1 2014-Sep-17
+ Ricardo 5.18.3-RC2 2014-Sep-27
+ Ricardo 5.18.3 2014-Oct-01
+ Ricardo 5.18.4 2014-Oct-01
+
+ Ricardo 5.19.0 2013-May-20 The 5.19 development track
+ David G 5.19.1 2013-Jun-21
+ Aristotle 5.19.2 2013-Jul-22
+ Steve 5.19.3 2013-Aug-20
+ Steve 5.19.4 2013-Sep-20
+ Steve 5.19.5 2013-Oct-20
+ BinGOs 5.19.6 2013-Nov-20
+ Abigail 5.19.7 2013-Dec-20
+ Ricardo 5.19.8 2014-Jan-20
+ TonyC 5.19.9 2014-Feb-20
+ Aaron 5.19.10 2014-Mar-20
+ Steve 5.19.11 2014-Apr-20
+
+ Ricardo 5.20.0-RC1 2014-May-16 The 5.20 maintenance track
+ Ricardo 5.20.0 2014-May-27
+ Steve 5.20.1-RC1 2014-Aug-25
+ Steve 5.20.1-RC2 2014-Sep-07
+ Steve 5.20.1 2014-Sep-14
+
+ Ricardo 5.21.0 2014-May-27 The 5.21 development track
+ Matthew H 5.21.1 2014-Jun-20
+ Abigail 5.21.2 2014-Jul-20
+ Peter 5.21.3 2014-Aug-20
+ Steve 5.21.4 2014-Sep-20
+ Abigail 5.21.5 2014-Oct-20
+ BinGOs 5.21.6 2014-Nov-20
+ Max M 5.21.7 2014-Dec-20
+ Matthew H 5.21.8 2015-Jan-20
=head2 SELECTED RELEASE SIZES
5.10.1 4858 98 7440 519 6195 921 6147 1751 5151 163
5.12.0 4999 100 1146 121 15227 2176 6400 1843 5342 168
5.12.1 5000 100 1146 121 15283 2178 6407 1846 5354 169
+ 5.12.2 5003 100 1146 121 15404 2178 6413 1846 5376 170
+ 5.12.3 5004 100 1146 121 15529 2180 6417 1848 5391 171
+ 5.14.0 5328 104 1100 114 17779 2479 7697 2130 5871 188
+ 5.16.0 5562 109 1077 80 20504 2702 8750 2375 4815 152
+ 5.18.0 5892 113 1088 79 20077 2760 9365 2439 4943 154
+ 5.20.0 6243 115 1187 75 19499 2701 9620 2457 5145 159
The "core"..."doc" mean the following files from the Perl source code
distribution. The glob notation ** means recursively, (.) means
apollo - - - - - - - - 0 1
beos 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Configure 256 1 256 1 264 1 264 1 270 1
- cygwin32 24 5 24 5 24 5 24 5 24 5
+ cygwin32 24 5 24 5 24 5 24 5 24 5
djgpp 14 5 14 5 14 5 14 5 15 5
eg 86 65 86 65 86 65 86 65 86 65
emacs 262 2 262 2 262 2 262 2 274 2
win32 1482 68 1485 68 1497 70 1841 73 1841 73
x2p 349 19 349 19 345 19 345 19 345 19
+ ======================================================================
+
+ 5.12.2 5.12.3 5.14.0 5.16.0 5.18.0
+
+ apollo 0 3 0 3 - - - - - -
+ beos 4 4 4 4 5 4 5 4 - -
+ Configure 536 1 536 1 539 1 547 1 550 1
+ Cross 118 15 118 15 118 15 118 15 118 15
+ djgpp 17 7 17 7 18 7 18 7 18 7
+ emacs 402 4 402 4 - - - - - -
+ epoc 31 8 31 8 32 8 30 8 - -
+ h2pl 12 15 12 15 15 15 15 15 13 15
+ hints 368 97 368 97 370 96 371 96 354 91
+ mad 174 8 174 8 176 8 176 8 174 8
+ mpeix 45 6 45 6 46 6 46 6 - -
+ NetWare 466 61 466 61 473 61 472 61 469 61
+ os2 507 70 507 70 518 70 519 70 510 70
+ plan9 316 17 316 17 319 17 319 17 318 17
+ Porting 750 54 750 54 855 60 1093 69 1149 70
+ qnx 1 4 1 4 2 4 2 4 1 4
+ symbian 288 54 288 54 292 54 292 54 290 54
+ utils 269 27 269 27 249 29 245 30 246 31
+ uts 8 3 8 3 9 3 9 3 - -
+ vmesa 21 4 21 4 22 4 22 4 - -
+ vms 646 18 644 18 639 17 571 15 564 15
+ vos 16 8 16 8 17 8 9 7 8 7
+ win32 1841 73 1841 73 1833 72 1655 67 1157 62
+ x2p 345 19 345 19 346 19 345 19 344 20
+
+ ======================================================================
+
+ 5.20.0
+
+ Configure 552 1
+ Cross 118 15
+ NetWare 467 61
+ Porting 1204 68
+ djgpp 18 7
+ h2pl 13 15
+ hints 355 90
+ mad 174 8
+ os2 510 70
+ plan9 316 17
+ qnx 1 4
+ symbian 290 54
+ utils 241 27
+ vms 538 12
+ vos 8 7
+ win32 1183 64
+ x2p 341 19
+
=head2 SELECTED PATCH SIZES
The "diff lines kB" means that for example the patch 5.003_08, to be
In more modern times, named releases don't come as often, and as progress
can be followed (nearly) instantly (with rsync, and since late 2008, git)
patches between versions are no longer provided. However, that doesn't
-keep us from calculating how large a patch could have been. Which is
+keep us from calculating how large a patch could have been. Which is
shown in the table below. Unless noted otherwise, the size mentioned is
the patch to bring version x.y.z to x.y.z+1.
Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<jhi@iki.fi>>.
Thanks to the collective memory of the Perlfolk. In addition to the
-Keepers of the Pumpkin also Alan Champion, Mark Dominus,
-Andreas König, John Macdonald, Matthias Neeracher, Jeff Okamoto,
+Keepers of the Pumpkin also Alan Champion, Mark Dominus,
+Andreas KE<0xf6>nig, John Macdonald, Matthias Neeracher, Jeff Okamoto,
Michael Peppler, Randal Schwartz, and Paul D. Smith sent corrections
and additions. Abigail added file and patch size data for the 5.6.0 - 5.10
era.