-Changes to perl
----------------
-
-Apart from little bug fixes, here are the new features:
-
-Perl can now handle binary data correctly and has functions to pack and
-unpack binary structures into arrays or lists. You can now do arbitrary
-ioctl functions.
-
-You can do i/o with sockets and select.
-
-You can now write packages with their own namespace.
-
-You can now pass things to subroutines by reference.
-
-The debugger now has hooks in the perl parser so it doesn't get confused.
-The debugger won't interfere with stdin and stdout. New debugger commands:
- n Single step around subroutine call.
- l min+incr List incr+1 lines starting at min.
- l List incr+1 more lines.
- l subname List subroutine.
- b subname Set breakpoint at first line of subroutine.
- S List subroutine names.
- D Delete all breakpoints.
- A List line actions.
- < command Define command before prompt.
- > command Define command after prompt.
- ! number Redo command (default previous command).
- ! -number Redo numberth to last command.
- h -number Display last number commands (default all).
- p expr Same as \"print DBout expr\".
-
-The rules are more consistent about where parens are needed and
-where they are not. In particular, unary operators and list operators now
-behave like functions if they're called like functions.
-
-There are some new quoting mechanisms:
- $foo = q/"'"'"'"'"'"'"/;
- $foo = qq/"'"''$bar"''/;
- $foo = q(hi there);
- $foo = <<'EOF' x 10;
- Why, it's the old here-is mechanism!
- EOF
-
-You can now work with array slices (note the initial @):
- @foo[1,2,3];
- @foo{'Sun','Mon','Tue','Wed','Thu','Fri','Sat'} = (1,2,3,4,5,6,7);
- @foo{split} = (1,1,1,1,1,1,1);
-
-There's now a range operator that works in array contexts:
- for (1..15) { ...
- @foo[3..5] = ('time','for','all');
- @foo{'Sun','Mon','Tue','Wed','Thu','Fri','Sat'} = 1..7;
-
-You can now reference associative arrays as a whole:
- %abc = %def;
- %foo = ('Sun',1,'Mon',2,'Tue',3,'Wed',4,'Thu',5,'Fri',6,'Sat',7);
-
-Associative arrays can now be bound to a dbm or ndbm file. Perl automatically
-caches references to the dbm file for you.
-
-An array or associative array can now be assigned to as part of a list, if
-it's the last thing in the list:
- ($a,$b,@rest) = split;
-
-An array or associative array may now appear in a local() list.
- local(%assoc);
- local(@foo) = @_;
+Please note: This file provides a summary of significant changes
+between versions and sub-versions of Perl, not a complete list
+of each modification. If you'd like more detailed information,
+please consult the comments in the patches on which the relevant
+release of Perl is based. (Patches can be found on any CPAN
+site, in the .../src/5.0 directory for full version releases,
+or in the .../src/5/0/unsupported directory for sub-version
+releases.)
-Array values may now be interpolated into strings:
- `echo @ARGV`;
- print "first three = @list[0..2]\n";
- print "@ENV{keys(ENV)}";
- ($" is used as the delimiter between array elements)
-
-Array sizes may be interpolated into strings:
- print "The last element is $#foo.\n";
-
-Array values may now be returned from subroutines, evals, and do blocks.
-
-Lists of values in formats may now be arbitrary expressions, separated
-by commas.
-
-Subroutine names are now distinguished by prefixing with &. You can call
-subroutines without using do, and without passing any argument list at all:
- $foo = &min($a,$b,$c);
- $num = &myrand;
-
-You can use the new -u switch to cause perl to dump core so that you can
-run undump and produce a binary executable image. Alternately you can
-use the "dump" operator after initializing any variables and such.
-
-Perl now optimizes splits that are assigned directly to an array, or
-to a list with fewer elements than the split would produce, or that
-split on a constant string.
-
-Perl now optimizes on end matches such as /foo$/;
-
-Perl now recognizes {n,m} in patterns to match preceding item at least n times
-and no more than m times. Also recognizes {n,} and {n} to match n or more
-times, or exactly n times. If { occurs in other than this context it is
-still treated as a normal character.
-
-Perl now optimizes "next" to avoid unnecessary longjmps and subroutine calls.
-
-Perl now optimizes appended input: $_ .= <>;
-
-Substitutions are faster if the substituted text is constant, especially
-when substituting at the beginning of a string. This plus the previous
-optimization let you run down a file comparing multiple lines more
-efficiently. (Basically the equivalents of sed's N and D are faster.)
-
-Similarly, combinations of shifts and pushes on the same array are much
-faster now--it doesn't copy all the pointers every time you shift (just
-every n times, where n is approximately the length of the array plus 10,
-more if you pre-extend the array), so you can use an array as a shift
-register much more efficiently:
- push(@ary,shift(@ary));
-or
- shift(@ary); push(@ary,<>);
-
-The shift operator used inside subroutines now defaults to shifting
-the @_ array. You can still shift ARGV explicitly, of course.
-
-The @_ array which is passed to subroutines is a local array, but the
-elements of it are passed by reference now. This means that if you
-explicitly modify $_[0], you are actually modifying the first argument
-to the routine. Assignment to another location (such as the usual
-local($foo) = @_ trick) causes a copy of the value, so this will not
-affect most scripts. However, if you've modified @_ values in the
-subroutine you could be in for a surprise. I don't believe most people
-will find this a problem, and the long term efficiency gain is worth
-a little confusion.
-
-Perl now detects sequences of references to the same variable and builds
-switch statements internally wherever reasonable.
-
-The substr function can take offsets from the end of the string.
-
-The substr function can be assigned to in order to change the interior of a
-string in place.
-
-The split function can return as part of the returned array any substrings
-matched as part of the delimiter:
- split(/([-,])/, '1-10,20')
-returns
- (1,'-',10,',',20)
-
-If you specify a maximum number of fields to split, the truncation of
-trailing null fields is disabled.
-
-You can now chop lists.
-
-Perl now uses /bin/csh to do filename globbing, if available. This means
-that filenames with spaces or other strangenesses work right.
-
-Perl can now report multiple syntax errors with a single invocation.
-
-Perl syntax errors now give two tokens of context where reasonable.
-
-Perl will now report the possibility of a runaway multi-line string if
-such a string ends on a line with a syntax error.
-
-The assumed assignment in a while now works in the while modifier as
-well as the while statement.
-
-Perl can now warn you if you use numeric == on non-numeric string values.
-
-New functions:
- mkdir and rmdir
- getppid
- getpgrp and setpgrp
- getpriority and setpriority
- chroot
- ioctl and fcntl
- flock
- readlink
- lstat
- rindex - find last occurrence of substring
- pack and unpack - turn structures into arrays and vice versa
- read - just what you think
- warn - like die, only not fatal
- dbmopen and dbmclose - bind a dbm file to an associative array
- dump - do core dump so you can undump
- reverse - turns an array value end for end
- defined - does an object exist?
- undef - make an object not exist
- vec - treat string as a vector of small integers
- fileno - return the file descriptor for a handle
- wantarray - was subroutine called in array context?
- opendir
- readdir
- telldir
- seekdir
- rewinddir
- closedir
- syscall
- socket
- bind
- connect
- listen
- accept
- shutdown
- socketpair
- getsockname
- getpeername
- getsockopt
- setsockopt
- getpwnam
- getpwuid
- getpwent
- setpwent
- endpwent
- getgrnam
- getgrgid
- getgrent
- setgrent
- endgrent
- gethostbyname
- gethostbyaddr
- gethostent
- sethostent
- endhostent
- getnetbyname
- getnetbyaddr
- getnetent
- setnetent
- endnetent
- getprotobyname
- getprotobynumber
- getprotoent
- setprotoent
- endprotoent
- getservbyname
- getservbyport
- getservent
- setservent
- endservent
-
-Changes to s2p
---------------
-
-In patterns, s2p now translates \{n,m\} correctly to {n,m}.
-
-In patterns, s2p no longer removes backslashes in front of |.
-
-In patterns, s2p now removes backslashes in front of [a-zA-Z0-9].
-
-S2p now makes use of the location of perl as determined by Configure.
-
-
-Changes to a2p
---------------
-
-A2p can now accurately translate the "in" operator by using perl's new
-"defined" operator.
-
-A2p can now accurately translate the passing of arrays by reference.
+----------------
+Version 5.003_03
+----------------
+Most of the changes in 5.003_03 are to make the build and installation
+process more robust. The details are described below. A very brief
+summary is:
+
+o Visible Changes to Core Functionality
+
+ -Support for tied filehandles.
+
+o Configure enhancements
+
+ -How to build and install a shared libperl.so is now documented
+ and supported, though it's not the default for most platforms.
+
+o Bug fixes
+
+ -Support bit operations on strings longer than 15 bytes.
+
+ -If a regex supplied to split() contains paranthesized subpatterns
+ that can result in null matches, perl no longer coredumps.
+
+ -Fix problems with each() on tied hashes.
+
+ -Make h2ph architecture-independent by using Config at run-time
+ rather than extraction time.
+
+o Specific Changes
+
+Here are the specific file-by-file changes.
+
+# This is my patch perl5.003_03.pat to perl5.003_02
+# The full description is below.
+# Please execute the following commands before applying this patch.
+# (You can feed this patch to 'sh' to do so.)
+# Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>
+
+# Absorbed into Changes5.002
+rm -f Changes.Conf
+
+# Not needed.
+rm -f ext/POSIX/mkposixman.pl
+
+# Moved to README.os2. I'm not sure why the README files are
+# here rather than in the appropriate subdirectories.
+rm -f os2/README
+
+# Not needed.
+rm -f pod/Makefile.PL
+
+# New test for bit ops.
+touch t/op/bob.t
+
+# Patches that create new tests don't always make them executable.
+chmod +x t/*/*.t
+
+# Create a new directory for Porting and Patching info.
+mkdir Porting
+
+exit 0
+
+This is patch perl5.003_03.pat to perl version 5.003_02.
+This takes you from 5.003_02 to 5.003_03.
+
+To apply this patch, run the above commands,
+cd to your perl source directory and then type
+
+ patch -p1 -N < perl5.003_03.pat
+
+The changes are described after each /^Index/ line below. This is
+designed so you can examine each change with a command such as
+
+ csplit -k perl5.003_03.pat '/^Index:/' '{99}'
+
+Patch and enjoy,
+
+ Andy Dougherty doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu
+ Dept. of Physics
+ Lafayette College, Easton PA 18042
+
+Index: Changes
+
+ Include 5.003_03 change notes.
+
+ Move older change notes to separate files.
+
+Index: Changes5.000
+
+ New file. Changes from perl4.036 to 5.000.
+
+Index: Changes5.001
+
+ New file. Changes from 5.000 to 5.001
+
+Index: Changes5.002
+
+ New file. Changes from 5.001 to 5.002
+
+Index: Changes5.003
+
+ New file. Changes from 5.002 to 5.003
+
+Index: Configure
+
+ Relaxed warning about ksh on exotic machines.
+
+ Changed usesafe to useopcode.
+
+ Add search for gzip and zip.
+
+ Look more carefully for $sh (the Bourne-ish shell).
+ Use that info to set $startsh correctly.
+
+ Change prompts for PerlIO interface. See INSTALL
+ for how this is supposed to work. The default is
+ still the same as in 5.003_02, namely don't use
+ any fancy new PerlIO stuff.
+
+ Don't look for sigvec() since we don't actually use it.
+ (Plus, it used to print an alarming misleading message about
+ race conditions.)
+
+ Look for stdio's _filbuf under the possible names of
+ _filbuf, __filbuf, and _fill.
+
+ New $useshrplib variable to control whether we build a shared
+ libperl.so. The name of the library is in $libperl.
+ Always install it in $installarchlib/CORE/$libperl.
+
+ Check for <sys/resource.h> and <sys/wait.h> for NetBSD.
+
+ Replace old $altmake stuff with newer autoconf-ish
+ $make_set_make, which checks if $make sets $(MAKE). Now you
+ choose an alternate make with sh Configure -Dmake=gmake (or
+ whatever).
+
+ Remove 'ln' for the list of essential commands. Simulate
+ it with 'cp' if necessary.
+
+ Change `logname` prompts to handle extra gratuitous spaces in
+ Ultrix output.
+
+ Autodetect os2.
+
+ Fix silly bug in checking for fully-qualified names in /etc/hosts.
+
+ Generalize Gconvert tests. Give correct and more useful
+ error messages.
+
+ Use $obj_ext instead of literal '.o' in the dynaloader test.
+
+ Include appropriate header files in bcopy() and memcpy()
+ tests. Note whether memmove is available.
+
+ Check whether struct sigaction works (needed for Solaris 2.5
+ with -Xc).
+
+ Include appropriate header files for randbits test.
+
+Index: INSTALL
+
+ Add note about space requirements.
+
+ Update to match Configure changes (Opcode vs. Safe,
+ useperlio, useshrplib, etc.)
+
+ Reorganize the structure of some of the hints.
+
+ Miscellaneous clarifications.
+
+Index: MANIFEST
+
+ Updated. 5.003_02 introduced some massive patches, mostly
+ due to spacing changes. I didn't bother to sort them all out;
+ I just started with 5.003's MANIEFST.
+
+Index: Makefile.SH
+
+ Support the new simplified shared libperl mechanism.
+
+ Use new $make_set_make directive.
+
+ Remove redundant libperl Make variable.
+
+ Remove unnecessary MAB variable.
+
+ Remove dependency of minitest on lib/Config.pm, since it could
+ well have been a failure of configpm that inspired testing
+ miniperl in the first place!
+
+Index: Porting/Glossary
+
+ New file describing all the config.sh variables.
+ Eventually, I hope to fill this directory with other useful
+ stuff.
+
+Index: README.os2
+
+ Replace old README.os2 with more up-to-date os2/README.
+
+Index: config_H
+
+ Updated to match current Configure and config_h.SH.
+ Some rearrangement of parts has occurred due to new
+ dependencies in the metaconfig units.
+
+Index: config_h.SH
+
+ Updated to match current Configure and config_h.SH.
+ Some rearrangement of parts has occurred due to new
+ dependencies in the metaconfig units.
+
+ Include full descriptions of ARCHLIB, OLDARCHLIB, PRIVLIB,
+ SITEARCH, and SITELIB. Previous versions just included the
+ ~-expanded names (with unhelpful descriptions). No functionality
+ is changed, but maybe it's a little better documented now.
+
+Index: doio.c
+
+ Possibly Include <signal.h> and <unistd.h>
+
+Index: doop.c
+
+ No longer prefer bcmp over memcmp when order doesn't matter.
+
+ Support bit operations on strings longer than 15 bytes.
+
+Index: embed.h
+
+ Auto-generated.
+
+Index: embed.pl
+
+ Expand warning at the top.
+
+Index: ext/IO/IO.pm
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: ext/IO/lib/IO/Seekable.pm
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: ext/IO/lib/IO/Select.pm
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: ext/Opcode/Opcode.xs
+
+ Add support for tied filehandles.
+
+Index: ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/sdbm.h
+
+ Change the Mymalloc to match Perl_malloc in perl.h.
+
+Index: ext/util/make_ext
+
+ Typo change.
+ Get rid of unused altmake.
+
+Index: global.sym
+
+ Fix problems with each() on tied hashes.
+
+Index: handy.h
+
+ Change safe*alloc functions to have prototypes that
+ match the system's malloc and free types. That is, use
+ Malloc_t instead of char *, and Free_t instead of void.
+ This is necessary so . . .
+
+ Safefree cast matches type of free() whether it's perl's
+ malloc/free or the system's malloc/free.
+
+Index: hints/README.hints
+
+ Remove out-of-date info.
+
+ Document a bit about how hint files work.
+
+Index: hints/aix.sh
+
+ qmaxmem hint doesn't apply to gcc.
+
+Index: hints/dgux.sh
+
+ Configure will now automatically detect shared libperl stuff.
+
+Index: hints/dynixptx.sh
+
+ Fix typo in comment.
+
+ Configure will now automatically detect shared libperl stuff.
+
+Index: hints/epix.sh
+
+ Use glibpth instead of libpth. This allows Configure to
+ add local directories, such as /opt/local/lib, etc.
+
+Index: hints/irix_6_2.sh
+
+ Include some info on cc -n32 compile.
+
+Index: hints/linux.sh
+
+ Configure now tests gcvt() more thoroughly.
+
+Index: hints/machten_2.sh
+
+ Update where to find dld.
+
+Index: hints/mips.sh
+
+ Use glibpth instead of libpth.
+
+Index: hints/next_3.sh
+
+ Build up $mab dynamically. Since $mab isn't used anywhere
+ anymore, this is useless. However, $mab was never used for
+ next_3.sh anyway, so there's been no change in functionality.
+
+Index: hints/next_4.sh
+
+ Get rid of extraneous isnext_4 variable. Configure and
+ Makefile.SH will use $osname and $osvers instead.
+
+ Build up $mab dynamically based on available architectures.
+
+ Absorb $mab into ccflags and ccdlflags. I hope that will
+ cover everything. (Configure should automatically remove
+ the -arch stuff from cppflags.)
+
+ Configure now knows next4 needs to use a shared libperl.5.so.
+
+ Allow users to use -Dprefix.
+
+Index: hints/os2.sh
+
+ Try to update to reflect newer shared libperl stuff.
+ I probably goofed :-).
+
+Index: hints/sco.sh
+
+ Additional notes on using icc.
+
+ Additional flags for dynamic loading.
+
+Index: hints/solaris_2.sh
+
+ Perl.h no longer prefers bcmp, so it's again ok if Configure
+ finds them, since perl will prefer the mem* versions anyway.
+
+Index: hints/sunos_4_0.sh
+
+ Don't include <unistd.h>
+
+Index: hints/sunos_4_1.sh
+
+ Add brief note about GNU as and ld.
+
+ Don't include <unistd.h>
+
+ Add notes about WHOA THERE messages.
+
+Index: hints/titanos.sh
+
+ Include sfio in libswanted.
+
+ Don't set libpth any more.
+
+Index: hints/umips.sh
+
+ New hint file.
+
+Index: hv.c
+
+ Use memcmp even in cases where ordering doesn't matter.
+
+ Fix problems with each() on tied hashes.
+
+Index: installperl
+
+ Simplify installation of shared libperl.so.
+
+ Avoid reaching Command Failed!!! with /usr/bin/perl.
+
+Index: lib/AutoSplit.pm
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: lib/ExtUtils/MM_Unix.pm
+
+ Remove MAB references.
+
+ Use 'useshrplib' instead of 'd_shrplib'
+
+Index: lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
+
+ Remove mab references.
+
+Index: lib/FindBin.pm
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: lib/Symbol.pm
+
+ Put back in the BEGIN { require 5.002; }. The version in
+ 5.003_02 wouldn't work in 5.002 anyway. Further, the whole
+ point of the construct is to catch 5.001m, so we can't use
+ syntax introduced after 5.001m to do that.
+
+Index: lib/Text/Wrap.pm
+
+ Remove double 'use strict'.
+
+Index: lib/perl5db.pl
+
+ Add explicit '&' to avoid warnings under strict refs.
+
+Index: lib/sigtrap.pm
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: makedepend.SH
+
+ Use Configure's $sh and $make_set_make variables.
+
+Index: mg.c
+
+ Include <unistd.h>
+
+ Use Safefree() macro instead of safefree() function with
+ a (possibly) incorrect cast. The whole point of the
+ Safefree() macro is that it does the correct cast for you.
+
+
+Index: patchlevel.h
+
+ Change to SUBVERSION 3.
+
+Index: perl.c
+
+ Include <unistd.h>
+
+Index: perl.h
+
+ No longer prefer bcmp slightly for comparisons that don't care
+ about ordering.
+
+ Rely on Configure setting SH_PATH.
+
+ Change the function name to Pause() instead of pause() to
+ avoid potential prototype problems. (This naming convention
+ is similar to the Fwrite and Fflush macros.)
+
+ Fix problems with each() on tied hashes.
+
+ Work around crypt prototype problem on NeXT.
+
+Index: perlio.c
+
+ Fixes to support non-std stdio.
+
+Index: perlio.h
+
+ Try to document the various #defines a bit. This is far from
+ finished.
+
+ Remove a lot of trailing whitespace. (It's of no consequence, but
+ but I'm not going to redo the patch just to put back in the trailing
+ whitespace either.)
+
+Index: perlsdio.h
+
+ Fixes to support non-std stdio.
+
+Index: perly.c
+
+ Restore use of Safefree() macro.
+
+Index: perly.c.diff
+
+ Restore use of Safefree() macro.
+
+Index: perly.h
+
+ Delete duplicate line.
+
+Index: plan9/buildinfo
+
+ Update.
+
+Index: pod/perlapio.pod
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: pod/perlipc.pod
+
+ Fix typo.
+
+ Untaint port number.
+
+Index: pod/perlmod.pod
+
+ Fix a minor nit regarding Exporter.
+
+Index: pod/perlre.pod
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: pod/perltie.pod
+
+ Add support for tied filehandles.
+
+Index: pod/perltrap.pod
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: pod/perlxstut.pod
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: pod/pod2man.PL
+
+ Clean up docmentation installation errors.
+
+Index: pp.c
+
+ Add support for tied filehandles.
+
+ If a regex supplied to split() contains paranthesized subpatterns
+ that can result in null matches, perl coredumps.
+
+Index: pp_hot.c
+
+ Use memcmp instead of bcmp even when we don't care about order.
+
+ Add support for tied filehandles.
+
+Index: pp_sys.c
+
+ Include <unistd.h>, <sys/wait.h>, and <sys/resource.h>.
+ (The latter two are especially for NetBSD.)
+
+ Don't assume sys/time.h and sys/select.h can't coexist.
+
+ Use Pause macro.
+
+Index: proto.h
+
+ Fix safe*alloc and safefree prototypes.
+
+Index: regexec.c
+
+ Use memcmp instead of bcmp even when we don't care about order.
+
+Index: sv.c
+
+ Use memcmp instead of bcmp even when we don't care about order.
+
+Index: t/lib/opcode.t
+
+ Add support for tied filehandles.
+
+Index: t/op/bop.t
+
+ Support bit operations on strings longer than 15 bytes.
+
+Index: t/op/misc.t
+
+ Add support for tied filehandles.
+
+Index: t/op/split.t
+
+ If a regex supplied to split() contains paranthesized subpatterns
+ that can result in null matches, perl coredumps.
+
+Index: toke.c
+
+ Include <unistd.h>.
+
+ Use memcmp instead of bcmp even when we don't care about order.
+
+Index: util.c
+
+ Include <unistd.h>.
+
+ Use correct types for safe*alloc and safefree functions.
+
+Index: utils/h2ph.PL
+
+ Make h2ph architecture-independent by using Config at run-time
+ rather than extraction time.
+
+Index: writemain.SH
+
+ Remove unnecessary curlies. (They are a leftover from
+ an older auto_init mechanism.)
+
+Index: x2p/Makefile.SH
+
+ Use Configure's $sh and $make_set_make.
+
+ Remove MAB stuff, since it's now in ccflags.
+
+ Keep 5.003's RCS info.
+
+Index: x2p/a2p.h
+
+ Keep 5.003's RCS info.
+
+Index: x2p/str.c
+
+ Use Configure's FILE_filbuf macro instead of a raw _filbuf.
+
+----------------
+Version 5.003_02
+----------------
+o Visible Changes to Core Functionality
+ - Redefining constant subs, or changing sub's prototype now give warnings.
+ - Fixes for ++/-- of values close to max/min size of an integer
+ - Warning for un-qualified bareword as handler in $SIG{}.
+ - UNIVERSAL::isa can now be called as static method.
+
+o Changes in Core Internals
+ - PerlIO abstraction added.
+ Perl core and standard extensions no longer assume ANSI C's stdio is IO
+ mechanism, Default Configure mode is still to use stdio via set of C macros.
+ Alternate modes are to use stdio via one perlio.c module, or
+ to use sfio if available.
+
+ - Several bug fixs from perl5-porters
+ - Make sources non-ANSI C correct again.
+ - SUPER in gv.c
+ - Last of shared-hash-key patches
+ - eval '(0,1..3)'; # --> SegFault
+ - coredumps after simple subsitutes.
+ - Correction to UNIVERSAL::VERSION docs.
+ - Fixed io_udp test.
+ - Fixed another abuse of malloc'ed memory.
+ - Enabled DEBUGING_MSTATS whenever perl's malloc() is used.
+ - Reverted to default of not hiding perl's malloc (if used).
+
+o Changes in the Standard Library and Utilities
+ - Fixed MakeMaker for static SDBM and builing in a link tree.
+ - Upgraded to IO-1.09, and includes latest (still experimental) IO::Select.
+ - Documentation/test tweak to DB_File
+ - h2xs upgrade to allow use C::Scan module
+
+o Changes in OS-specific and Build-time Support
+ - Attempted to re-created 5.003_01's NeXT support with metaconfig units.
+ - Updated MANIFEST
+ - make minitest now depends on lib/Config.pm, as some of tests require it.
+ - Included latest plan9 sub-directory
+ - Applied OS/2 patches.
+ - Typo patch for VMS.
+
+----------------
+Version 5.003_01
+----------------
+
+Version 5.003_01 contains bugfixes and additions accumulated since
+version 5.002_01, since the patch to version 5.003 was deliberately
+kept simple. In addition to numerous small bugfixes in the core,
+library files, and documentation, this patch contains several
+significant revisions, summarized below:
+
+o Visible Changes to Core Functionality
+
+ - A port to Plan9 has been started, and changes are integrated into
+ the standard distribution. As of this release, the Perl core
+ and several common extensions are working.
+
+ - A set of basic methods in the UNIVERSAL class have been added to
+ the Perl core. Since UNIVERSAL is an implicit member of every
+ class's @ISA, the methods can be called via any object.
+
+ - A mandatory warning has been added for 'declarations' of lexical
+ variables using the "my" operator which mask an existing lexical
+ variable declared in the same scope, making the previous variable
+ inaccessible by its name.
+
+ - The "use" and "require" operators have been extended to allow
+ checking of the required module's version. The "use" operator
+ can now be used for an immediate version check of Perl itself.
+
+ - A new "strict" pragma, "strict untie", has been added, which
+ produces an error if a tied value is untied when other references
+ exist to the internal object implementing the tie.
+
+ - Barewords used as associative array keys (i.e. when specifying
+ an associative array element like $foo{__BAR} or on the left
+ side of the => operator) may now begin with an underscore as
+ well as an alphabetic character.
+
+ - Some of the configuration information previously produced by the
+ -v switch has been moved to the -V switch, in order to keep -v
+ output concise.
+
+o Changes in Core Internals
+
+ - Symbol table and method lookups have been made faster.
+
+ - Perl subroutines which just return a constant value are now
+ optimized at compile time into inline constants.
+
+ - Management of keys for associative arrays has been improved to
+ conserve space when the same keys are reused frequently, and
+ to pass true Perl values to tie functions, instead of stringified
+ representations.
+
+ - Messages normally output to stderr may be directed to another
+ stream when Perl is built. This allows some platforms to
+ present diagnostic output in a separate window from normal
+ program results.
+
+ - A bug which caused suiperl to fail silently, albeit securely,
+ in version 5.003 on some systems has been fixed.
+
+ - Management of Unix-style signal handlers via the %SIG associative
+ array has been made safer.
+
+ - Several global C symbols have been renamed to eliminate collisions
+ with system C header files or libraries on some platforms.
+ Unfortunately, this means that dynamic extensions compiled under
+ previous versions of Perl will need to be rebuilt for Perl
+ 5.003_01. We're in the process of cleaning up Perl's C
+ namespace to make it easier to link Perl with other binaries,
+ so this will probably happen again between now and version 5.004.
+ After that, we'll do our best to maintain binary compatibility
+ between versions.
+
+ - An alternate allocation strategy has been added to Perl's
+ optional private memory management routines. This strategy,
+ which may be selected when Perl is built, is designed to
+ conserve memory in programs which allocate many small
+ chunks of memory with sizes near a power of 2, as is often
+ the case in Perl programs.
+
+ - Several memory leaks in the creation and destruction of
+ multiple interpreters have been fixed.
+
+o Changes in the Standard Library and Utilities
+
+ - The Opcode extension, which allows you to control a program's
+ access to Perl operations, has been added to the standard
+ distribution. This extends the work begun in the original
+ Safe extension, and subsumes it. The Safe interface is still
+ available.
+
+ - The IO extension, which provides a set of classes for object-
+ oriented handling of common I/O tasks, has been added to the
+ standard distribution. The IO classes will form the basis
+ for future development of Perl's I/O interface, and will
+ subsume the FileHandle class in the near future. The default
+ class to which all Perl I/O handles belong is now IO::Handle,
+ rather than FileHandle.
+
+ - The ExtUtils::Embed library module, which provides a set
+ of utility function to help in embedding Perl in other
+ applications, has been added to the standard distribution.
+
+ - The Fatal library module, which provides a simple interface
+ for creating "do-or-die" equivalents of existing functions,
+ has been added to the standard distribution.
+
+ - The FindBin library module, which determines the full path
+ to the currently executing program, has been added to the
+ standard distribution.
+
+ - The DB_File extension, and the Getopt::Long, Test::Harness,
+ Text::Tabs, Text::Wrap, Time::Local and sigtrap library modules
+ have been updated to the authors' latest versions.
+
+ - The Carp library module now considers the @ISA chain when
+ determining the caller's package for inclusion in error messages.
+
+ - The h2xs, perlbug, and xsubpp utilities have been updated.
+
+ - The standard Perl debugger has been updated, and the information
+ provided to the debugger when an XSUB is called has been improved,
+ making it possible for alternate debuggers (such as Devel::DProf)
+ to do a better job of tracking XSUB calls.
+
+ - The pod documentation formatting tools in the standard distribution
+ can now handle characters in the input stream whose high bit is set.
+
+ - The cperl-mode EMACS editing mode has been updated.
+
+o Changes in Documentation
+
+ - Typographic and formatting errors have been corrected in the pod
+ documentation for the core and standard library files
+
+ - Explanations of several core operators have been improved
+
+ - The perldebug, perlembed, perlipc, perlsec, and perltrap documents
+ extensively revised.
+
+o Changes in OS-specific and Build-time Support
+
+ - Support for the NeXT platform has been extended through
+ NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP 4.0, and now includes the ability to create MABs.
+
+ - Support for OS/2 has been extended as well, and now includes
+ options for building a.out binaries.
+
+ - Support for VMS has also been extended, incorporating improved
+ processing of file specification strings, optional suppression of
+ carriage control interpretation for record-structured files,
+ improved support for the -S command line switch, a number of
+ VMS-specific bugfixes, and significantly improved performance
+ in line-oriented reading of files.
+
+ - Several hints files have been added or updated: aux.sh (updated),
+ convexos.sh (updated), irix_4.sh (updated), irix_5.sh (updated),
+ irix_6_2.sh (updated), next_3.sh (updated), next_3_2.sh (new),
+ next_3_3.sh (new), next_4.sh (new), os2/sh (updated),
+ sco.sh (updated), and solaris_2.sh (updated).
+
+ - The test driver for the regression tests now reports when a set
+ of tests have been skipped (presumable because the operation
+ they're designed to test isn't supported on the current system).
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff