+=encoding utf8
+
=head1 NAME
perlpolicy - Various and sundry policies and commitments related to the Perl core
=item *
-We "officially" support the two most recent stable release series. 5.12.x
-and earlier are now out of support. As of the release of 5.18.0, we will
-"officially" end support for Perl 5.14.x, 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 *
years and decades, but not at the expense of our user community.
Existing syntax and semantics should only be marked for destruction in
-very limited circumstances. If a given language feature's continued
-inclusion in the language will cause significant harm to the language
-or prevent us from making needed changes to the runtime, then it may
-be considered for deprecation.
-
-Any language change which breaks backward-compatibility should be able to
-be enabled or disabled lexically. Unless code at a given scope declares
-that it wants the new behavior, that new behavior should be disabled.
-Which backward-incompatible changes are controlled implicitly by a
-'use v5.x.y' is a decision which should be made by the pumpking in
-consultation with the community.
-
-When a backward-incompatible change can't be toggled lexically, the decision
-to change the language must be considered very, very carefully. If it's
-possible to move the old syntax or semantics out of the core language
-and into XS-land, that XS module should be enabled by default unless
-the user declares that they want a newer revision of Perl.
+very limited circumstances. If they can be easily replaced, are
+believed to be very rarely used, and stand in the way of actual
+improvement to the Perl language or perl interpreter, they may be
+considered for removal. When in doubt, caution dictates that we will
+favor backward compatibility. When a feature is deprecated, a
+statement of reasoning describing the decision process will be posted,
+and a link to it will be provided in the relevant perldelta documents.
+
+Using a lexical pragma to enable or disable legacy behavior should be
+considered when appropriate, and in the absence of any pragma legacy
+behavior should be enabled. Which backward-incompatible changes are
+controlled implicitly by a 'use v5.x.y' is a decision which should be
+made by the pumpking in consultation with the community.
Historically, we've held ourselves to a far higher standard than
backward-compatibility -- bugward-compatibility. Any accident of
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. In most cases,
+these additions will be marked as I<experimental> for some time. See
+below for more on that.
=head2 Terminology
features, you should contact the perl5-porters mailinglist if you find
an experimental feature useful and want to help shape its future.
+Experimental features must be experimental in two stable releases before being
+marked non-experimental. Experimental features will only have their
+experimental status revoked when they no longer have any design-changing bugs
+open against them and when they have remained unchanged in behavior for the
+entire length of a development cycle. In other words, a feature present in
+v5.20.0 may be marked no longer experimental in v5.22.0 if and only if its
+behavior is unchanged throughout all of v5.21.
+
=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 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 Perl 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 *
Acceptable documentation updates are those that correct factual errors,
-explain significant bugs or deficiencies in the current implementation,
+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.
+Patches that fix crashing bugs, assertion failures and
+memory corruption that do not otherwise change Perl's
+functionality or negatively impact performance are acceptable.
=item *
=item *
-Updates to dual-life modules should consist of minimal patches to
+Updates to dual-life modules should consist of minimal patches to
fix crashing or security issues (as above).
=item *
-Minimal patches that fix platform-specific test failures or
+Minimal patches that fix platform-specific test failures or build or
installation issues are acceptable. When these changes are made
to dual-life modules for which CPAN is canonical, any changes
should be coordinated with the upstream author.
=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.)
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 and
+revocation of rights to update rt.perl.org. 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:
+Aaron Crane, Andy Dougherty, Ricardo Signes, Steffen Müller.
=head1 CREDITS
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff