+=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 are believed to be very rarely used,
+stand in the way of actual improvement to the Perl language or perl
+interpreter, and if affected code can be easily updated to continue
+working, 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.
When a module is deprecated, it will also be made available on CPAN.
Installing it from CPAN will silence deprecation warnings for that module.
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,
+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.
=head1 MAINTENANCE BRANCHES
-=over
-
-=item *
-
New releases of maint should contain as few changes as possible.
If there is any question about whether a given patch might merit
inclusion in a maint release, then it almost certainly should not
be included.
+The following types of change may be considered acceptable, as long as they do
+not also fall into any of the "unacceptable" categories set out below:
+
+=over
+
=item *
-Portability fixes, such as changes to Configure and the files in
-hints/ are acceptable. Ports of Perl to a new platform, architecture
-or OS release that involve changes to the implementation are NOT
-acceptable.
+Patches that fix CVEs or security issues. These changes should
+be run through the perl5-security-report@perl.org mailing list
+rather than applied directly.
=item *
-Acceptable documentation updates are those that correct factual errors,
-explain significant bugs or deficiencies in the current implementation,
-or fix broken markup.
+Patches that fix crashing bugs, assertion failures and
+memory corruption that do not otherwise change Perl's
+functionality or negatively impact performance.
=item *
-Patches that add new warnings or errors or deprecate features
-are not acceptable.
+Patches that fix regressions in perl's behavior relative to previous
+releases, no matter how old the regression, since some people may
+upgrade from very old versions of perl to the latest version.
=item *
-Patches that fix crashing bugs that do not otherwise change Perl's
-functionality or negatively impact performance are acceptable.
+Patches that fix anything which prevents or seriously impacts the build
+or installation of perl.
=item *
-Patches that fix CVEs or security issues are acceptable, but should
-be run through the perl5-security-report@perl.org mailing list
-rather than applied directly.
+Portability fixes, such as changes to Configure and the files in
+the hints/ folder.
=item *
-Patches that fix regressions in perl's behavior relative to previous
-releases are acceptable.
+Minimal patches that fix platform-specific test failures.
=item *
-Updates to dual-life modules should consist of minimal patches to
-fix crashing or security issues (as above).
+Documentation updates that correct factual errors, explain significant
+bugs or deficiencies in the current implementation, or fix broken markup.
=item *
-Minimal patches that fix platform-specific test failures 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.
+Updates to dual-life modules should consist of minimal patches to
+fix crashing bugs or security issues (as above). Any changes made to
+dual-life modules for which CPAN is canonical should be coordinated with
+the upstream author.
+
+=back
+
+The following types of change are NOT acceptable:
+
+=over
=item *
-New versions of dual-life modules should NOT be imported into maint.
-Those belong in the next stable series.
+Patches that break binary compatibility. (Please talk to a pumpking.)
=item *
-Patches that add or remove features are not acceptable.
+Patches that add or remove features.
=item *
-Patches that break binary compatibility are not acceptable. (Please
-talk to a pumpking.)
+Patches that add new warnings or errors or deprecate features.
-=back
+=item *
+
+Ports of Perl to a new platform, architecture or OS release that
+involve changes to the implementation.
+
+=item *
+New versions of dual-life modules should NOT be imported into maint.
+Those belong in the next stable series.
+
+=back
=head2 Getting changes into a maint branch
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