=head1 Incompatible Changes
+=head2 64-bit platforms and malloc
+
If your pointers are 64 bits wide, the Perl malloc is no more being
used because it simply does not work with 8-byte pointers. Also,
usually the system malloc on such platforms are much better optimized
for such large memory models than the Perl malloc.
-=head1 Future Deprecations
+=head2 Future 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
=item *
+L<utime> now supports C<utime undef, undef, @files> to change the
+times to the current time.
+
+=item *
+
The Perl parser has been stress tested using both random input and
Markov chain input.
=head1 Modules and Pragmata
-=head2 New Modules
+=head2 New Modules and Distribution
=over 4
=item *
-Attribute::Handlers - Simpler definition of attribute handlers
+L<Attribute::Handlers> - Simpler definition of attribute handlers
+
+=item *
+
+L<ExtUtils::Constant> - generate XS code to import C header constants
+
+=item *
+
+L<I18N::LangTags> - functions for dealing with RFC3066-style language tags
+
+=item *
+
+L<libnet> - a collection of perl5 modules related to network programming
=item *
-ExtUtils::Constant - generate XS code to import C header constants
+L<List::Util> - selection of general-utility list subroutines
=item *
-I18N::LangTags - functions for dealing with RFC3066-style language tags
+L<Locale::Maketext> - framework for localization
=item *
-List::Util - selection of general-utility list subroutines
+L<Memoize> - Make your functions faster by trading space for time
=item *
-Locale::Maketext - framework for localization
+L<NEXT> - pseudo-class for method redispatch
=item *
-NEXT - pseudo-class for method redispatch
+L<Scalar::Util> - selection of general-utility scalar subroutines
=item *
-Scalar::Util - selection of general-utility scalar subroutines
+L<Time::HiRes> - high resolution ualarm, usleep, and gettimeofday
=item *
-Time::HiRes - high resolution ualarm, usleep, and gettimeofday
+L<Time::Piece> - Object Oriented time objects
=back
=item *
+L<File::Find> is now (again) reentrant. It also has been made
+more portable.
+
+=item *
+
L<File::Glob> now supports C<GLOB_LIMIT> constant to limit the
size of the returned list of filenames.
-=back
+=item *
-=head1 Performance Enhancements
+L<vars> now supports declaring qualified variables.
+
+=back
=head1 Utility Changes
=item *
+The F<emacs/e2ctags.pl> is now much faster.
+
+=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
=item *
-The F<emacs/e2ctags.pl> is now much faster.
+L<libnetcfg> has been added to configure the libnet.
=item *
More README.$PLATFORM files have been converted into pod, which also
means that they also be installed as perl$PLATFORM documentation
files. The new files are L<perlapollo>, L<perlbeos>, L<perldgux>,
-L<perlhurd>, L<perlmint>, L<perlplan9>, L<perlqnx>, and L<perltru64>.
+L<perlhurd>, L<perlmint>, L<perlnetware>, L<perlplan9>, L<perlqnx>,
+and L<perltru64>.
=item *
=item *
-MacOS (Classic) [HOPEFULLY]
+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.)
=item *
-MacOS X (or Darwin) should now be able to build Perl even on HFS+ filesystem.
-(The case-insensitivity confused the Perl build process.)
+MacOS X (or Darwin) should now be able to build Perl even on HFS+
+filesystems. (The case-insensitivity confused the Perl build process.)
=item *
-Netware [HOPEFULLY]
+NetWare from Novell is now supported.
=item *
=item *
-The Thread extension is not built at all under ithreads (C<Configure
--Duseithreads>) because it wouldn't work anyway (the Thread extension
-requires being Configured with C<-Duse5005threads>).
+The Thread extension is now not built at all under ithreads
+(C<Configure -Duseithreads>) because it wouldn't work anyway (the
+Thread extension requires being Configured with C<-Duse5005threads>).
=item *
=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
+=over 5
+
+=item *
+
+The autouse pragma didn't work for Multi::Part::Function::Names.
+
+=item *
+
+The behaviour of non-decimal but numeric string constants such as
+"0x23" was platform-dependent: in some platforms that was seen as 35,
+in some as 0, in some as a floating point number (don't ask). This
+was caused by Perl using the operating system libraries in a situation
+where the result of the string to number conversion is undefined: now
+Perl consistently handles such strings as zero in numeric contexts.
+
+=item *
+
+L<dprofpp> -R didn't work.
+
+=item *
+
+PERL5OPT with embedded spaces didn't work.
+
+=item *
+
+L<Sys::Syslog> ignored the C<LOG_AUTH> constant.
+
+=back
+
=head2 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
=over 4
Several new tests have been added, especially for the F<lib> subsection.
-=back
-
-The test F<camel-III/vstring> has been merged with F<op/ver>.
+The tests are now reported in a different order than in earlier Perls.
+(This happens because the test scripts from under t/lib have been moved
+to be closer to the library/extension they are testing.)
=head1 Known Problems
frustrated at the mysterious results (core dumps, most often) it is
for now forbidden (you will get a fatal error even from an attempt).
+=head2 Variable Attributes are not Currently Usable for Tieing
+
+This limitation will hopefully be fixed in future. (Subroutine
+attributes work fine for tieing, see L<Attribute::Handlers>).
+
=head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles
Some extensions like mod_perl are known to have issues with
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