1 | =head1 NAME
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2 |
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3 | perl570delta - what's new for perl v5.7.0
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4 |
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5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION
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6 |
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7 | This document describes differences between the 5.6.0 release and
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8 | the 5.7.0 release.
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9 |
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10 | =head1 Security Vulnerability Closed
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11 |
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12 | A potential security vulnerability in the optional suidperl component
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13 | of Perl has been identified. suidperl is neither built nor installed
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14 | by default. As of September the 2nd, 2000, the only known vulnerable
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15 | platform is Linux, most likely all Linux distributions. CERT and
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16 | various vendors have been alerted about the vulnerability.
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17 |
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18 | The problem was caused by Perl trying to report a suspected security
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19 | exploit attempt using an external program, /bin/mail. On Linux
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20 | platforms the /bin/mail program had an undocumented feature which
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21 | when combined with suidperl gave access to a root shell, resulting in
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22 | a serious compromise instead of reporting the exploit attempt. If you
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23 | don't have /bin/mail, or if you have 'safe setuid scripts', or if
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24 | suidperl is not installed, you are safe.
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25 |
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26 | The exploit attempt reporting feature has been completely removed from
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27 | the Perl 5.7.0 release, so that particular vulnerability isn't there
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28 | anymore. However, further security vulnerabilities are,
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29 | unfortunately, always possible. The suidperl code is being reviewed
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30 | and if deemed too risky to continue to be supported, it may be
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31 | completely removed from future releases. In any case, suidperl should
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32 | only be used by security experts who know exactly what they are doing
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33 | and why they are using suidperl instead of some other solution such as
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34 | sudo ( see http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/ ).
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35 |
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36 | =head1 Incompatible Changes
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37 |
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38 | =over 4
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39 |
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40 | =item *
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41 |
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42 | Arrays now always interpolate into double-quoted strings:
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43 | constructs like "foo@bar" now always assume C<@bar> is an array,
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44 | whether or not the compiler has seen use of C<@bar>.
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45 |
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46 | =item *
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47 |
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48 | The semantics of bless(REF, REF) were unclear and until someone proves
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49 | it to make some sense, it is forbidden.
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50 |
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51 | =item *
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52 |
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53 | A reference to a reference now stringify as "REF(0x81485ec)" instead
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54 | of "SCALAR(0x81485ec)" in order to be more consistent with the return
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55 | value of ref().
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56 |
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57 | =item *
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58 |
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59 | The very dusty examples in the eg/ directory have been removed.
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60 | Suggestions for new shiny examples welcome but the main issue is that
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61 | the examples need to be documented, tested and (most importantly)
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62 | maintained.
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63 |
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64 | =item *
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65 |
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66 | The obsolete chat2 library that should never have been allowed
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67 | to escape the laboratory has been decommissioned.
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68 |
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69 | =item *
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70 |
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71 | The unimplemented POSIX regex features [[.cc.]] and [[=c=]] are still
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72 | recognised but now cause fatal errors. The previous behaviour of
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73 | ignoring them by default and warning if requested was unacceptable
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74 | since it, in a way, falsely promised that the features could be used.
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75 |
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76 | =item *
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77 |
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78 | The (bogus) escape sequences \8 and \9 now give an optional warning
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79 | ("Unrecognized escape passed through"). There is no need to \-escape
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80 | any C<\w> character.
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81 |
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82 | =item *
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83 |
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84 | lstat(FILEHANDLE) now gives a warning because the operation makes no sense.
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85 | In future releases this may become a fatal error.
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86 |
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87 | =item *
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88 |
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89 | The long deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison
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90 | operators (EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE, GT) have now been removed.
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91 |
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92 | =item *
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93 |
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94 | The regular expression captured submatches ($1, $2, ...) are now
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95 | more consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false
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96 | data lying around in them.
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97 |
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98 | =item *
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99 |
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100 | The tr///C and tr///U features have been removed and will not return;
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101 | the interface was a mistake. Sorry about that. For similar
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102 | functionality, see pack('U0', ...) and pack('C0', ...).
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103 |
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104 | =back
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105 |
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106 | =head1 Core Enhancements
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107 |
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108 | =over 4
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109 |
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110 | =item *
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111 |
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112 | C<perl -d:Module=arg,arg,arg> now works (previously one couldn't pass
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113 | in multiple arguments.)
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114 |
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115 | =item *
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116 |
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117 | my __PACKAGE__ $obj now works.
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118 |
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119 | =item *
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120 |
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121 | C<no Module;> now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module.
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122 |
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123 | =item *
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124 |
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125 | The numerical comparison operators return C<undef> if either operand
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126 | is a NaN. Previously the behaviour was unspecified.
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127 |
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128 | =item *
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129 |
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130 | C<pack('U0a*', ...)> can now be used to force a string to UTF-8.
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131 |
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132 | =item *
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133 |
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134 | prototype(\&) is now available.
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135 |
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136 | =item *
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137 |
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138 | There is now an UNTIE method.
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139 |
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140 | =back
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141 |
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142 | =head1 Modules and Pragmata
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143 |
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144 | =head2 New Modules
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145 |
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146 | =over 4
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147 |
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148 | =item *
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149 |
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150 | File::Temp allows one to create temporary files and directories in an
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151 | easy, portable, and secure way.
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152 |
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153 | =item *
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154 |
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155 | Storable gives persistence to Perl data structures by allowing the
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156 | storage and retrieval of Perl data to and from files in a fast and
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157 | compact binary format.
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158 |
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159 | =back
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160 |
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161 | =head2 Updated And Improved Modules and Pragmata
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162 |
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163 | =over 4
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164 |
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165 | =item *
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166 |
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167 | The following independently supported modules have been updated to
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168 | newer versions from CPAN: CGI, CPAN, DB_File, File::Spec, Getopt::Long,
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169 | the podlators bundle, Pod::LaTeX, Pod::Parser, Term::ANSIColor, Test.
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170 |
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171 | =item *
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172 |
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173 | Bug fixes and minor enhancements have been applied to B::Deparse,
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174 | Data::Dumper, IO::Poll, IO::Socket::INET, Math::BigFloat,
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175 | Math::Complex, Math::Trig, Net::protoent, the re pragma, SelfLoader,
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176 | Sys::SysLog, Test::Harness, Text::Wrap, UNIVERSAL, and the warnings
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177 | pragma.
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178 |
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179 | =item *
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180 |
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181 | The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments.
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182 |
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183 | =item *
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184 |
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185 | AutoLoader can now be disabled with C<no AutoLoader;>,
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186 |
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187 | =item *
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188 |
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189 | The English module can now be used without the infamous performance
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190 | hit by saying
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191 |
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192 | use English '-no_performance_hit';
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193 |
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194 | (Assuming, of course, that one doesn't need the troublesome variables
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195 | C<$`>, C<$&>, or C<$'>.) Also, introduced C<@LAST_MATCH_START> and
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196 | C<@LAST_MATCH_END> English aliases for C<@-> and C<@+>.
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197 |
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198 | =item *
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199 |
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200 | File::Find now has pre- and post-processing callbacks. It also
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201 | correctly changes directories when chasing symbolic links. Callbacks
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202 | (naughtily) exiting with "next;" instead of "return;" now work.
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203 |
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204 | =item *
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205 |
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206 | File::Glob::glob() renamed to File::Glob::bsd_glob() to avoid
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207 | prototype mismatch with CORE::glob().
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208 |
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209 | =item *
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210 |
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211 | IPC::Open3 now allows the use of numeric file descriptors.
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212 |
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213 | =item *
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214 |
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215 | use lib now works identically to @INC. Removing directories
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216 | with 'no lib' now works.
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217 |
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218 | =item *
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219 |
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220 | C<%INC> now localised in a Safe compartment so that use/require work.
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221 |
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222 | =item *
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223 |
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224 | The Shell module now has an OO interface.
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225 |
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226 | =back
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227 |
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228 | =head1 Utility Changes
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229 |
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230 | =over 4
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231 |
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232 | =item *
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233 |
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234 | The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version
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235 | 4.31.
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236 |
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237 | =item *
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238 |
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239 | Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to
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240 | perl.org, not perl.com.
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241 |
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242 | =item *
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243 |
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244 | The perlcc utility has been rewritten and its user interface (that is,
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245 | command line) is much more like that of the UNIX C compiler, cc.
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246 |
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247 | =item *
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248 |
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249 | The xsubpp utility for extension writers now understands POD
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250 | documentation embedded in the *.xs files.
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251 |
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252 | =back
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253 |
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254 | =head1 New Documentation
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255 |
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256 | =over 4
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257 |
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258 | =item *
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259 |
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260 | perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the
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261 | 5.6.0 release.
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262 |
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263 | =item *
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264 |
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265 | perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
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266 |
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267 | =item *
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268 |
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269 | perlebcdic contains considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms.
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270 | Note that unfortunately EBCDIC platforms that used to supported back in
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271 | Perl 5.005 are still unsupported by Perl 5.7.0; the plan, however, is to
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272 | bring them back to the fold.
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273 |
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274 | =item *
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275 |
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276 | perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
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277 |
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278 | =item *
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279 |
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280 | perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform
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281 | (an EBCDIC mainframe platform).
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282 |
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283 | =item *
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284 |
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285 | perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
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286 |
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287 | =item *
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288 |
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289 | perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide.
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290 | Yes, much quicker than perlretut.
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291 |
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292 | =item *
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293 |
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294 | perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
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295 | distribution.
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296 |
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297 | =back
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298 |
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299 | =head1 Performance Enhancements
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300 |
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301 | =over 4
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302 |
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303 | =item *
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304 |
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305 | map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster.
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306 |
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307 | =item *
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308 |
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309 | sort() has been changed to use mergesort internally as opposed to the
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310 | earlier quicksort. For very small lists this may result in slightly
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311 | slower sorting times, but in general the speedup should be at least
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312 | 20%. Additional bonuses are that the worst case behaviour of sort()
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313 | is now better (in computer science terms it now runs in time O(N log N),
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314 | as opposed to quicksort's Theta(N**2) worst-case run time behaviour),
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315 | and that sort() is now stable (meaning that elements with identical
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316 | keys will stay ordered as they were before the sort).
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317 |
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318 | =back
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319 |
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320 | =head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
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321 |
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322 | =head2 Generic Improvements
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323 |
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324 | =over 4
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325 |
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326 | =item *
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327 |
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328 | INSTALL now explains how you can configure Perl to use 64-bit
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329 | integers even on non-64-bit platforms.
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330 |
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331 | =item *
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332 |
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333 | Policy.sh policy change: if you are reusing a Policy.sh file
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334 | (see INSTALL) and you use Configure -Dprefix=/foo/bar and in the old
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335 | Policy $prefix eq $siteprefix and $prefix eq $vendorprefix, all of
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336 | them will now be changed to the new prefix, /foo/bar. (Previously
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337 | only $prefix changed.) If you do not like this new behaviour,
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338 | specify prefix, siteprefix, and vendorprefix explicitly.
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339 |
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340 | =item *
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341 |
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342 | A new optional location for Perl libraries, otherlibdirs, is available.
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343 | It can be used for example for vendor add-ons without disturbing Perl's
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344 | own library directories.
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345 |
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346 | =item *
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347 |
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348 | In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to
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349 | build Perl (basically, 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems
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350 | to be the case and 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler
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351 | 'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead.
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352 |
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353 | =item *
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354 |
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355 | gcc needs to closely track the operating system release to avoid
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356 | build problems. If Configure finds that gcc was built for a different
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357 | operating system release than is running, it now gives a clearly visible
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358 | warning that there may be trouble ahead.
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359 |
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360 | =item *
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361 |
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362 | If binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is not wanted, Configure
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363 | no longer suggests including the 5.005 modules in @INC.
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364 |
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365 | =item *
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366 |
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367 | Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively.
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368 |
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369 | =item *
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370 |
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371 | configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them.
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372 |
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373 | =item *
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374 |
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375 | installperl now outputs everything to STDERR.
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376 |
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377 | =item *
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378 |
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379 | $Config{byteorder} is now computed dynamically (this is more robust
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380 | with "fat binaries" where an executable image contains binaries for
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381 | more than one binary platform.)
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382 |
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383 | =back
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384 |
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385 | =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
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386 |
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387 | =over 4
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388 |
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389 | =item *
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390 |
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391 | Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code,
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392 | condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks
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393 | line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now
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394 | goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set.
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395 |
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396 | =item *
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397 |
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398 | C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works.
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399 |
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400 | =item *
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401 |
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402 | Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes.
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403 |
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404 | =item *
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405 |
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406 | Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works.
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407 |
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408 | =item *
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409 |
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410 | Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "".
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411 |
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412 | =item *
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413 |
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414 | Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to
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415 | return 27406, instead of 27047).
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416 |
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417 | =item *
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418 |
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419 | Some "not a number" warnings introduced in 5.6.0 eliminated to be
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420 | more compatible with 5.005. Infinity is now recognised as a number.
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421 |
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422 | =item *
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423 |
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424 | our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings.
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425 |
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426 | =item *
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427 |
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428 | pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with "\0".
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429 |
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430 | =item *
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431 |
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432 | Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms
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433 | (e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry.
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434 |
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435 | =item *
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436 |
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437 | printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C".
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438 |
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439 | =item *
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440 |
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441 | C<q(a\\b)> now parses correctly as C<'a\\b'>.
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442 |
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443 | =item *
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444 |
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445 | Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf now works
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446 | without the q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform).
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447 |
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448 | =item *
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449 |
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450 | Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
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451 |
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452 | =item *
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453 |
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454 | scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context.
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455 |
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456 | =item *
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457 |
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458 | sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context
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459 | (they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself).
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460 |
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461 | =item *
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462 |
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463 | Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very
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464 | rare) vertical tab character. Added a new POSIX-ish character class
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465 | C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently,
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466 | the space and the tab).
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467 |
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468 | =item *
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469 |
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470 | $AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses
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471 | in multiple threads simultaneously are now thread-safe.
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472 |
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473 | =item *
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474 |
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475 | Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///.
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476 |
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477 | =item *
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478 |
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479 | Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect).
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480 |
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481 | =over 8
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482 |
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483 | =item *
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484 |
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485 | BOMs (byte order marks) in the beginning of Perl files
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486 | (scripts, modules) should now be transparently skipped.
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487 | UTF-16 (UCS-2) encoded Perl files should now be read correctly.
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488 |
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489 | =item *
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490 |
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491 | The character tables have been updated to Unicode 3.0.1.
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492 |
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493 | =item *
|
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494 |
|
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495 | chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use
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496 | utf8.
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497 |
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498 | =item *
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499 |
|
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500 | Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into
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501 | utf8.
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502 |
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503 | =item *
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504 |
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505 | C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase.
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506 |
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507 | =item *
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508 |
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509 | Concatenation with the C<.> operator or via variable interpolation,
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510 | C<eq>, C<substr>, C<reverse>, C<quotemeta>, the C<x> operator,
|
---|
511 | substitution with C<s///>, single-quoted UTF-8, should now work--in
|
---|
512 | theory.
|
---|
513 |
|
---|
514 | =item *
|
---|
515 |
|
---|
516 | The C<tr///> operator now works I<slightly> better but is still rather
|
---|
517 | broken. Note that the C<tr///CU> functionality has been removed (but
|
---|
518 | see pack('U0', ...)).
|
---|
519 |
|
---|
520 | =item *
|
---|
521 |
|
---|
522 | vec() now refuses to deal with characters >255.
|
---|
523 |
|
---|
524 | =item *
|
---|
525 |
|
---|
526 | Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>.
|
---|
527 |
|
---|
528 | =back
|
---|
529 |
|
---|
530 | =item *
|
---|
531 |
|
---|
532 | UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly. (This broke
|
---|
533 | the Tk extension with 5.6.0.)
|
---|
534 |
|
---|
535 | =back
|
---|
536 |
|
---|
537 | =head2 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
|
---|
538 |
|
---|
539 | =over 4
|
---|
540 |
|
---|
541 | =item *
|
---|
542 |
|
---|
543 | BSDI 4.*
|
---|
544 |
|
---|
545 | Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes.
|
---|
546 |
|
---|
547 | =item *
|
---|
548 |
|
---|
549 | All BSDs
|
---|
550 |
|
---|
551 | Setting C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details).
|
---|
552 |
|
---|
553 | =item *
|
---|
554 |
|
---|
555 | Cygwin
|
---|
556 |
|
---|
557 | Numerous updates; currently synchronised with Cygwin 1.1.4.
|
---|
558 |
|
---|
559 | =item *
|
---|
560 |
|
---|
561 | EPOC
|
---|
562 |
|
---|
563 | EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.epoc.
|
---|
564 |
|
---|
565 | =item *
|
---|
566 |
|
---|
567 | FreeBSD 3.*
|
---|
568 |
|
---|
569 | Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs.
|
---|
570 |
|
---|
571 | =item *
|
---|
572 |
|
---|
573 | HP-UX
|
---|
574 |
|
---|
575 | README.hpux updated; C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works.
|
---|
576 |
|
---|
577 | =item *
|
---|
578 |
|
---|
579 | IRIX
|
---|
580 |
|
---|
581 | Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements; accidental mixing
|
---|
582 | of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt) made much harder.
|
---|
583 |
|
---|
584 | =item *
|
---|
585 |
|
---|
586 | Linux
|
---|
587 |
|
---|
588 | Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL).
|
---|
589 |
|
---|
590 | =item *
|
---|
591 |
|
---|
592 | Mac OS Classic
|
---|
593 |
|
---|
594 | Compilation of the standard Perl distribution in Mac OS Classic should
|
---|
595 | now work if you have the Metrowerks development environment and the
|
---|
596 | missing Mac-specific toolkit bits. Contact the macperl mailing list
|
---|
597 | for details.
|
---|
598 |
|
---|
599 | =item *
|
---|
600 |
|
---|
601 | MPE/iX
|
---|
602 |
|
---|
603 | MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.mpeix.
|
---|
604 |
|
---|
605 | =item *
|
---|
606 |
|
---|
607 | NetBSD/sparc
|
---|
608 |
|
---|
609 | Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc.
|
---|
610 |
|
---|
611 | =item *
|
---|
612 |
|
---|
613 | OS/2
|
---|
614 |
|
---|
615 | Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL).
|
---|
616 |
|
---|
617 | =item *
|
---|
618 |
|
---|
619 | Solaris
|
---|
620 |
|
---|
621 | 64-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works.
|
---|
622 |
|
---|
623 | =item *
|
---|
624 |
|
---|
625 | Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1)
|
---|
626 |
|
---|
627 | The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}.
|
---|
628 | Allow compiling with gcc (previously explicitly forbidden). Compiling
|
---|
629 | with gcc still not recommended because buggy code results, even with
|
---|
630 | gcc 2.95.2.
|
---|
631 |
|
---|
632 | =item *
|
---|
633 |
|
---|
634 | Unicos
|
---|
635 |
|
---|
636 | Fixed various alignment problems that lead into core dumps either
|
---|
637 | during build or later; no longer dies on math errors at runtime;
|
---|
638 | now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using
|
---|
639 | only 46 bit integers for speed.
|
---|
640 |
|
---|
641 | =item *
|
---|
642 |
|
---|
643 | VMS
|
---|
644 |
|
---|
645 | chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug; now works with MULTIPLICITY
|
---|
646 | (see INSTALL); now works with Perl's malloc.
|
---|
647 |
|
---|
648 | =item *
|
---|
649 |
|
---|
650 | Windows
|
---|
651 |
|
---|
652 | =over 8
|
---|
653 |
|
---|
654 | =item *
|
---|
655 |
|
---|
656 | accept() no longer leaks memory.
|
---|
657 |
|
---|
658 | =item *
|
---|
659 |
|
---|
660 | Better chdir() return value for a non-existent directory.
|
---|
661 |
|
---|
662 | =item *
|
---|
663 |
|
---|
664 | New %ENV entries now propagate to subprocesses.
|
---|
665 |
|
---|
666 | =item *
|
---|
667 |
|
---|
668 | $ENV{LIB} now used to search for libs under Visual C.
|
---|
669 |
|
---|
670 | =item *
|
---|
671 |
|
---|
672 | A failed (pseudo)fork now returns undef and sets errno to EAGAIN.
|
---|
673 |
|
---|
674 | =item *
|
---|
675 |
|
---|
676 | Allow REG_EXPAND_SZ keys in the registry.
|
---|
677 |
|
---|
678 | =item *
|
---|
679 |
|
---|
680 | Can now send() from all threads, not just the first one.
|
---|
681 |
|
---|
682 | =item *
|
---|
683 |
|
---|
684 | Fake signal handling reenabled, bugs and all.
|
---|
685 |
|
---|
686 | =item *
|
---|
687 |
|
---|
688 | Less stack reserved per thread so that more threads can run
|
---|
689 | concurrently. (Still 16M per thread.)
|
---|
690 |
|
---|
691 | =item *
|
---|
692 |
|
---|
693 | C<< File::Spec->tmpdir() >> now prefers C:/temp over /tmp
|
---|
694 | (works better when perl is running as service).
|
---|
695 |
|
---|
696 | =item *
|
---|
697 |
|
---|
698 | Better UNC path handling under ithreads.
|
---|
699 |
|
---|
700 | =item *
|
---|
701 |
|
---|
702 | wait() and waitpid() now work much better.
|
---|
703 |
|
---|
704 | =item *
|
---|
705 |
|
---|
706 | winsock handle leak fixed.
|
---|
707 |
|
---|
708 | =back
|
---|
709 |
|
---|
710 | =back
|
---|
711 |
|
---|
712 | =head1 New or Changed Diagnostics
|
---|
713 |
|
---|
714 | All regular expression compilation error messages are now hopefully
|
---|
715 | easier to understand both because the error message now comes before
|
---|
716 | the failed regex and because the point of failure is now clearly
|
---|
717 | marked.
|
---|
718 |
|
---|
719 | The various "opened only for", "on closed", "never opened" warnings
|
---|
720 | drop the C<main::> prefix for filehandles in the C<main> package,
|
---|
721 | for example C<STDIN> instead of <main::STDIN>.
|
---|
722 |
|
---|
723 | The "Unrecognized escape" warning has been extended to include C<\8>,
|
---|
724 | C<\9>, and C<\_>. There is no need to escape any of the C<\w> characters.
|
---|
725 |
|
---|
726 | =head1 Changed Internals
|
---|
727 |
|
---|
728 | =over 4
|
---|
729 |
|
---|
730 | =item *
|
---|
731 |
|
---|
732 | perlapi.pod (a companion to perlguts) now attempts to document the
|
---|
733 | internal API.
|
---|
734 |
|
---|
735 | =item *
|
---|
736 |
|
---|
737 | You can now build a really minimal perl called microperl.
|
---|
738 | Building microperl does not require even running Configure;
|
---|
739 | C<make -f Makefile.micro> should be enough. Beware: microperl makes
|
---|
740 | many assumptions, some of which may be too bold; the resulting
|
---|
741 | executable may crash or otherwise misbehave in wondrous ways.
|
---|
742 | For careful hackers only.
|
---|
743 |
|
---|
744 | =item *
|
---|
745 |
|
---|
746 | Added rsignal(), whichsig(), do_join() to the publicised API.
|
---|
747 |
|
---|
748 | =item *
|
---|
749 |
|
---|
750 | Made possible to propagate customised exceptions via croak()ing.
|
---|
751 |
|
---|
752 | =item *
|
---|
753 |
|
---|
754 | Added is_utf8_char(), is_utf8_string(), bytes_to_utf8(), and utf8_to_bytes().
|
---|
755 |
|
---|
756 | =item *
|
---|
757 |
|
---|
758 | Now xsubs can have attributes just like subs.
|
---|
759 |
|
---|
760 | =back
|
---|
761 |
|
---|
762 | =head1 Known Problems
|
---|
763 |
|
---|
764 | =head2 Unicode Support Still Far From Perfect
|
---|
765 |
|
---|
766 | We're working on it. Stay tuned.
|
---|
767 |
|
---|
768 | =head2 EBCDIC Still A Lost Platform
|
---|
769 |
|
---|
770 | The plan is to bring them back.
|
---|
771 |
|
---|
772 | =head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles
|
---|
773 |
|
---|
774 | Certain extensions like mod_perl and BSD::Resource are known to have
|
---|
775 | issues with `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in which file
|
---|
776 | offsets default to 64 bits wide, where supported. Modules may fail to
|
---|
777 | compile at all or compile and work incorrectly. Currently there is no
|
---|
778 | good solution for the problem, but Configure now provides appropriate
|
---|
779 | non-largefile ccflags, ldflags, libswanted, and libs in the %Config
|
---|
780 | hash (e.g., $Config{ccflags_nolargefiles}) so the extensions that are
|
---|
781 | having problems can try configuring themselves without the
|
---|
782 | largefileness. This is admittedly not a clean solution, and the
|
---|
783 | solution may not even work at all. One potential failure is whether
|
---|
784 | one can (or, if one can, whether it's a good idea) link together at
|
---|
785 | all binaries with different ideas about file offsets, all this is
|
---|
786 | platform-dependent.
|
---|
787 |
|
---|
788 | =head2 ftmp-security tests warn 'system possibly insecure'
|
---|
789 |
|
---|
790 | Don't panic. Read INSTALL 'make test' section instead.
|
---|
791 |
|
---|
792 | =head2 Test lib/posix Subtest 9 Fails In LP64-Configured HP-UX
|
---|
793 |
|
---|
794 | If perl is configured with -Duse64bitall, the successful result of the
|
---|
795 | subtest 10 of lib/posix may arrive before the successful result of the
|
---|
796 | subtest 9, which confuses the test harness so much that it thinks the
|
---|
797 | subtest 9 failed.
|
---|
798 |
|
---|
799 | =head2 Long Doubles Still Don't Work In Solaris
|
---|
800 |
|
---|
801 | The experimental long double support is still very much so in Solaris.
|
---|
802 | (Other platforms like Linux and Tru64 are beginning to solidify in
|
---|
803 | this area.)
|
---|
804 |
|
---|
805 | =head2 Linux With Sfio Fails op/misc Test 48
|
---|
806 |
|
---|
807 | No known fix.
|
---|
808 |
|
---|
809 | =head2 Storable tests fail in some platforms
|
---|
810 |
|
---|
811 | If any Storable tests fail the use of Storable is not advisable.
|
---|
812 |
|
---|
813 | =over 4
|
---|
814 |
|
---|
815 | =item *
|
---|
816 |
|
---|
817 | Many Storable tests fail on AIX configured with 64 bit integers.
|
---|
818 |
|
---|
819 | So far unidentified problems break Storable in AIX if Perl is
|
---|
820 | configured to use 64 bit integers. AIX in 32-bit mode works and
|
---|
821 | other 64-bit platforms work with Storable.
|
---|
822 |
|
---|
823 | =item *
|
---|
824 |
|
---|
825 | DOS DJGPP may hang when testing Storable.
|
---|
826 |
|
---|
827 | =item *
|
---|
828 |
|
---|
829 | st-06compat fails in UNICOS and UNICOS/mk.
|
---|
830 |
|
---|
831 | This means that you cannot read old (pre-Storable-0.7) Storable images
|
---|
832 | made in other platforms.
|
---|
833 |
|
---|
834 | =item *
|
---|
835 |
|
---|
836 | st-store.t and st-retrieve may fail with Compaq C 6.2 on OpenVMS Alpha 7.2.
|
---|
837 |
|
---|
838 | =back
|
---|
839 |
|
---|
840 | =head2 Threads Are Still Experimental
|
---|
841 |
|
---|
842 | Multithreading is still an experimental feature. Some platforms
|
---|
843 | emit the following message for lib/thr5005
|
---|
844 |
|
---|
845 | #
|
---|
846 | # This is a KNOWN FAILURE, and one of the reasons why threading
|
---|
847 | # is still an experimental feature. It is here to stop people
|
---|
848 | # from deploying threads in production. ;-)
|
---|
849 | #
|
---|
850 |
|
---|
851 | and another known thread-related warning is
|
---|
852 |
|
---|
853 | pragma/overload......Unbalanced saves: 3 more saves than restores
|
---|
854 | panic: magic_mutexfree during global destruction.
|
---|
855 | ok
|
---|
856 | lib/selfloader.......Unbalanced saves: 3 more saves than restores
|
---|
857 | panic: magic_mutexfree during global destruction.
|
---|
858 | ok
|
---|
859 | lib/st-dclone........Unbalanced saves: 3 more saves than restores
|
---|
860 | panic: magic_mutexfree during global destruction.
|
---|
861 | ok
|
---|
862 |
|
---|
863 | =head2 The Compiler Suite Is Still Experimental
|
---|
864 |
|
---|
865 | The compiler suite is slowly getting better but is nowhere near
|
---|
866 | working order yet. The backend part that has seen perhaps the most
|
---|
867 | progress is the bytecode compiler.
|
---|
868 |
|
---|
869 | =head1 Reporting Bugs
|
---|
870 |
|
---|
871 | If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
|
---|
872 | recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
|
---|
873 | bug database at http://bugs.perl.org/ There may also be
|
---|
874 | information at http://www.perl.com/perl/ , the Perl Home Page.
|
---|
875 |
|
---|
876 | If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug>
|
---|
877 | program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
|
---|
878 | to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
|
---|
879 | output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to [email protected] to be
|
---|
880 | analysed by the Perl porting team.
|
---|
881 |
|
---|
882 | =head1 SEE ALSO
|
---|
883 |
|
---|
884 | The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed.
|
---|
885 |
|
---|
886 | The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
|
---|
887 |
|
---|
888 | The F<README> file for general stuff.
|
---|
889 |
|
---|
890 | The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.
|
---|
891 |
|
---|
892 | =head1 HISTORY
|
---|
893 |
|
---|
894 | Written by Jarkko Hietaniemi <F<[email protected]>>, with many contributions
|
---|
895 | from The Perl Porters and Perl Users submitting feedback and patches.
|
---|
896 |
|
---|
897 | Send omissions or corrections to <F<[email protected]>>.
|
---|
898 |
|
---|
899 | =cut
|
---|