1 | =head1 NAME
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2 |
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3 | perl583delta - what is new for perl v5.8.3
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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 5.8.2 release and
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8 | the 5.8.3 release.
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9 |
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10 | If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.6.1, first read
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11 | the L<perl58delta>, which describes differences between 5.6.0 and
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12 | 5.8.0, and the L<perl581delta> and L<perl582delta>, which describe differences
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13 | between 5.8.0, 5.8.1 and 5.8.2
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14 |
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15 | =head1 Incompatible Changes
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16 |
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17 | There are no changes incompatible with 5.8.2.
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18 |
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19 | =head1 Core Enhancements
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20 |
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21 | A C<SCALAR> method is now available for tied hashes. This is called when
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22 | a tied hash is used in scalar context, such as
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23 |
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24 | if (%tied_hash) {
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25 | ...
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26 | }
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27 |
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28 |
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29 | The old behaviour was that %tied_hash would return whatever would have been
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30 | returned for that hash before the hash was tied (so usually 0). The new
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31 | behaviour in the absence of a SCALAR method is to return TRUE if in the
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32 | middle of an C<each> iteration, and otherwise call FIRSTKEY to check if the
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33 | hash is empty (making sure that a subsequent C<each> will also begin by
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34 | calling FIRSTKEY). Please see L<perltie/SCALAR> for the full details and
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35 | caveats.
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36 |
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37 | =head1 Modules and Pragmata
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38 |
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39 | =over 4
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40 |
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41 | =item CGI
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42 |
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43 | =item Cwd
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44 |
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45 | =item Digest
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46 |
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47 | =item Digest::MD5
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48 |
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49 | =item Encode
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50 |
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51 | =item File::Spec
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52 |
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53 | =item FindBin
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54 |
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55 | A function C<again> is provided to resolve problems where modules in different
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56 | directories wish to use FindBin.
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57 |
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58 | =item List::Util
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59 |
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60 | You can now weaken references to read only values.
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61 |
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62 | =item Math::BigInt
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63 |
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64 | =item PodParser
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65 |
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66 | =item Pod::Perldoc
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67 |
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68 | =item POSIX
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69 |
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70 | =item Unicode::Collate
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71 |
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72 | =item Unicode::Normalize
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73 |
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74 | =item Test::Harness
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75 |
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76 | =item threads::shared
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77 |
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78 | C<cond_wait> has a new two argument form. C<cond_timedwait> has been added.
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79 |
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80 | =back
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81 |
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82 | =head1 Utility Changes
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83 |
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84 | C<find2perl> now assumes C<-print> as a default action. Previously, it
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85 | needed to be specified explicitly.
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86 |
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87 | A new utility, C<prove>, makes it easy to run an individual regression test
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88 | at the command line. C<prove> is part of Test::Harness, which users of earlier
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89 | Perl versions can install from CPAN.
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90 |
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91 | =head1 New Documentation
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92 |
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93 | The documentation has been revised in places to produce more standard manpages.
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94 |
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95 | The documentation for the special code blocks (BEGIN, CHECK, INIT, END)
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96 | has been improved.
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97 |
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98 | =head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
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99 |
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100 | Perl now builds on OpenVMS I64
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101 |
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102 | =head1 Selected Bug Fixes
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103 |
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104 | Using substr() on a UTF8 string could cause subsequent accesses on that
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105 | string to return garbage. This was due to incorrect UTF8 offsets being
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106 | cached, and is now fixed.
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107 |
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108 | join() could return garbage when the same join() statement was used to
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109 | process 8 bit data having earlier processed UTF8 data, due to the flags
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110 | on that statement's temporary workspace not being reset correctly. This
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111 | is now fixed.
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112 |
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113 | C<$a .. $b> will now work as expected when either $a or $b is C<undef>
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114 |
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115 | Using Unicode keys with tied hashes should now work correctly.
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116 |
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117 | Reading $^E now preserves $!. Previously, the C code implementing $^E
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118 | did not preserve C<errno>, so reading $^E could cause C<errno> and therefore
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119 | C<$!> to change unexpectedly.
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120 |
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121 | Reentrant functions will (once more) work with C++. 5.8.2 introduced a bugfix
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122 | which accidentally broke the compilation of Perl extensions written in C++
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123 |
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124 | =head1 New or Changed Diagnostics
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125 |
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126 | The fatal error "DESTROY created new reference to dead object" is now
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127 | documented in L<perldiag>.
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128 |
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129 | =head1 Changed Internals
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130 |
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131 | The hash code has been refactored to reduce source duplication. The
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132 | external interface is unchanged, and aside from the bug fixes described
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133 | above, there should be no change in behaviour.
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134 |
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135 | C<hv_clear_placeholders> is now part of the perl API
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136 |
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137 | Some C macros have been tidied. In particular macros which create temporary
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138 | local variables now name these variables more defensively, which should
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139 | avoid bugs where names clash.
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140 |
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141 | <signal.h> is now always included.
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142 |
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143 | =head1 Configuration and Building
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144 |
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145 | C<Configure> now invokes callbacks regardless of the value of the variable
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146 | they are called for. Previously callbacks were only invoked in the
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147 | C<case $variable $define)> branch. This change should only affect platform
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148 | maintainers writing configuration hints files.
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149 |
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150 | =head1 Platform Specific Problems
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151 |
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152 | The regression test ext/threads/shared/t/wait.t fails on early RedHat 9
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153 | and HP-UX 10.20 due to bugs in their threading implementations.
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154 | RedHat users should see https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2003-136.html
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155 | and consider upgrading their glibc.
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156 |
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157 | =head1 Known Problems
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158 |
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159 | Detached threads aren't supported on Windows yet, as they may lead to
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160 | memory access violation problems.
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161 |
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162 | There is a known race condition opening scripts in C<suidperl>. C<suidperl>
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163 | is neither built nor installed by default, and has been deprecated since
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164 | perl 5.8.0. You are advised to replace use of suidperl with tools such
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165 | as sudo ( http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/ )
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166 |
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167 | We have a backlog of unresolved bugs. Dealing with bugs and bug reports
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168 | is unglamorous work; not something ideally suited to volunteer labour,
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169 | but that is all that we have.
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170 |
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171 | The perl5 development team are implementing changes to help address this
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172 | problem, which should go live in early 2004.
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173 |
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174 | =head1 Future Directions
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175 |
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176 | Code freeze for the next maintenance release (5.8.4) is on March 31st 2004,
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177 | with release expected by mid April. Similarly 5.8.5's freeze will be at
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178 | the end of June, with release by mid July.
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179 |
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180 | =head1 Obituary
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181 |
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182 | Iain 'Spoon' Truskett, Perl hacker, author of L<perlreref> and
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183 | contributor to CPAN, died suddenly on 29th December 2003, aged 24.
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184 | He will be missed.
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185 |
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186 | =head1 Reporting Bugs
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187 |
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188 | If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
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189 | recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
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190 | bug database at http://bugs.perl.org. There may also be
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191 | information at http://www.perl.org, the Perl Home Page.
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192 |
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193 | If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug>
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194 | program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
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195 | to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
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196 | output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to [email protected] to be
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197 | analysed by the Perl porting team. You can browse and search
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198 | the Perl 5 bugs at http://bugs.perl.org/
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199 |
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200 | =head1 SEE ALSO
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201 |
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202 | The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed.
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203 |
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204 | The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
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205 |
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206 | The F<README> file for general stuff.
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207 |
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208 | The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.
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209 |
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210 | =cut
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