211 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
211 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
=head1 NAME
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perl583delta - what is new for perl v5.8.3
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=head1 DESCRIPTION
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This document describes differences between the 5.8.2 release and
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the 5.8.3 release.
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If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.6.1, first read
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the L<perl58delta>, which describes differences between 5.6.0 and
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5.8.0, and the L<perl581delta> and L<perl582delta>, which describe differences
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between 5.8.0, 5.8.1 and 5.8.2
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=head1 Incompatible Changes
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There are no changes incompatible with 5.8.2.
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=head1 Core Enhancements
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A C<SCALAR> method is now available for tied hashes. This is called when
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a tied hash is used in scalar context, such as
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if (%tied_hash) {
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...
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}
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The old behaviour was that %tied_hash would return whatever would have been
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returned for that hash before the hash was tied (so usually 0). The new
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behaviour in the absence of a SCALAR method is to return TRUE if in the
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middle of an C<each> iteration, and otherwise call FIRSTKEY to check if the
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hash is empty (making sure that a subsequent C<each> will also begin by
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calling FIRSTKEY). Please see L<perltie/SCALAR> for the full details and
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caveats.
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=head1 Modules and Pragmata
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=over 4
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=item CGI
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=item Cwd
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=item Digest
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=item Digest::MD5
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=item Encode
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=item File::Spec
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=item FindBin
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A function C<again> is provided to resolve problems where modules in different
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directories wish to use FindBin.
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=item List::Util
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You can now weaken references to read only values.
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=item Math::BigInt
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=item PodParser
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=item Pod::Perldoc
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=item POSIX
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=item Unicode::Collate
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=item Unicode::Normalize
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=item Test::Harness
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=item threads::shared
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C<cond_wait> has a new two argument form. C<cond_timedwait> has been added.
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=back
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=head1 Utility Changes
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C<find2perl> now assumes C<-print> as a default action. Previously, it
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needed to be specified explicitly.
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A new utility, C<prove>, makes it easy to run an individual regression test
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at the command line. C<prove> is part of Test::Harness, which users of earlier
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Perl versions can install from CPAN.
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=head1 New Documentation
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The documentation has been revised in places to produce more standard manpages.
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The documentation for the special code blocks (BEGIN, CHECK, INIT, END)
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has been improved.
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=head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
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Perl now builds on OpenVMS I64
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=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
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Using substr() on a UTF8 string could cause subsequent accesses on that
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string to return garbage. This was due to incorrect UTF8 offsets being
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cached, and is now fixed.
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join() could return garbage when the same join() statement was used to
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process 8 bit data having earlier processed UTF8 data, due to the flags
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on that statement's temporary workspace not being reset correctly. This
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is now fixed.
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C<$a .. $b> will now work as expected when either $a or $b is C<undef>
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Using Unicode keys with tied hashes should now work correctly.
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Reading $^E now preserves $!. Previously, the C code implementing $^E
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did not preserve C<errno>, so reading $^E could cause C<errno> and therefore
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C<$!> to change unexpectedly.
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Reentrant functions will (once more) work with C++. 5.8.2 introduced a bugfix
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which accidentally broke the compilation of Perl extensions written in C++
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=head1 New or Changed Diagnostics
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The fatal error "DESTROY created new reference to dead object" is now
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documented in L<perldiag>.
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=head1 Changed Internals
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The hash code has been refactored to reduce source duplication. The
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external interface is unchanged, and aside from the bug fixes described
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above, there should be no change in behaviour.
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C<hv_clear_placeholders> is now part of the perl API
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Some C macros have been tidied. In particular macros which create temporary
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local variables now name these variables more defensively, which should
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avoid bugs where names clash.
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<signal.h> is now always included.
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=head1 Configuration and Building
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C<Configure> now invokes callbacks regardless of the value of the variable
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they are called for. Previously callbacks were only invoked in the
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C<case $variable $define)> branch. This change should only affect platform
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maintainers writing configuration hints files.
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=head1 Platform Specific Problems
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The regression test ext/threads/shared/t/wait.t fails on early RedHat 9
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and HP-UX 10.20 due to bugs in their threading implementations.
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RedHat users should see https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2003-136.html
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and consider upgrading their glibc.
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=head1 Known Problems
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Detached threads aren't supported on Windows yet, as they may lead to
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memory access violation problems.
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There is a known race condition opening scripts in C<suidperl>. C<suidperl>
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is neither built nor installed by default, and has been deprecated since
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perl 5.8.0. You are advised to replace use of suidperl with tools such
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as sudo ( http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/ )
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We have a backlog of unresolved bugs. Dealing with bugs and bug reports
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is unglamorous work; not something ideally suited to volunteer labour,
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but that is all that we have.
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The perl5 development team are implementing changes to help address this
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problem, which should go live in early 2004.
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=head1 Future Directions
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Code freeze for the next maintenance release (5.8.4) is on March 31st 2004,
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with release expected by mid April. Similarly 5.8.5's freeze will be at
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the end of June, with release by mid July.
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=head1 Obituary
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Iain 'Spoon' Truskett, Perl hacker, author of L<perlreref> and
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contributor to CPAN, died suddenly on 29th December 2003, aged 24.
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He will be missed.
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=head1 Reporting Bugs
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If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles
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recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl
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bug database at http://bugs.perl.org. There may also be
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information at http://www.perl.org, the Perl Home Page.
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If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug>
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program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down
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to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the
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output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be
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analysed by the Perl porting team. You can browse and search
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the Perl 5 bugs at http://bugs.perl.org/
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=head1 SEE ALSO
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The F<Changes> file for exhaustive details on what changed.
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The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.
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The F<README> file for general stuff.
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The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.
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=cut
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