=head1 Security Vulnerability Closed
A potential security vulnerability in the optional suidperl component
-of Perl has been identified. The suidperl is neither built nor
-installed by default. As of August the 20th, 2000, the only known
-vulnerable platform is Linux, most likely all Linux distributions.
-The CERT and various vendors have been alerted about the vulnerability.
+of Perl has been identified. suidperl is neither built nor installed
+by default. As of August the 20th, 2000, the only known vulnerable
+platform is Linux, most likely all Linux distributions. CERT and
+various vendors have been alerted about the vulnerability.
The problem was caused by Perl trying to report a suspected security
-exploit attempt using an external program, /bin/mail. In Linux
+exploit attempt using an external program, /bin/mail. On Linux
platforms the /bin/mail program had an undocumented feature which gave
-access to a root shell, resulting in a serious compromise, instead of
-reporting the exploit attempt. If you don't have /bin/mail or if you
-have 'safe suid scripts' or if you haven't installed the suidperl, you
+access to a root shell, resulting in a serious compromise instead of
+reporting the exploit attempt. If you don't have /bin/mail, or if you
+have 'safe setuid scripts', or if suidperl is not installed, you
are safe.
The exploit attempt reporting feature has been completely removed from
the Perl 5.7.0 release, so that particular vulnerability isn't there
-anymore. However, further security vulnerabilities are,
-unfortunately, always possible. The suidperl code is being reviewed
-and if deemed too risky to continue being supported, in the extreme
-case it may be completely removed in future releases. In any case,
-suidperl should only be used by security experts who know exactly what
-they are doing and why they are using suidperl instead of some other solution.
-A good tool for similar needs is sudo: http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/
+anymore. However, further security vulnerabilities are, unfortunately,
+always possible. The suidperl code is being reviewed and if deemed too
+risky to continue to support it may be completely removed from future
+releases. In any case, suidperl should only be used by security
+experts who know exactly what they are doing and why they are using
+suidperl instead of some other solution such as sudo (see
+http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/).
=head1 Incompatible Changes
-=head2 Arrays Now Always Interpolate Into Double-Quoted Strings
+=over 4
+
+=item *
-Constructs like "foo@bar" now always assume the C<@bar> to be an array,
-regardless of whether it is known that C<@bar> is an array.
+Arrays now always interpolate into double-quoted strings:
+constructs like "foo@bar" now always assume C<@bar> is an array,
+whether or not the compiler has seen use of C<@bar>.
-=head2 bless(REF, REF) is now a fatal error
+=item *
The semantics of bless(REF, REF) were unclear and until someone proves
it to make some sense, it is forbidden.
-=head2 The eg/* Directory Removed
+=item *
The very dusty examples in the eg/ directory have been removed.
Suggestions for new shiny examples welcome but the main issue is that
-the examples need to be documented, tested, and--most importantly--maintained.
+the examples need to be documented, tested and (most importantly)
+maintained.
-=head2 The lib/chat2.pl
+=item *
The obsolete chat2 library that should never have been allowed
to escape the laboratory has been decommissioned.
-=head2 Unimplemented (But Recognised) POSIX Regex Features Now Fatal
+=item *
The unimplemented POSIX regex features [[.cc.]] and [[=c=]] are still
recognised but now cause fatal errors. The previous behaviour of
ignoring them by default and warning if requested was unacceptable
since it, in a way, falsely promised that the features could be used.
-=head2 lstat(FILEHANDLE) now warns
+=item *
lstat(FILEHANDLE) now gives a warning because the operation makes no sense.
In future releases this may become a fatal error.
-=head2 Obsolete String Comparison Operators Removed
+=item *
-The long since deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison
+The long deprecated uppercase aliases for the string comparison
operators (EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE, GT) have now been removed.
-=head2 The Regular Expression Submatches Are Now Unset When Backtracking
+=item *
The regular expression captured submatches ($1, $2, ...) are now
-consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false
+more consistently unset if the match fails, instead of leaving false
data lying around in them.
-=head2 tr///CU Removed, Not To Return
+=item *
The tr///C and tr///U features have been removed and will not return;
the interface was a mistake. Sorry about that. For similar
functionality, see pack('U0', ...) and pack('C0', ...).
+=back
+
=head1 Core Enhancements
=over 4
=item *
-no Module; now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module.
+C<no Module;> now works even if there is no "sub unimport" in the Module.
=item *
=item *
-File::Temp, version 0.10, allows one to create temporary files
-and directories in an easy, portable, and secure way.
+File::Temp allows one to create temporary files and directories in an
+easy, portable, and secure way.
=item *
-The Storable extension, version 0.7.2, released the 14th of August
-2000, has been added to the Perl distribution. Storable gives
-persistence to Perl data structures by allowing the storage and
-retrieval of Perl data to and from files in a fast and compact binary
-format.
+Storable gives persistence to Perl data structures by allowing the
+storage and retrieval of Perl data to and from files in a fast and
+compact binary format.
=back
=item *
-The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments.
+The following independently supported modules have been updated to
+newer versions from CPAN: CGI, CPAN, DB_File, File::Spec, Getopt::Long,
+the podlators bundle, Pod::LaTeX, Pod::Parser, Term::ANSIColor, Test.
=item *
-AutoLoader can now be `stopped' by
-
- no AutoLoader;
-
-=item *
-
-B::Deparse now understands sub attributes.
-
-=item *
-
-Data::Dumper now works on negative number on 32-bit platforms where IV
-(the Perl's integer datatype) is greater than 32 bits. Also, large
-unsigned numbers are now dumped as such, not as large negative numbers.
+Bug fixes and minor enhancements have been applied to B::Deparse,
+Data::Dumper, IO::Poll, IO::Socket::INET, Math::BigFloat, Math::Complex,
+re, SelfLoader, Sys::SysLog, Test::Harness, Text::Wrap, UNIVERSAL.
=item *
-CGI has been updated to version 2.72, released
-the 20th of August 2000.
-
-=item *
-
-CPAN has been updated to version 1.57, released
-the 16th of August 2000.
+The attributes::reftype() now works on tied arguments.
=item *
-DB_File has been updated to version 1.73, released the
-27th of April 2000.
+AutoLoader can now be disabled with C<no AutoLoader;>,
=item *
=item *
-File::Find now has pre- and postprocessing callbacks.
-It also correctly changes directories when chasing symbolic links.
-Callbacks doing (naughtily) "next;" instead of "return;" now work.
+File::Find now has pre- and post-processing callbacks. It also
+correctly changes directories when chasing symbolic links. Callbacks
+(naughtily) exiting with "next;" instead of "return;" now work.
=item *
=item *
-File::Spec has been updated to version 0.82, released the
-1st of July 2000.
+IPC::Open3 now allows the use of numeric file descriptors.
=item *
-Getopt::Long has been updated to version 2.23_05, released the 2nd of
-August 2000.
+use lib now works identically to @INC. Removing directories
+with 'no lib' now works.
=item *
-IO::Poll has been thoroughly fixed.
+C<%INC> now localised in a Safe compartment so that use/require work.
=item *
-IO::Socket::INET now works when given an unknown service name with
-a port number.
-
-=item *
+The Shell module now has an OO interface.
-IPC::Open3 now allows the use of numeric file descriptors.
+=back
-=item *
+=head1 Utility Changes
-use lib now works identically to @INC. Removing directories
-with 'no lib' now works.
+=over 4
=item *
-Math::BigFloat now more robust (fewer "uninitialized" warnings).
+The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version 4.31.
=item *
-Math::Complex now handles extreme values (e.g. cplx(1E20, 1E30)) more
-gracefully.
+The long-dormant perl bytecompiler has been added to the list of
+installed utilities since the bytecompiler backend has been improved.
+The bytecompiler is still very much experimental, though.
=item *
-The podlators bundle has been updated to version 1.02, released the
-25th of April 2000. It contains the modules Pod::Man 1.04, Pod::Text
-2.04, and modules Pod::Text::Color and Pod::Text::Termcap (no version
-numbers).
+Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to perl.org,
+not perl.com.
=item *
-Pod::LaTeX has been updated to version 0.52, released the 15th of May
-2000. Note that this is a complete rewrite which translates pod much
-better, has many more options and much better documentation. It also
-now uses the Pod::Parser backend, meaning that Pod::LaTeX will stay
-abreast other pod translators.
+The perlcc utility has been rewritten and its user interface (that is,
+command line) is much more like that of the UNIX C compiler, cc.
=item *
-Pod::Parser has been updated to version 1.17, released the 25th of
-July 2000. It contains the modules Pod::Checker 1.20, Pod::Find 0.21,
-Pod::InputObjects 1.13, Pod::ParseUtils 0.22, Pod::Parser 1.12,
-Pod::Select 1.13, and Pod::Usage 1.13.
-
-=item *
+The xsubpp utility for extension writers now understands POD
+documentation embedded in the *.xs files.
-The 'debug' subpragma the 're' pragma now produces cleaner output.
+=back
-=item *
+=head1 New Documentation
-C<%INC> now localised in a Safe compartment so that use/require work.
+=over 4
=item *
-SelfLoader no longer loses C<$@> in AUTOLOAD.
+perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the
+5.6.0 release.
=item *
-The Shell module now has an OO interface.
+perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
=item *
-Sys::Syslog now works on domain sockets. Also, a forked child
-now exits correctly if it fails to open /dev/console.
+perlebcdic contains considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms.
+Note that unfortunately EBCDIC platforms that used to supported back in
+Perl 5.005 are still unsupported by Perl 5.7.0; the plan, however, is to
+bring them back to the fold.
=item *
-Term::ANSIColor has been updated to version 1.03, released the 6th of
-August 2000.
+perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
=item *
-The Test module has been updated to version 1.14, released the 21st of June
-1999. This is for all practical purposes identical to the previous release
-of Test included with the Perl distribution, 1.13, but upgrading the module
-stops the CPAN module from suggesting an upgrade.
+perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform
+(a mainframe platform).
=item *
-Test::Harness output now prettier on failed test.
+perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
=item *
-Text::Wrap::wtbrap now handles multiline strings properly.
+perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide.
+Yes, much quicker than perlretut.
=item *
-UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly.
+perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
+distribution.
=back
-=head1 Utility Changes
-
-=head2 cperl-mode version 4.31
-
-The Emacs perl mode (emacs/cperl-mode.el) has been updated to version 4.31.
-
-=head2 perlbc "activated"
-
-The long-dormant perl bytecompiler has been added to the list of
-installed utilities since the bytecompiler backend has been improved.
-The bytecompiler is still very much experimental, though.
-
-=head2 perlbug
-
-Perlbug is now much more robust. It also sends the bug report to perl.org,
-not perl.com.
-
-=head2 perlcc now more cc-like and more robust
-
-The perlcc utility has been rewritten and its user interface (that is,
-command line) is much more like that of the UNIX C compiler, cc.
+=head1 Performance Enhancements
-=head2 xsubpp now understands embedded pod
+map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster.
-The xsubpp utility for extension writers now understands POD
-documentation embedded in the *.xs files.
+=head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
-=head1 Improved Documentation
+=head2 Generic Improvements
=over 4
=item *
-In many places say "alphanumeric characters" instead of "word
-characters" because that was what was meant.
+INSTALL now explains how you can configure perl to use 64-bit
+integers even on non-64-bit platforms.
=item *
-Eradicate "array context" from the documentation and diagnostics.
+Policy.sh policy change: if you are reusing a Policy.sh file (see
+INSTALL) and you use Configure -Dprefix=/foo/bar and in the old
+Policy $prefix eq $siteprefix and $prefix eq $vendorprefix, all of
+them will now be changed to the new prefix, /foo/bar. (Previously
+only $prefix changed.) If you do not like this new behaviour,
+specify prefix, siteprefix, and vendorprefix explicitly.
=item *
-The return values of failing backticks (`, qx{}) are now documented
-in perlop.
+A new optional location for Perl libraries, otherlibdirs, is available.
+It can be used for example for vendor add-ons without disturbing Perl's
+own library directories.
=item *
-caller() return values now better documented.
+In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to
+build Perl (basically, 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems
+to be the case and 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler
+'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead.
=item *
-SDBM_File, NDBM_File, ODBM_File, now tell about tying instead of
-glossing over.
+gcc needs to closely track the operating system release to avoid
+build problems. If Configure finds that gcc was built for a different
+operating system release than is running, it now gives a clearly visible
+warning that there may be trouble ahead.
=item *
-Document that the C<$(> special variable does not interpolate
-in regular expressions.
+If binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is not wanted, Configure
+no longer suggests including the 5.005 modules in @INC.
=item *
-The timeout unit of IO::Select is now documented to be identical
-to the timeout unit of the 4-arg select(), that is, (optionally
-fractional) seconds, or an undef to wait indefinitely.
+Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively.
=item *
-Document the C<D> and C<d> magic types.
+configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them.
=item *
-The ordering of PODs in perl.pod is now more sensible.
+installperl now outputs everything to STDERR.
=item *
-perlbook now only mentions the Camel III; all other book references
-have been moved to perlfaq2; some good known books added.
-
-=item *
+$Config{byteorder} is now computed dynamically (this is more robust
+with "fat binaries" where an executable image contains binaries for
+more than one binary platform.)
-Numerous missing warning/error messages added to perldiag.
+=back
-=item *
+=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
-Changed the description of perl6 in perlfaq1.
+=over 4
=item *
-perlhack much extended.
+Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code,
+condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks
+line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now
+goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set.
=item *
-perltrap cleaned up.
+C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works.
=item *
-Add perlxstut example for passing/returning refs to arrays.
+Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes.
=item *
-POSIX module documentation embellished.
+Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works.
=item *
-Clarified the status of shadow password support.
+Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "".
=item *
-Reminded that preprocessors and source filters can alter
-your code before Perl sees it and therefore debugging
-can be somewhat surprising. ("I didn't write *that*!")
+Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to
+return 27406, instead of 27047).
=item *
-Removed incorrect documentation about implicit split to @_
-in list context, which never really worked in Perl 5 anyway.
+Some "not a number" warnings introduced in 5.6.0 eliminated to be
+more compatible with 5.005. Infinity is now recognised as a number.
=item *
-Explain that split /^/ is split /^/m.
+our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings.
=item *
-Added many more sprintf() examples in perlfunc.
+pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with "\0".
=item *
-Documented the handling of negative indices to tied arrays.
+Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms
+(e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry.
=item *
-The C<$yday> in localtime()/gmtime() is 0..364, not 1..365.
+printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C".
=item *
-Documented that tr() is not tr(1): that is, do not expect regular expressions.
+C<q(a\\b)> now parses correctly as C<'a\\b'>.
=item *
-Warn about the vagaries of UDP.
+Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf now works
+without q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform).
=item *
-The "uninitialized variable" warnings now say "concat or string" or
-"join or string" instead of just "concat" or "join" since many users
-found the "concat" a bit surprising when they were doing "just"
-variable interpolation.
+Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
=item *
-Documented that the values() are aliases, not copies.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 New Documentation
-
-=over 4
+scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context.
=item *
-
-perl56delta details the changes between the 5.005 release and the
-5.6.0 release.
+
+sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context
+(they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself).
=item *
-perldebtut is a Perl debugging tutorial.
+Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very
+rare) vertical tab character. Added a new POSIX-ish character class
+C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently,
+the space and the tab).
=item *
-perlebcdic contains considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms.
-Note that unfortunately EBCDIC platforms that used to supported back in
-Perl 5.005 are still unsupported by Perl 5.7.0; the plan, however, is to
-bring them back to the fold.
+$AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses
+in multiple threads simultaneously are now thread-safe.
=item *
-perlnewmod tells about writing and submitting a new module.
+Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///.
=item *
-perlposix-bc explains using Perl on the POSIX-BC platform
-(a mainframe platform).
-
-=item *
+Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect).
-perlretut is a regular expression tutorial.
+=over 8
=item *
-perlrequick is a regular expressions quick-start guide.
-Yes, much quicker than perlretut.
+BOMs (byte order marks) in the beginning of Perl files
+(scripts, modules) should now be transparently skipped.
+UTF16 encoded Perl files should now be read correctly.
=item *
-perlutil explains the command line utilities packaged with the Perl
-distribution.
-
-=back
-
-=head1 Performance Enhancements
-
-map() that changes the size of the list should now work faster.
-
-=head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements
-
-=head2 INSTALL now explains 64-bit configuration.
-
-In some platforms Perl can be configured to use 64-bit integers,
-allowing 4 billion times better... sorry, switched accidentally
-to marketdroid mode for a moment in there. (In platforms which
-are natively 64-bit this makes no difference.)
-
-=head2 Policy.sh policy change
-
-If you are reusing a Policy.sh file (see INSTALL) and you use
-Configure -Dprefix=/foo/bar and in the old Policy $prefix eq
-$siteprefix and $prefix eq $vendorprefix, all of them will now be
-changed to the new prefix, /foo/bar. (Previously only $prefix
-changed.) If you do not like this new behaviour, specify prefix,
-siteprefix, and vendorprefix explicitly.
-
-=head2 Additional Library Locations
-
-A new optional location for Perl libraries, otherlibdirs, is available.
-It can be used for example for vendor add-ons without disturbing Perl's
-own library directories.
-
-=head2 gcc automatically tried if 'cc' does not seem to be working
-
-In many platforms the vendor-supplied 'cc' is too stripped-down to
-build Perl (basically, the 'cc' doesn't do ANSI C). If this seems
-to be the case and the 'cc' does not seem to be the GNU C compiler
-'gcc', an automatic attempt is made to find and use 'gcc' instead.
-
-=head2 If gcc seems to be from a different operating system release ...
-
-gcc needs to closely track the operating system release because gcc
-wants to have its own versions of the operating system header files
-fixed to be clean enough for gcc's tastes. Therefore using a gcc
-compiled for a different release of the operating system is often a
-bad idea. If Configure can find out the operating system release that
-was used to compile the gcc and that release is different from the one
-being used now, gcc gives a clearly visible warning that trouble may
-lie ahead.
+The character tables have been updated to new Unicode 3.0 features.
-=head2 If no binary compatibility with 5.005 wanted, no 5.005 modules, either
+=item *
-If no binary compatibility with the 5.005 release is wanted, Configure
-does not suggest including the 5.005 modules in the @INC.
+chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use
+utf8.
-=head2 Configuration and Installation Fixes
+=item *
-=over 4
+Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into
+utf8.
=item *
-Configure C<-S> can now run non-interactively
+C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase.
=item *
-configure.gnu now works with options with whitespace in them
+Concatenation with the C<.> operator or via variable interpolation,
+C<eq>, C<substr>, C<reverse>, C<quotemeta>, the C<x> operator,
+substitution with C<s///>, single-quoted UTF8, should now work--in
+theory.
=item *
-installperl now outputs everything to STDERR
+The C<tr///> operator now works I<slightly> better but is still rather
+broken. Note that the C<tr///CU> functionality has been removed (but
+see pack('U0', ...)).
=item *
-$Config{byteorder} is now computed dynamically (this is more robust
-with "fat binaries" where an executable image contains binaries for
-more than one binary platform.)
+Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>.
=back
-=head1 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
-
-=head2 BSDI 4.*
-
-Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes.
+=item *
-=head2 All BSDs
+UNIVERSAL::isa no longer caches methods incorrectly. (This broke
+the Tk extension with 5.6.0.)
-Setting the C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details).
+=back
-=head2 Cygwin
+=head2 Platform Specific Changes and Fixes
=over 4
=item *
-Numerous updates; currently synchronised with Cygwin 1.1.4.
+BSDI 4.*
-=back
+Perl now works on post-4.0 BSD/OSes.
-=head2 EPOC
+=item *
-EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. The EPOC port home page is at
-http://members.linuxstart.com/~oflebbe/perl/perl5.html
+All BSDs
-=head2 FreeBSD 3.*
+Setting C<$0> now works (as much as possible; see perlvar for details).
-Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs.
+=item *
-=head2 HP-UX
+Cygwin
-=over 4
+Numerous updates; currently synchronised with Cygwin 1.1.4.
=item *
-Document that the C<perl -P> causes problems if one uses C<s/foo//>
-(because the HP C compiler does funny things to that // thinking it
-to be C++), document also the workaround.
+EPOC
-=item *
+EPOC update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.epoc.
-C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works (one failing test).
-
-=back
+=item *
-=head2 IRIX
+FreeBSD 3.*
-=over 4
+Perl now works on post-3.0 FreeBSDs.
=item *
-Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements.
-
-=item *
+HP-UX
-Accidental mixing of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt)
-made much harder.
+README.hpux updated; C<Configure -Duse64bitall> now almost works.
-=back
+=item *
-=head2 Linux
+IRIX
-=over 4
+Numerous compilation flag and hint enhancements; accidental mixing
+of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries (a doomed attempt) made much harder.
=item *
-Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL).
-
-=back
-
-=head2 MacOS Classic
+Linux
-=over 4
+Long doubles should now work (see INSTALL).
=item *
+MacOS Classic
+
Compilation of the standard Perl distribution in MacOS Classic should
-now work--assuming you have the Metrowerks development environment and
-the missing Mac-specific toolkit bits, contact the macperl mailing
+now work if you have the Metrowerks development environment and
+the missing Mac-specific toolkit bits. Contact the macperl mailing
list for details.
-=back
-
-=head2 MPE/iX
+=item *
-MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. The Perl/iX home page is at
-http://www.bixby.org/mark/perlix.html
+MPE/iX
-=head2 NetBSD/sparc
+MPE/iX update after Perl 5.6.0. See README.mpeix.
-Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc.
+=item *
-=head2 OS/2
+NetBSD/sparc
-=over 4
+Perl now works on NetBSD/sparc.
=item *
-Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL).
-
-=back
+OS/2
-=head2 Solaris
-
-=over 4
+Now works with usethreads (see INSTALL).
=item *
-64-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works.
-
-=back
+Solaris
-=head2 Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1)
-
-=over 4
+64-bitness using the Sun Workshop compiler now works.
=item *
+Tru64 (aka Digital UNIX, aka DEC OSF/1)
+
+The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}.
Allow compiling with gcc (previously explicitly forbidden). Compiling
with gcc still not recommended because buggy code results, even with
gcc 2.95.2.
=item *
-The operating system version letter now recorded in $Config{osvers}.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Unicos
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
+Unicos
Fixed various alignment problems that lead into core dumps either
-during build or later.
-
-=item *
-
-no longer dying on math errors in runtime.
-
-=item *
-
-Now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using
+during build or later; no longer dies on math errors at runtime;
+now using full quad integers (64 bits), previously was using
only 46 bit integers for speed.
-=back
-
-=head2 VMS
-
-=over 4
-
=item *
-chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug.
-
-=item *
+VMS
-Now works with MULTIPLICITY (see INSTALL).
+chdir() now works better despite a CRT bug; now works with MULTIPLICITY
+(see INSTALL); now works with Perl's malloc.
=item *
-Now works with Perl's malloc.
+Windows
-=back
-
-=head2 Windows
-
-=over 4
+=over 8
=item *
=back
-=head1 Selected Bug Fixes
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-Several debugger fixes: exit code now reflects the script exit code,
-condition C<"0"> now treated correctly, the C<d> command now checks
-line number, the C<$.> no longer gets corrupted, all debugger output now
-goes correctly to the socket if RemotePort is set.
-
-=item *
-
-C<*foo{FORMAT}> now works.
-
-=item *
-
-Lexical warnings now propagating correctly between scopes.
-
-=item *
-
-Line renumbering with eval and C<#line> now works.
-
-=item *
-
-Module name now mandatory after the C<-M> switch.
-
-=item *
-
-Fixed numerous memory leaks, especially in eval "".
-
-=item *
-
-Modulus of unsigned numbers now works (4063328477 % 65535 used to
-return 27406, instead of 27047).
-
-=item *
-
-Some "not a number" warnings introduced in 5.6.0 eliminated to be
-more compatible with 5.005. Infinity is now recognised as a number.
-
-=item *
-
-our() variables will not cause "will not stay shared" warnings
-
-=item *
-
-pack "Z" now correctly terminates the string with an "\0".
-
-=item *
-
-Fix password routines which in some shadow password platforms
-(e.g. HP-UX) caused getpwent() to return every other entry.
-
-=item *
-
-printf() no longer resets the numeric locale to "C".
-
-=item *
-
-C<q(a\\b)> now parses correctly as C<'a\\b'>.
-
-=item *
-
-Printing quads (64-bit integers) with printf/sprintf works now
-without q L ll prefixes (assuming you are on a quad-capable platform).
-
-=item *
-
-Regular expressions on references and overloaded scalars now work.
-
-=item *
-
-scalar() now forces scalar context even when used in void context.
-
-=item *
-
-sort() arguments are now compiled in the right wantarray context
-(they were accidentally using the context of the sort() itself).
-
-=item *
-
-Changed the POSIX character class C<[[:space:]]> to include the (very
-rare) vertical tabulator character. Added a new POSIX-ish character
-class C<[[:blank:]]> which stands for horizontal whitespace (currently,
-the space and the tabulator).
-
-=item *
-
-$AUTOLOAD, sort(), lock(), and spawning subprocesses
-in multiple thread simultaneously are now thread-safe.
-
-=item *
-
-Allow read-only string on left hand side of non-modifying tr///.
-
-=item *
-
-Several Unicode fixes (but still not perfect).
-
-BOMs (byte order marks) in the beginning of Perl files
-(scripts, modules) should now be transparently skipped.
-UTF16 encoded Perl files should now be read correctly.
-
-The character tables have been updated to new Unicode 3.0 features.
-
-chr() for values greater than 127 now create utf8 when under use
-utf8.
-
-Comparing with utf8 data does not magically upgrade non-utf8 data into
-utf8.
-
-C<IsAlnum>, C<IsAlpha>, and C<IsWord> now match titlecase.
-
-Concatenation with the C<.> operator or via variable interpolation,
-C<eq>, C<substr>, C<reverse>, C<quotemeta>, the C<x> operator,
-substitution with C<s///>, single-quoted UTF8, should now work--in
-theory.
-
-The C<tr///> operator now works I<slightly> better but is still rather
-broken. Note that the C<tr///CU> functionality has been removed (but
-see pack('U0', ...)).
-
-Zero entries were missing from the Unicode classes like C<IsDigit>.
-
-=back
-
=head1 New or Changed Diagnostics
All regular expression compilation error messages are now hopefully
drop the C<main::> prefix for filehandles in the C<main> package,
for example C<STDIN> instead of <main::STDIN>.
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-(perhaps you forgot to load "%s"?)
-
-(F) This is an educated guess made in conjunction with the message
-"Can't locate object method \"%s\" via package \"%s\"". It often means
-that a method requires a package that has not been loaded.
-
-=item *
-
-Ambiguous range in transliteration operator
-
-(F) You wrote something like C<tr/a-z-0//> which doesn't mean anything at
-all. To include a C<-> character in a transliteration, put it either
-first or last. (In the past, C<tr/a-z-0//> was synonymous with
-C<tr/a-y//>, which was probably not what you would have expected.)
-
-=item *
-
The "Unrecognized escape" warning has been extended to include C<\8>,
C<\9>, and C<\_>. There is no need to escape any of the C<\w> characters.
-=back
-
=head1 Changed Internals
-=head2 apidoc
+=over 4
+
+=item *
perlapi.pod (a companion to perlguts) now attempts to document the
internal API.
-=head2 microperl
+=item *
-There is now a way to build a really minimal perl called microperl.
+You can now build a really minimal perl called microperl.
Building microperl does not require even running Configure;
C<make -f Makefile.micro> should be enough. Beware: microperl makes
many assumptions, some of which may be too bold; the resulting
executable may crash or otherwise misbehave in wondrous ways. For
careful hackers only.
-=head2 Publicise More Functions
+=item *
Added rsignal(), whichsig(), do_join() to the publicised API.
-=head2 Propagating Exception Objects via Perl_croak() IN XS code
+=item *
Made possible to propagate customised exceptions via croak()ing.
-=head2 UTF8 Interfaces
+=item *
Added is_utf8_char(), is_utf8_string(), bytes_to_utf8(), and utf8_to_bytes().
-=head2 xsub attributes
+=item *
Now xsubs can have attributes just like subs.
+=back
+
=head1 Known Problems
=head2 Unicode Support Still Far From Perfect
=head2 Building Extensions Can Fail Because Of Largefiles
Certain extensions like mod_perl and BSD::Resource are known to have
-issues with `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in where file
-offsets are by default 64 bits wide (assuming the platform supports
-such large files). Modules may fail to compile at all or compile and
-work incorrectly. Currently there is no good solution for the problem
-but Configure now stores the flags and libraries that affect the
-largefileness to the %Config hash, the extensions that are having
+issues with `largefiles', a change brought by Perl 5.6.0 in which file
+offsets default to 64 bits wide where supported. Modules may fail to
+compile at all or compile and work incorrectly. Currently there is no
+good solution for the problem, but Configure now stores the relevant
+flags and libraries in the %Config hash so the extensions that are having
problems can try configuring themselves without the largefileness.
This is admittedly not a clean solution.
-=head1 Obsolete Diagnostics
-
=over 4
=item In string, @%s now must be written as \@%s
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