deprecate bytes.pm

1 files changed, 13 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/lib/bytes.pm b/lib/bytes.pm
index b7fabbf359..31294cb9b2 100644
--- a/lib/bytes.pm
+++ b/lib/bytes.pm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package bytes;
 
-our $VERSION = '1.03';
+our $VERSION = '1.04';
 
 $bytes::hint_bits = 0x00000008;
 
@@ -33,6 +33,18 @@ __END__
 
 bytes - Perl pragma to force byte semantics rather than character semantics
 
+=head1 DEPRECATED
+
+This pragma reflects early attempts to incorporate Unicode into perl and
+has since been superceded. It breaks encapulation (i.e. it exposes the
+innards of how perl happens to be currently storing a string), and use of
+this module for anything other than debugging purposes is strongly
+discouraged. If you feel that the functions here within might be useful
+for your application, this possibly indicates a mismatch beteen your
+mental model of Perl Unicode and the current reality. In that case, you
+wish to peruse some of the perl Unicode documentation: L<perluniintro>,
+L<perlunitut>, L<perlunifaq> and L<perlunicode>.
+
 =head1 SYNOPSIS
 
     use bytes;