=encoding utf8

=head1 NAME

perl5196delta - what is new for perl v5.19.6

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document describes differences between the 5.19.5 release and the 5.19.6
release.

If you are upgrading from an earlier release such as 5.19.4, first read
L<perl5195delta>, which describes differences between 5.19.4 and 5.19.5.

=head1 Core Enhancements

=head2 $a and $b warnings exemption

The special variables $a and $b, used in C<sort>, are now exempt from "used
once" warnings, even where C<sort> is not used.  This makes it easier for
CPAN modules to provide functions using $a and $b for similar purposes.
[perl #120462]

=head1 Deprecations

=head2 Module removals

The following modules will be removed from the core distribution in a
future release, and will at that time need to be installed from CPAN.
Distributions on CPAN which require these modules will need to list them as
prerequisites.

The core versions of these modules will now issue C<"deprecated">-category
warnings to alert you to this fact.  To silence these deprecation warnings,
install the modules in question from CPAN.

Note that these are (with rare exceptions) fine modules that you are encouraged
to continue to use.  Their disinclusion from core primarily hinges on their
necessity to bootstrapping a fully functional, CPAN-capable Perl installation,
not usually on concerns over their design.

=over

=item L<Package::Constants>

=back

=head1 Performance Enhancements

=over 4

=item *

Constant hash key lookups (C<$hash{key}> as opposed to C<$hash{$key}>) have
long had the internal hash value computed at compile time, to speed up
lookup.  This optimisation has only now been applied to hash slices as
well.

=item *

Combined C<and> and C<or> operators in void context, like those
generated for C<< unless ($a && $b) >> and C<< if ($a || b) >> now
short circuit directly to the end of the statement. [perl #120128]

=back

=head1 Modules and Pragmata

=head2 Updated Modules and Pragmata

=over 4

=item *

L<Archive::Tar> has been upgraded from version 1.92 to 1.96.

=item *

L<AutoLoader> has been upgraded from version 5.73 to 5.74.

=item *

L<B> has been upgraded from version 1.46 to 1.47.

C<< B::PMOP->precomp >> now preserves the internal UTF8 flag correctly, so
chr 256 remains chr 256, instead of turning into "\xc4\x80".  This allows
L<B::Deparse> to deparse Unicode regular expression correctly.
[perl #120182]

C<< B::HV->ARRAY >> now preserves the UTF8 flag on returned hash keys.
[perl #120535]

=item *

L<B::Concise> has been upgraded from version 0.99 to 0.991.

B<-debug> output now includes C<op_other> pointers.

=item *

L<B::Deparse> has been upgraded from version 1.23 to 1.24.

C<s//\(3)/e> is now deparsed in a way that does not issue warnings when
parsed again.  [perl #119807]

C<glob(my $x)> is now deparsed correctly, rather than as C<< <my $x> >> or
similar.

C<CORE::glob> is now deparsed correctly with the CORE:: prefix when there
is a subroutine named "glob".

=item *

L<B::Debug> has been upgraded from version 1.18 to 1.19.

=item *

L<bignum> has been upgraded from version 0.36 to 0.37.

=item *

L<Compress::Raw::Bzip2> has been upgraded from version 2.062 to 2.063.

=item *

L<Compress::Raw::Zlib> has been upgraded from version 2.062 to 2.063.

=item *

L<constant> has been upgraded from version 1.28 to 1.29.

=item *

L<DB_File> has been upgraded from version 1.829 to 1.831.

=item *

L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker> has been upgraded from version 6.80 to 6.82.

=item *

L<HTTP::Tiny> has been upgraded from version 0.036 to 0.038.

=item *

L<IO> has been upgraded from version 1.29 to 1.30.

=item *

L<IO::Select> has been upgraded from version 1.21 to 1.22.

Removing a closed file handle from an IO::Select object now correctly
updates its internal state and returns the correct value.  [perl #75156]

=item *

L<Locale::Maketext> has been upgraded from version 1.24 to 1.25.

An issue with escaped backslashes if the literal is compiled as
function argument has been resolved.

=item *

L<IPC::Cmd> has been upgraded from version 0.84_01 to 0.90.

=item *

L<Module::Build> has been upgraded from version 0.4007 to 0.4202.

NOTE: L<Module::Build> is deprecated and may be removed from a future version of Perl.

=item *

L<Module::CoreList> has been upgraded from version 3.00 to 3.01.

The list of Perl versions covered has been updated.

=item *

L<Package::Constants> has been upgraded from version 0.02 to 0.04.

NOTE: L<Package::Constants> is deprecated and may be removed from a future version of Perl.

=item *

L<PerlIO::scalar> has been upgraded from version 0.17 to 0.18.

A bug fix in 0.17 caused references to be stringified as soon as a handle
to it was opened, even if it was opened only for reading.  It also croaked
on read-only references.  This has been fixed.  [perl #119529]

=item *

L<Socket> has been upgraded from version 2.012 to 2.013.

=item *

L<Term::Cap> has been upgraded from version 1.13 to 1.15.

=item *

L<Test::Harness> has been upgraded from version 3.29 to 3.30.

=item *

L<Test::Simple> has been upgraded from version 0.99 to 1.001002.

=item *

L<Tie::StdHandle> has been upgraded from version 4.3 to 4.4.

It no longer prints C<$\> twice.  [perl #120202]

It no longer ignores the offset passed to C<syswrite>.

=item *

L<threads> has been upgraded from version 1.89 to 1.90.

=item *

L<threads::shared> has been upgraded from version 1.44 to 1.45.

=item *

L<Unicode::Collate> has been upgraded from version 0.99 to 1.02.

=back

=head1 Documentation

=head2 Changes to Existing Documentation

=over 4

=item *

L<perlhacktips> has been updated to include some more examples of C<gdb> usage.

=item *

L<perlfunc>:

C<each>, clarify hash "modify while iterating".

C<pack>, the documentation for verbatim tables has been clarified.

=item *

L<perlre>, the documentation for C</x> and C<(?# comment)> has been expanded and clarified.

=item *

L<perllexwarn>, a note has been added to users of C<FATAL> warnings of the risk of upgrades.

=back

=head1 Diagnostics

=head2 Changes to Existing Diagnostics

=over 4

=item *

L<%%s[%s] in scalar context better written as $%s[%s]|perldiag/"%%s[%s] in scalar context better written as $%s[%s]">:

This warning now occurs for any C<%array[$index]> or C<%hash{key}> known to
be in scalar context at compile time.  Previously it was worded "Scalar
value %%s[%s] better written as $%s[%s]".

=item *

L<Switch condition not recognized in regex; marked by <-- HERE in mE<sol>%sE<sol>|perldiag/"Switch condition not recognized in regex; marked by <-- HERE in m/%s/">:

The description for this diagnostic has been extended to cover all cases where the warning may occur.
Issues with the positioning of the arrow indicator have also been resolved.

=back

=head1 Testing

=over 4

=item *

F<ext/File-Find/t/find.t> has been converted from manual C<print>
statements to Test::More functions.  Each test now has a description.
[perl #120503]

=back

=head1 Platform Support

=head2 New Platforms

=over 4

=item Synology

Synology ships its NAS boxes with a lean Linux distribution (DSM) on relative
cheap CPU's (like the Marvell Kirkwood mv6282 - ARMv5tel or Freescale QorIQ
P1022 ppc - e500v2) not meant for workstations or development. These boxes
should build now. The basic problems are the non-standard location for tools.

=back

=head2 Platform-Specific Notes

=over 4

=item Windows

Support for building with Visual C++ 2013 has been added.  There are currently
two possible test failures (see L<perlwin32/"Testing Perl on Windows">) which
will hopefully be resolved soon.

Experimental support for building with Intel C++ Compiler has been added. Only
the nmake makefile (win32/Makefile) can be used. A "nmake test" will not pass
at this time due to "cpan/CGI/t/url.t".

=item WinCE

Perl can now be built in one shot with no user intervention on WinCE by running
C<nmake -f Makefile.ce all>.

Support for building with EVC (Embedded Visual C++) 4 has been restored.  Perl
can also be built using Smart Devices for Visual C++ 2005 or 2008.

=back

=head1 Internal Changes

=over 4

=item *

Compiling with C<-Accflags=-PERL_BOOL_AS_CHAR> now allows C99 and C++
compilers to emulate the aliasing of C<bool> to C<char> that perl does for
C89 compilers.  [perl #120314]

=back

=head1 Selected Bug Fixes

=over 4

=item *

Perl 5.18.0 accidentally disallowed C<-bareword> under C<use strict> and
C<use integer>.  This has been fixed.  [perl #120288]

=item *

C<-a> at the start of a line (or a hyphen with any single letter that is
not a filetest operator) no longer produces an erroneous 'Use of "-a"
without parentheses is ambiguous' warning.  [perl #120288]

=item *

Lvalue context is now properly propagated into bare blocks and C<if> and
C<else> blocks in lvalue subroutines.  Previously, arrays and hashes would
sometimes incorrectly be flattened when returned in lvalue list context, or
"Bizarre copy" errors could occur.  [perl #119797]

=item *

Lvalue context is now propagated to the branches of C<||> and C<&&> (and
their alphabetic equivalents, C<or> and C<and>).  This means
C<foreach (pos $x || pos $y) {...}> now allows C<pos> to be modified
through $_.

=item *

C<*DB::DB = sub {} if 0> no longer stops Perl's debugging mode from finding
C<DB::DB> subs declared thereafter.

=item *

C<stat> and C<readline> remember the last handle used; the former
for the special C<_> filehandle, the latter for C<${^LAST_FH}>.
C<eval "*foo if 0"> where *foo was the last handle passed to C<stat>
or C<readline> could cause that handle to be forgotten if the
handle were not opened yet.  This has been fixed.

=item *

Various cases of C<delete $::{a}>, C<delete $::{ENV}> etc. causing a crash
have been fixed.  [perl #54044]

=item *

Assigning another typeglob to C<*^R> no longer makes the regular expression
engine crash.

=item *

C<%{'_<...'}> hashes now set breakpoints on the corresponding C<@{'_<...'}>
rather than whichever array C<@DB::dbline> is aliased to.  [perl #119799]

=item *

Setting C<$!> to EACCESS before calling C<require> could affect
C<require>'s behaviour.  This has been fixed.

=item *

The "Can't use \1 to mean $1 in expression" warning message now only occurs
on the right-hand (replacement) part of a substitution.  Formerly it could
happen in code embedded in the left-hand side, or in any other quote-like
operator.

=item *

The C<\N> regular expression escape, when used without the curly braces (to
mean C<[^\n]>), was ignoring a following C<*> if followed by whitespace
under /x.  It had been this way since C<\N> to mean C<[^\n]> was introduced
in 5.12.0.

=item *

Blessing into a reference (C<bless $thisref, $thatref>) has long been
disallowed, but magical scalars for the second like C<$/> and those tied
were exempt.  They no longer are.  [perl #119809]

=item *

Blessing into a reference was accidentally allowed in 5.18 if the class
argument were a blessed reference with stale method caches (i.e., whose
class had had subs defined since the last method call).  They are
disallowed once more, as in 5.16.

=item *

An undefined lexical sub used as an inherited method no longer crashes.

=item *

C<< $x->{key} >> where $x was declared as C<my Class $x> no longer crashes
if a Class::FIELDS subroutine stub has been declared.

=item *

C<@$obj{'key'}> and C<${$obj}{key}> used to be exempt from compile-time
field checking ("No such class field"; see L<fields>) but no longer are.

=item *

That compile-time field checking also applies now to the C<%$obj{'key'}>
syntax, added recently in Perl 5.19.4.

=item *

A nonexistent array element with a large index passed to a subroutine that
ties the array and then tries to access the element no longer results in a
crash.

=item *

Declaring a subroutine stub named NEGATIVE_INDICES no longer makes negative
array indices crash when the current package is a tied array class.

=item *

Declaring a C<require>, C<glob>, or C<do> subroutine stub in the
CORE::GLOBAL:: package no longer makes compilation of calls to the
corresponding functions crash.

=item *

Aliasing CORE::GLOBAL:: functions to constants stopped working in Perl 5.10
but has now been fixed.

=item *

When C<`...`> or C<qx/.../> calls a C<readpipe> override, double-quotish
interpolation now happens, as is the case when there is no override.
Previously, the presence of an override would make these quote-like
operators act like C<q{}>, suppressing interpolation.  [perl #115330]

=item *

C<<<`...`> here-docs (with backticks as the delimiters) now call
C<readpipe> overrides.  [perl #119827]

=item *

The presence of a lexical sub named "CORE" no longer stops the CORE::
prefix from working.

=item *

C<&CORE::exit()> and C<&CORE::die()> now respect L<vmsish> hints.

=item *

Undefining a glob that triggers a DESTROY method that undefines the same
glob is now safe.  It used to produce "Attempt to free unreferenced glob
pointer" warnings and leak memory.

=item *

If subroutine redefinition (C<eval 'sub foo{}'> or C<newXS> for XS code)
triggers a DESTROY method on the sub that is being redefined, and that
method assigns a subroutine to the same slot (C<*foo = sub {}>), C<$_[0]>
is no longer left pointing to a freed scalar.  Now DESTROY is delayed until
the new subroutine has been installed.

=item *

C<s///>, C<tr///> and C<y///> now work when a wide character is used as the
delimiter.  [perl #120463]

=item *

On Windows, perl no longer calls CloseHandle() on a socket handle.  This makes
debugging easier on Windows by removing certain irrelevant bad handle
exceptions.  It also fixes a race condition that made socket functions randomly
fail in a Perl process with multiple OS threads, and possible test failures in
F<dist/IO/t/cachepropagate-tcp.t>.  [perl #120091/118059]

=item *

Some cases of unterminated (?...) sequences in regular expressions (e.g.,
C</(?</>) have been fixed to produce the proper error message instead of
"panic: memory wrap".  Other cases (e.g., C</(?(/>) have yet to be fixed.

=item *

Strange vars like ties, overloads, or stringified refs (and in recent
perls, pure NOK vars) would generally do the wrong thing in formats
when the var is treated as a string and repeatedly chopped, as in
^<<<~~ and similar. This has now been resolved.

=back

=head1 Known Problems

=over 4

=item *

C<do CORE()> used to call a sub named "CORE" and treat its return value as
a file name to execute.  A bug fix inadvertently caused it to be
interpreted as the deprecated "do-SUB" construct.  (Yes, C<do
I<bareword>()> is inconsistent.)  This will likely be changed back.

=back

=head1 Acknowledgements

Perl 5.19.6 represents approximately 4 weeks of development since Perl 5.19.5
and contains approximately 88,000 lines of changes across 630 files from 24
authors.

Perl continues to flourish into its third decade thanks to a vibrant community
of users and developers. The following people are known to have contributed the
improvements that became Perl 5.19.6:

Anno Siegel, Chris 'BinGOs' Williams, Craig A. Berry, Daniel Dragan, David
Mitchell, Father Chrysostomos, François Perrad, H.Merijn Brand, James E
Keenan, Jerry D. Hedden, Karen Etheridge, Karl Williamson, Kevin Falcone, Lukas
Mai, Marc Simpson, Matthew Horsfall, Peter Martini, Petr Písař, Reini Urban,
Steve Hay, Tom Hukins, Tony Cook, Victor Efimov, Yves Orton.

The list above is almost certainly incomplete as it is automatically generated
from version control history. In particular, it does not include the names of
the (very much appreciated) contributors who reported issues to the Perl bug
tracker.

Many of the changes included in this version originated in the CPAN modules
included in Perl's core. We're grateful to the entire CPAN community for
helping Perl to flourish.

For a more complete list of all of Perl's historical contributors, please see
the F<AUTHORS> file in the Perl source distribution.

=head1 Reporting Bugs

If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles recently
posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl bug database at
http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ .  There may also be information at
http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page.

If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the L<perlbug> program
included with your release.  Be sure to trim your bug down to a tiny but
sufficient test case.  Your bug report, along with the output of C<perl -V>,
will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be analysed by the Perl porting team.

If the bug you are reporting has security implications, which make it
inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then please send it
to perl5-security-report@perl.org.  This points to a closed subscription
unarchived mailing list, which includes all the core committers, who will be
able to help assess the impact of issues, figure out a resolution, and help
co-ordinate the release of patches to mitigate or fix the problem across all
platforms on which Perl is supported.  Please only use this address for
security issues in the Perl core, not for modules independently distributed on
CPAN.

=head1 SEE ALSO

The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details on
what changed.

The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl.

The F<README> file for general stuff.

The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information.

=cut