----- Forwarded message from Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi(_at_)iki(_dot_)fi> -----
Subject: 5.7.3 is out
From: Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi(_at_)iki(_dot_)fi>
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 07:06:48 +0200
Message-ID: <20020305070648(_dot_)N12829(_at_)alpha(_dot_)hut(_dot_)fi>
To: perl5-porters(_at_)perl(_dot_)org
User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5.1i
The below URL will take some time to percolate, so don't go off announcing
this just yet, I'll doublecheck things in the morning, after some sleep.
---
Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong.
No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always
got there first, and is waiting for it.
-- "Reaper Man", Terry Pratchett
This is the release 5.7.3 of Perl.
This is the last developer release (5.7.x) before the next major
public release (5.8.0). The current intent is to release Perl 5.8.0
in April or May, the Release Candidate 1 is planned to be released
Monday the 8th of April.
Therefore it is of utmost importance that you test this release
as extensively as you can.
* Try configuring, compiling, testing, and installing it.
The less common platform you have, the more important this is,
since the Perl developers do not have access to all the possible
platforms, or the required programming and debugging experience
on those platforms.
* Get the source code and unpack it
http://www.cpan.org/src/perl-5.7.3.tar.gz
* Configure and compile it. The below instructions are for
UNIXy platforms, for other platforms see the PLATFORM.* files.
cd perl-5.7.3
sh Configure -de -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/usr/local/test/perl573
The -de is the easy way out because it makes Configure
to automatically choose default answers: if you want to
answer the questions as usual, leave the -de away.
The -Dusedevel is necessary for the -de to get past the
question "do you really want to build a developer release".
The directory after the -Dprefix= depends on your local conventions.
make all
make test
Note that both of these phases may take considerably longer than
in earlier releases of Perl: there are now more modules with Perl,
and many, many more tests than before.
* If "make test" succeeds, the output will end with something like this:
All tests successful.
u=3.03333 s=3.68333 cu=289.5 cs=43.6167 scripts=594 tests=56364
If it doesn't, you will probably get a suggestion to run the "harness",
which will produce a more detailed report of what went wrong.
* Use the perlbug program to report both successes and failures.
* Assuming there are not too many failures, you may now proceed
to installing the 5.7.3:
make install
Note that the executables will be installed with "5.7.3" attached,
for example
/usr/local/test/perl573/bin/perl5.7.3
This is a feature of the developer releases, devised to avoid
accidental installations over production use Perls. This naming
practice causes few glitches, such as module installation not finding
the pod2man to format manual pages. When the 5.8.0 RC1 comes out,
it will no more have this safety feature.
* For more instructions, please read the INSTALL file.
* Once installed, try installing CPAN modules.
/usr/local/test/perl573/bin/perl5.7.3 -MCPAN -e shell
Configure CPAN as usual and try installing your favourite modules.
Look out for any new warning messages (new releases of Perl often
introduce new warning messages) and of course, test and/or installation
failures.
If everything tests and installs fine, great. If not, let both the
module author and perlbug know: either the module, or the upcoming Perl,
or both, may need fixing. In your report to the module author please
remember to point out that you are using a developer version of Perl,
advise the author how to get it, and that the developer version
will soon become the official next release of Perl.
The preferred way of contacting perlbug is the perlbug utility
(or, rather, the perlbug5.7.3 utility). If that doesn't work
for some reason, you send email to perlbug(_at_)perl(_dot_)org, but please
to choose a descriptive Subject line, and to include the output
of the myconfig script.
* Try using your own Perl code with the 5.7.3. Again, remember that
you may get new warnings: the Perl developers may have noticed some
ambiguous, even potentially hazardous practice, and introduced some
new warnings for it. And again, report problems using the perlbug
utility.
* Before reporting bugs, however, please read the perldelta file
(pod/perldelta.pod). It documents the changes made and failures known.
HAVE APPROPRIATE AMOUNTS OF FUN.
--
Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi(_at_)iki(_dot_)fi>
--
$jhi++; # http://www.iki.fi/jhi/
# There is this special biologist word we use for 'stable'.
# It is 'dead'. -- Jack Cohen
----- End forwarded message -----
--
$jhi++; # http://www.iki.fi/jhi/
# There is this special biologist word we use for 'stable'.
# It is 'dead'. -- Jack Cohen