=encoding utf8

=head1 NAME

perl588delta - what is new for perl v5.8.8

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document describes differences between the 5.8.7 release and
the 5.8.8 release.

=head1 Incompatible Changes

There are no changes intentionally incompatible with 5.8.7. If any exist,
they are bugs and reports are welcome.

=head1 Core Enhancements

=over

=item *

C<chdir>, C<chmod> and C<chown> can now work on filehandles as well as
filenames, if the system supports respectively C<fchdir>, C<fchmod> and
C<fchown>, thanks to a patch provided by Gisle Aas.

=back

=head1 Modules and Pragmata

=over

=item *

C<Attribute::Handlers> upgraded to version 0.78_02

=over

=item *

Documentation typo fix

=back

=item *

C<attrs> upgraded to version 1.02

=over

=item *

Internal cleanup only

=back

=item *

C<autouse> upgraded to version 1.05

=over

=item *

Simplified implementation

=back

=item *

C<B> upgraded to version 1.09_01

=over

=item *

The inheritance hierarchy of the C<B::> modules has been corrected;
C<B::NV> now inherits from C<B::SV> (instead of C<B::IV>).

=back

=item *

C<blib> upgraded to version 1.03

=over

=item *

Documentation typo fix

=back

=item *

C<ByteLoader> upgraded to version 0.06

=over

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<CGI> upgraded to version 3.15

=over

=item *

Extraneous "?" from C<self_url()> removed

=item *

C<scrolling_list()> select attribute fixed

=item *

C<virtual_port> now works properly with the https protocol

=item *

C<upload_hook()> and C<append()> now works in function-oriented mode

=item *

C<POST_MAX> doesn't cause the client to hang any more

=item *

Automatic tab indexes are now disabled and new C<-tabindex> pragma has
been added to turn automatic indexes back on

=item *

C<end_form()> doesn't emit empty (and non-validating) C<< <div> >>

=item *

C<CGI::Carp> works better in certain mod_perl configurations

=item *

Setting C<$CGI::TMPDIRECTORY> is now effective

=item *

Enhanced documentation

=back

=item *

C<charnames> upgraded to version 1.05

=over

=item *

C<viacode()> now accept hex strings and has been optimized.

=back

=item *

C<CPAN> upgraded to version 1.76_02

=over

=item *

1 minor bug fix for Win32

=back

=item *

C<Cwd> upgraded to version 3.12

=over

=item *

C<canonpath()> on Win32 now collapses F<foo\..> sections correctly.

=item *

Improved behaviour on Symbian OS.

=item *

Enhanced documentation and typo fixes

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<Data::Dumper> upgraded to version 2.121_08

=over

=item *

A problem where C<Data::Dumper> would sometimes update the iterator state
of hashes has been fixed

=item *

Numeric labels now work

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<DB> upgraded to version 1.01

=over

=item *

A problem where the state of the regexp engine would sometimes get clobbered when running
under the debugger has been fixed.

=back

=item *

C<DB_File> upgraded to version 1.814

=over

=item *

Adds support for Berkeley DB 4.4.

=back

=item *

C<Devel::DProf> upgraded to version 20050603.00

=over

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<Devel::Peek> upgraded to version 1.03

=over

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<Devel::PPPort> upgraded to version 3.06_01

=over

=item *

C<--compat-version> argument checking has been improved

=item *

Files passed on the command line are filtered by default

=item *

C<--nofilter> option to override the filtering has been added

=item *

Enhanced documentation

=back

=item *

C<diagnostics> upgraded to version 1.15

=over

=item *

Documentation typo fix

=back

=item *

C<Digest> upgraded to version 1.14

=over

=item *

The constructor now knows which module implements SHA-224

=item *

Documentation tweaks and typo fixes

=back

=item *

C<Digest::MD5> upgraded to version 2.36

=over

=item *

C<XSLoader> is now used for faster loading

=item *

Enhanced documentation including MD5 weaknesses discovered lately

=back

=item *

C<Dumpvalue> upgraded to version 1.12

=over

=item *

Documentation fix

=back

=item *

C<DynaLoader> upgraded but unfortunately we're not able to increment its version number :-(

=over

=item *

Implements C<dl_unload_file> on Win32

=item *

Internal cleanup

=item *

C<XSLoader> 0.06 incorporated; small optimisation for calling
C<bootstrap_inherit()> and documentation enhancements.

=back

=item *

C<Encode> upgraded to version 2.12

=over

=item *

A coderef is now acceptable for C<CHECK>!

=item *

3 new characters added to the ISO-8859-7 encoding

=item *

New encoding C<MIME-Header-ISO_2022_JP> added

=item *

Problem with partial characters and C<< encoding(utf-8-strict) >> fixed.

=item *

Documentation enhancements and typo fixes

=back

=item *

C<English> upgraded to version 1.02

=over

=item *

the C<< $COMPILING >> variable has been added

=back

=item *

C<ExtUtils::Constant> upgraded to version 0.17

=over

=item *

Improved compatibility with older versions of perl

=back

=item *

C<ExtUtils::MakeMaker> upgraded to version 6.30 (was 6.17)

=over

=item *

Too much to list here;  see L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/ExtUtils-MakeMaker/Changes>

=back

=item *

C<File::Basename> upgraded to version 2.74, with changes contributed by Michael Schwern.

=over

=item *

Documentation clarified and errors corrected.

=item *

C<basename> now strips trailing path separators before processing the name.

=item *

C<basename> now returns C</> for parameter C</>, to make C<basename>
consistent with the shell utility of the same name.

=item *

The suffix is no longer stripped if it is identical to the remaining characters
in the name, again for consistency with the shell utility.

=item *

Some internal code cleanup.

=back

=item *

C<File::Copy> upgraded to version 2.09

=over

=item *

Copying a file onto itself used to fail.

=item *

Moving a file between file systems now preserves the access and
modification time stamps

=back

=item *

C<File::Find> upgraded to version 1.10

=over

=item *

Win32 portability fixes

=item *

Enhanced documentation

=back

=item *

C<File::Glob> upgraded to version 1.05

=over

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<File::Path> upgraded to version 1.08

=over

=item *

C<mkpath> now preserves C<errno> when C<mkdir> fails

=back

=item *

C<File::Spec> upgraded to version 3.12

=over

=item *

C<File::Spec->rootdir()> now returns C<\> on Win32, instead of C</>

=item *

C<$^O> could sometimes become tainted. This has been fixed.

=item *

C<canonpath> on Win32 now collapses C<foo/..> (or C<foo\..>) sections
correctly, rather than doing the "misguided" work it was previously doing.
Note that C<canonpath> on Unix still does B<not> collapse these sections, as
doing so would be incorrect.

=item *

Some documentation improvements

=item *

Some internal code cleanup

=back

=item *

C<FileCache> upgraded to version 1.06

=over

=item *

POD formatting errors in the documentation fixed

=back

=item *

C<Filter::Simple> upgraded to version 0.82

=item *

C<FindBin> upgraded to version 1.47

=over

=item *

Now works better with directories where access rights are more
restrictive than usual.

=back

=item *

C<GDBM_File> upgraded to version 1.08

=over

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<Getopt::Long> upgraded to version 2.35

=over

=item *

C<prefix_pattern> has now been complemented by a new configuration
option C<long_prefix_pattern> that allows the user to specify what
prefix patterns should have long option style semantics applied.

=item *

Options can now take multiple values at once (experimental)

=item *

Various bug fixes

=back

=item *

C<if> upgraded to version 0.05

=over

=item *

Give more meaningful error messages from C<if> when invoked with a
condition in list context.

=item *

Restore backwards compatibility with earlier versions of perl

=back

=item *

C<IO> upgraded to version 1.22

=over

=item *

Enhanced documentation

=item *

Internal cleanup

=back

=item *

C<IPC::Open2> upgraded to version 1.02

=over

=item *

Enhanced documentation

=back

=item *

C<IPC::Open3> upgraded to version 1.02

=over

=item *

Enhanced documentation

=back