Perl 5.12
Jesse Vincent
jesse@perl.org

Hi!

I'm Jesse

I'm the Perl 5
“Pumpking”

Pumpking?

I'll explain later

For now, just
think of me as
“project janitor”

Perl 5 is 16
years old

Perhaps you've
heard that
“Perl is Dead”

What they
meant was
“Perl Must Die”

They're
on crack

Perl is very,
very alive

Lots of exciting
code on CPAN

Moose

Plack

Devel::Declare

AnyEvent

...and a whole
lot more

Two weeks
ago, I made the
scariest web
post of my life

Pic of PAUSE

It had a
happy
ending

The stable
version of Perl
is now 5.12.0

Nobody has
reported any
critical
regressions

...so I haven't
broken the
Internet...yet

5.12? What
happened to
Perl 6?

Perl 6 is a
different
language

Perl 6 is still
being designed
and built

rakudo.org

Perl 6 is
awesome

Perl 6 is the
future

Perl 5 is the
future, too

Perl 5 and Perl
6 are sisters

Perl 5 and Perl
6 are friends

“5” and “6”
aren't versions
of one
language

“Perl 5” and
“Perl 6” are
names...

...for two
different
languages

Perl 5's Creator

Perl 6's Creator

Perl 5 and Perl 6
have the same
father

“5” and “6” are
versions of
Larry Wall's
brain

We're looking
forward to our
“little sister”
growing up

Perl 6 will not
replace Perl 5

A quick
reminder...

What was new
in Perl 5.10?

given...when

given ($foo) {
when (/^abc/) { $abc = 1; }
when (/^def/) { $def = 1; }
when (/^xyz/) { $xyz = 1; }
default { $nothing = 1; }
}

defined-or

$a // $b
defined $a ? $a : $b

$c //= $d
$c = $d unless defined $c

Recursive
pattens in
regexes

Named
captures in
regexes

perldoc perl5100delta

What's new in
Perl 5.12?

You can use
Perl 5.10
features

5.10 isn't “too
new to use”
anymore

“use 5.12.0;”
includes
“use strict”;

Deprecations
warn by default

“suidperl” is
dead.

package Foo::Bar 1.0;

Y2038
Compliance

Unicode
improvements
and upgrade to
version 5.2.

Pluggable
Keywords

Overridable
Function
Lookup

Dtrace Support

Modules deprecated from the core:
● Class::ISA
● Pod::Plainer
● Shell
● Switch

Don't worry,
they're still on
CPAN

Yadda yadda
yadda...

(A new
operator)

sub do_something {
die “Unimplemented!”;
}
do_something();

sub do_something {…}
do_something();

j$ perl test.pl
Unimplemented at test.pl line 3.

perldoc perl5120delta

Lots of this was
new in 5.10.1,
too.

New release
process

New pumpking

(Me)

So. That
“Pumpking”
thing

Pumpkin King

Keeper of the
Patch Pumpkin

“Patch
Pumpkin?”

David Croy once told me once that at a previous
job, there was one tape drive and multiple
systems that used it for backups. But instead of
some high-tech exclusion software, they used a
low-tech method to prevent multiple simultaneous
backups: a stuffed pumpkin. No one was allowed
to make backups unless they had the “backup
pumpkin.”
Chip Salzenberg

My job got its name
because we didn't
use a version control
system 20 years ago.

Learn from
Perl's History

Use Version
Control...

...otherwise, you may
have to explain weird
software development
traditions to your
children.

What's the
pumpking do?

The Pumpking
makes sure that
the release of
Perl doesn't suck.

...and that it
actually
happens.

How it used to
work

Perl 5.10

Perl 5.10.0

December 2007

It took 5 years

It burned
through two
pumpkings

Hugo van der
Sanden (hvds)

Resigned in
2004

Rafael Garcia
Suarez (rgs)

Resigned July
2009

Perl 5.10.1

Maintenance
Release

2800 commits
changing over
350,000 loc in
2600 files

Only 700 or so
blead commits
weren't picked
for 5.10.1

Before 5.12, maint releases:
1)include regression fixes
2)include general fixes
3)include build fixes (so it will compile on new/updated
platforms)
4)include newer CPAN modules related to (3)
5)generally update CPAN modules where newer releases are
available
6)include new features that aren't too scary and don't break
backwards compatibility
7)maintain binary compatibility
8)don't break anything.

Dave Mitchell
was the maint
pumpking for
Perl 5.10.1

He did all that
work himself

“Doing all
the above is
*very* hard.”
Dave Mitchell

Dave has
a gift for
understatement

That was a
“maintenance”
release

It included
module
updates...

It included
behavior
changes...

It included
bug fixes...

It included
new features...

It was
a lot of work

It took too long

Maintenance
release

That doesn't
sound like
“maintenance”

August 2009

Dave Mitchell
(dapm)

Retired
October 2009

Pumpkings are
a precious
commodity.

We can't keep
burning them
out.

The Pumpking's Job
● Hardcore C hacker
● Patch applier
● Release Engineer
● Language Designer
● Supreme Arbiter of Good Taste
● Project Manager
● HR Manager
● Dispute Resolver

Wow. That's a
lot of stuff

Like I said
before...

Project Janitor

Who have our
pumpkings
been?

Larry Wall, Andy Dougherty, Tom
Christiansen, Charles Bailey, Nick
Ing-Simmons, Chip Salzenberg, Tim
Bunce, Malcolm Beattie, Gurusamy
Sarathy, Graham Barr, Jarkko
Hietaniemi, Hugo van der Sanden,
Michael Schwern, Rafael Garcia-
Suarez, Nicholas Clark, Richard
Clamp, Leon Brocard, Dave
Mitchell.

...and now me

I don't want to
burn out

How do you
get to be
pumpking?

(Traditionally)

Be a hardcore
C hacker...

...who loves
Perl...

...and has a
responsibility
complex

That's right

We take our
best hackers...

...and make
them into
managers

That is a
complete waste
of their talents

Nobody since
Larry has been
pumpking for
two major
versions

We can't keep
losing
pumpkings!

After rgs and
dapm...

...we ran out of
qualified
pumpkings!

This system is
broken

How do you fix
a broken
system?

Reimplement
from scratch!

Like I said,
earlier

Perl 6 is the
future

Perl 6 is not
Perl 5

How else do
you fix a broken
system?

Refactoring!

Role
decomposition?

What is the
pumpking?

Hardcore C
hacker

Delegate it!

Patch applier

Delegate it!

Release
Engineer

Delegate it!

Language
Designer

Delegate it!

(partially)

Supreme
Arbiter of
Good Taste

Core
responsibility!

Dispute
Resolver

Core
responsibility!

“HR” Manager

Core
Responsibility!

Project
Manager

Core
responsibility!

Ok.

Pumpkings
don't need to
be C hackers

Development
releases
leading to
5.10.0:

5.9.0
2003-10-27

5.9.1
2004-03-16

5.9.2
2005-04-01

5.9.3
2006-01-28

5.9.4
2006-08-15

5.9.5
2007-07-07

Development
releases
leading to
5.12.0:

5.11.0
2009-10-02

5.11.1
2009-10-20

5.11.2
2009-11-20

5.11.3
2009-12-20

5.11.4
2010-01-20

5.11.5
2010-02-20

5.12.0-RC1
2010-03-21

5.13.0
2010-04-20

Detect a trend?

Every Month

On the 20th

That sounds
like a lot of
work

I won't lie

5.11.0 took me
4 days

5.11.1 took me
2 days

5.11.2 released
by Leon
Brocard

5.11.3 released
by me

5.11.4 released
by Ricardo
Signes

5.11.5 released
by Steve Hay
On Windows!!

Development
releases now
take hours
instead of days.

The process is
documented.
See porting/release_manager_guide.pod

Release
managers
make dev
releases
See porting/release_schedule.pod

Pumpkings
don't need to.

Who actually
makes Perl?

4
1 0- 0
20
5.12.0
1
0 9- 1
20
6
0 9- 0
20
5.11.0
Unique authors per month
5.10.1
1
0 9- 0
20
5.10.0
8
0 8- 0
20
3
0 8- 0
20
0
0 7- 1
20
5
0 7- 0
20
2
0 6- 1
20
7
0 6- 0
20
2
0 6- 0
20
9
0 5- 0
20
4
0 5- 0
20
1
0 4- 1
20
5.9.0
6
0 4- 0
20
1
0 4- 0
20
8
0 3- 0
5.8.0 20
3
0 3- 0
20
0
0 2- 1
20
5
0 2- 0
20
n th
Mo
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

2
-1
09
20
7
-0
09
Commits per author per month
20
2
-0
09
20
9
-0
08
20
4
-0
08
20
1
-1
07
20
- 06
07
20
1
-0
07
20
8
-0
06
20
3
-0
06
20
0
-1
05
20
5
-0
05
20
2
-1
04
20
7
-0
04
20
2
-0
04
20
- 09
03
20
4
-0
03
20
1
-1
02
20
6
-0
02
20
1
-0
02
20
8
6
4
2
0
18
16
14
12
10

800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1
0-0
201
Pumpking-authored-patches
Pumpking vs Contributor Patches
9 -09
200
- 05
Porter Patches
9
200
9 - 01
200
8 - 09
200
8 - 05
200
1
8 -0
200
7 - 09
200
7 - 05
200
7 - 01
200
6 - 09
200
6 - 05
200
6 - 01
200
5 - 09
200
5 - 05
200
5 - 01
200
4 - 09
200
5
4-0
200
4 -01
200
3 - 09
200
3 - 05
200
3 - 01
200
2 - 09
200
5
2 -0
200
2 - 01
200
0
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100

800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0 - 01
201
Pumpking vs Contributor Patches
9 - 09
200
9 - 05
200
9 - 01
200
9
8 -0
200
8 - 05
200
8 - 01
200
7 - 09
200
7 - 05
200
7 - 01
200
6 -09
200
6 - 05
200
6 - 01
200
5 - 09
200
5 - 05
200
5 - 01
200
4 -09
200
4 - 05
200
4 - 01
200
3 - 09
200
3 - 05
200
3 - 01
200
2 -09
200
2 - 05
200
2 - 01
200
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

What about
"Stable
releases"?

Old maintperl
policy

New releases
of maint should
contain as
many changes
as possible

New maintperl
policy

New releases
of maint should
contain as few
changes as
possible

If there is any question about
whether a patch should be
backported to maint, then the
answer is probably “No!”

What's OK

Portability fixes,
like changes to
Configure and
hints/

Documentation
updates

Fixes for
crashes that
don't change
features or hurt
performance

Patches to fix
security issues

Minimal patches
to fix crashes or
security issues in
CPAN modules

What's not OK

New warnings
or errors

Deprecating
features

New versions
of dual-life
modules

Breaking binary
compatibility

Adding or
removing
features

Ports to a new
platform or OS

...anything else

When's 5.12.1
coming?

Estimated: May
12, 2010

So, what's
coming in
5.12.1?

Bugfixes

5.12.x will come
every 3 months

When's 5.14
coming?

Spring 2011

What's coming
in 5.14?

I don't know

What I want in
Perl 5.14

AST
roundtripping
improvements

Easier CPAN
module install

Better
connectivity

HTTP Client

IPv6

SSL?

Performance
improvements

Memory use
improvements

What do you
want in Perl
5.14?

Trying out
5.12.0

perlbrew
(gugod)

# install perlbrew
curl -O -L http://xrl.us/perlbrew
perl perlbrew install
# setup perlbrew
~/perl5/perlbrew/bin/perlbrew init
echo "source $HOME/perl5/perlbrew/etc/bashrc" >> ~/.bashrc
# restart your shell
exec $SHELL
# install perl 5.12.0: this takes ~10 minutes
perlbrew -v install perl-5.12.0
perlbrew switch perl-5.12.0

Thanks!

Questions?
Jesse Vincent
jesse@perl.org