F35 Change: Perl 5.34 (System-Wide Change proposal)
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/perl5.34
= Perl 5.34 =
== Summary ==
A new ''perl 5.34'' version brings a lot of changes done over a year
of development. Perl 5.34 will be released in May 20th 2021. See
[https://metacpan.org/pod/release/XSAWYERX/perl-5.34.0-RC1/pod/perldelta.pod
5.34.0-RC1 perldelta] for more details about new release.
== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:Jplesnik| Jitka Plesníková]]
* Email: <jplesnik(a)redhat.com>
* Name: [[User:Mspacek| Michal Josef Špaček]]
* Email: <mspacek(a)redhat.com>
=== Completed Items ===
=== Items in Progress ===
=== Items to Be Done ===
* Get dedicated build-root from rel-engs (''f35-perl'')
* Upstream to release Perl 5.34
* Define perl_bootstrap in perl-srpm-macros
* Rebase perl to 5.34.0
<!--* Build new perl 5.34 keeping old COMPAT Provides -->
* Rebuild dual-lived packages (otherwise dnf recommends --skip-broken and fails)
* Rebuild packages needed for minimal build-root
* Rebuild packages needed for building source packages from git repository
* Rebuild other packages: Use Fedora::Rebuild dependency solver
<!--* Remove old perl(:MODULE_COMPAT_5.32.*) from perl -->
* Undefine perl_bootstrap
* Rebuild packages having perl_bootstrap condition in spec file
* Rebuild all updated packages
* [https://jplesnik.fedorapeople.org/5.34/ Final lists of results]
* Merge dedicated build-root to rawhide and remove the dedicated one by rel-engs
* Synchronize packages upgraded in ''f35'' build root
* Rebuild Perl packages: 0 of 3247 done (0.00%)
== Detailed Description ==
New perl is released every year and updates containing mainly bug
fixes follow during the year. The 5.34.0 version is stable release
this year.
== Benefit to Fedora ==
Up-to-date and latest perl release will be delivered to Fedora users.
== Scope ==
Every Perl package will be rebuilt in a dedicated ''f35-perl''
build-root against perl 5.34.0 and then if no major problem emerges
the packages will be merged back to ''f35'' build-root.
* Proposal owners:
New perl and all packages requiring perl or a Perl module will be
rebuilt into ''f35-perl'' build-root.
* Other developers: Owners of packages that fail to rebuild, mainly
perl-sig users, will be asked using Bugzilla to fix or remove their
packages from the distribution.
* Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issue/10106 #10106]
Release engineers will be asked for new ''f35-perl'' build-root
inheriting from ''f35'' build-root. After successful finishing the
rebuild, they will be asked to merge ''f35-perl'' packages back to
''f35'' build-root.
* Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)
* Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
* Alignment with Objectives:
== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
Vast majority of functionality will be preserved. Only the packages
that failed to build against perl 5.32 will be removed from the
distribution. That will require to remove those packages from the
existing systems otherwise a package manager will encounter
unsatisfied dependencies. The developers in Perl language are advised
to install ''perl-doc'' and ''perl-debugger'' packages.
[https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2021/03/msg259344.html
mod_perl is not possible build with Perl 5.34]. We are not able to
solve it easily now. We will try to update packages to reduce the list
of broken mod_perl dependencies.
== How To Test ==
Try upgrading from Fedora 34 to 35. Try some Perl application to
verify they work as expected. Try embedded perl in slapd or snmpd.
<!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
== User Experience ==
There should not be any remarkable change in user experience. With the
exception that previously locally installed modules with a CPAN
clients will need a reinstallation.
== Dependencies ==
There is more than 3200 packages depending on perl. Most of them are
expected not to break. Finishing this change can be endangered only by
critical changes in a toolchain.
== Contingency Plan ==
If we find perl 5.34 is not suitable for Fedora 35, we will revert
back to perl 5.32 and we drop the temporary build-root with already
rebuilt packages.
* Contingency deadline: branching Fedora 35 from Rawhide.
* Blocks release? No.
== Documentation ==
* [https://metacpan.org/pod/release/XSAWYERX/perl-5.34.0-RC1/pod/perldelta.pod
5.34.0 perldelta]
* An announcement on the perl-devel mailing list
* An announcement on fedora-devel mailing list
== Release Notes ==
* Experimental ''try''/''catch'' syntax was added
* ''qr/{,n}/'' is now accepted
* Blanks freely allowed within but adjacent to curly braces
* New octal syntax 0oddddd
* Lots of modules were updated
* Documentation was updated and some new pages were added
** ''perldocstyle'' - this document is a guide for the authorship and
maintenance of the documentation that ships with Perl
** ''perlgov'' - this document describes the goals, scope, system, and
rules for Perl's new governance model.
* ''-Dusedefaultstrict'' - EXPERIMENTAL: Perl can now be built with
strict on by default (using this configuration option)
--
Ben Cotton
He / Him / His
Fedora Program Manager
Red Hat
TZ=America/Indiana/Indianapolis