This directory contains the C source code packages used to build
Perl releases. To use these you do need a C compilation
environment. Here you will not find ready-to-install Perl
packages. For that, try the ports
directory.
Since the release 5.6 (March 2000) Perl has followed the commonly
used scheme where there is a development branch, which eventually
stabilizes into a "point-oh/point-zero" (.0) release, which then
branches into a maintenance branch with maintenance releases (.1, .2,
...), while the development branches back to uncharted waters.
The development (or devel, as it is called by the Perl 5
developers) releases have an odd (as opposed to even) major release
number (5.7, 5.9, 5.11, ...), while the maintenance (or maint)
releases have an even major release number (5.6, 5.8, 5.10, 5.12, ...).
The "point-oh/point-zero" releases and release candidates are called
testing releases.
For stable production use the maint branches are recommended.
The "point-oh/point-zero" releases of maintenance releases have of
course by definition not been tested for long periods of time, but you
should still start using them.
If you want to help out developing new releases of Perl you can use
the devel releases, but you should probably not wait for them and
instead follow the
development and hang
around in the perl5-porters@perl.org mailing list.
Please note that branches earlier than 5.8 are no more supported (as of
2008), though fixes for urgent issues like for example for severe
security problems may still be issued. Also, there are 5.005_04 and
5.6.2 releases which enabled compiling 5.005 and 5.6 with some of the
more current platforms and compilers, for those who need backward
compatibility.
(Historical note: there used to be "symbolic" source code releases
called "stable", "latest", "maint", "devel", but those were found to
cause more confusion than they were worth, they didn't really work
with multiple branches, especially not with multiple maintenance
branches, and "latest" made absolutely no sense.)
Perl 6 has not been released yet.
The Parrot virtual machine
planned to be used to run Perl 6 has made pre-1.0 developer releases,
but the best way to track that is to
follow the development.
Once you've downloaded one of these archives and unpacked it, you need to
use it to build a binary for your system, then test and install it. The
file README in the distribution gives license information and brief
instructions; the file INSTALL gives comprehensive instructions. If you
have a non-UNIX system, see also README.yoursystem -- for example,
README.win32.
Source archives for all releases of perl5. You should
only need to look here if you have an application which, for some
reason or another, does not run with the current release of perl5.
Be aware that only 5.004 and later versions of perl are maintained.
If you report a genuine bug in such a version, you will probably
be informed either that it is fixed in the current maintenance
release, or will be fixed in a subsequent one. If you report a bug
in an unmaintained version, you are likely to be advised to upgrade
to a maintained version which fixes the bug, or to await a fix in a
maintained version. No fix will be provided for the unmaintained
version.
Perl 6 or Parrot are not yet in CPAN.
In the meanwhile, try
here or
here.
Discussion of the meanings of the endings of filenames (.gz, .ZIP
and so on). Read this file if you want to know how to handle a
source code archive after you've downloaded it.
Third-party and other add-on source packages needed in order to build
certain perl configurations. You do not need any of this stuff to
build a default configuration.
perl-5.*.tar.gz, perl5_*.tar.gz
Source code archives for several recent production releases of perl.
This is where we hid the source for perl4, which was superseded by
perl5 years ago. We would really much rather that you didn't use it.
It is definitely obsolete and has security and other bugs.
And, since it's unsupported, it will continue to have them.
Files relevant to the security problem found in 'suidperl' in August 2000,
reported in the bugtraq mailing list.
The problem was found in all Perl release branches: 5.6, 5.005, and 5.004.
The 5.6.1 release has a fix for this, as have the 5.8 releases.
The (now obsolete) development branch 5.7 was unaffected,
except for very early (pre-5.7.0) developer-only snapshots.
The bug affects you only if you use an executable called 'suidperl',
not if you use 'perl', and it is very likely only to affect UNIX
platforms, and even more precisely, as of March 2001, the only
platforms known to be affected are Linux platforms (all of them,
as far as we know).
The 'suidperl' is an optional
component which is not installed, or even built, by default.
These files will help you in
the case you compile Perl yourself from the source and you want to
close the security hole.
Files relevant to the CERT Advisory CA-97.17.sperl, a security problem
found in 'suidperl' back in 1997. The problem was found both in Perl
4.036 (the final) (and last) release of Perl 4 and in early versions
of Perl 5 (pre-5.003). The bug affects you only if you use an executable
called 'suidperl', not if you use 'perl', and it is very likely
only to affect UNIX platform. The 'suidperl' is an optional
component which is not installed, or even built, by default.
These files will help you in
the (very unlikely) case you need to use (the obsolete and unsupported)
Perl 4 or the early Perl 5s, Perl releases newer than Perl 5.003 do
not have this security problem.
Corrections? Additions? Suggestions? Please contact
cpan@perl.org.
Other questions? See the
CPAN FAQ.
Copyright Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi> 1998-2008
All Rights Reserved.
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