Red Hat Training

A Red Hat training course is available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

2.2.10. Perl

The perl package adds support for the Perl programming language. This package provides Perl core modules, the Perl Language Interpreter, and the PerlDoc tool.
Red Hat also provides various perl modules in package form; these packages are named with the perl-* prefix. These modules provide stand-alone applications, language extensions, Perl libraries, and external library bindings.

2.2.10.1. Perl Updates

For a full list of the differences between the Perl versions see the following documents:
Perl 5.12 Updates
Perl 5.12 has the following updates:
  • Perl conforms closer to the Unicode standard.
  • Experimental APIs allow Perl to be extended with "pluggable" keywords and syntax.
  • Perl will be able to keep accurate time well past the "Y2038" barrier.
  • Package version numbers can be directly specified in "package" statements.
  • Perl warns the user about the use of depreciated features by default.
The Perl 5.12 delta can be accessed at http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5120delta.html.
Perl 5.14 Updates
Perl 5.14 has the following updates:
  • Unicode 6.0 support.
  • Improved support for IPv6.
  • Easier auto-configuration of the CPAN client.
  • A new /r flag that makes s/// substitutions non-destructive.
  • New regular expression flags to control whether matched strings should be treated as ASCII or Unicode.
  • New package Foo { } syntax.
  • Less memory and CPU usage than previous releases.
  • A number of bug fixes.
The Perl 5.14 delta can be accessed at http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5140delta.html.
Perl 5.16 Updates
Perl 5.14 has the following updates:
  • Support for Unicode 6.1.
  • $$ variable is writable.
  • Improved debugger.
  • Accessing Unicode database files directly is now depreciated; use Unicode::UCD instead.
  • Version::Requirements is depreciated in favor of CPAN::Meta::Requirements.
  • A number of perl4 libraries are removed:
    • abbrev.pl
    • assert.pl
    • bigfloat.pl
    • bigint.pl
    • bigrat.pl
    • cacheout.pl
    • complete.pl
    • ctime.pl
    • dotsh.pl
    • exceptions.pl
    • fastcwd.pl
    • flush.pl
    • getcwd.pl
    • getopt.pl
    • getopts.pl
    • hostname.pl
    • importenv.pl
    • lib/find{,depth}.pl
    • look.pl
    • newgetopt.pl
    • open2.pl
    • open3.pl
    • pwd.pl
    • hellwords.pl
    • stat.pl
    • tainted.pl
    • termcap.pl
    • timelocal.pl
    The Perl 5.16 delta can be accessed at http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5160delta.html.