On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 09:22:47AM -0800, Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
> I am perhaps misremembering then.  I recall seeing something on P5P
> that 5.8.2 focussed on being compatible with 5.8.0, and thus breaks
> with 5.8.1 in a few ways.  It is still early in the morning here
> though.

You're right.  5.8.2 + threads is backwards compat with 5.8.0 + threads but
not 5.8.1 + threads.  From 5.8.2's perldelta

  Incompatible Changes

  For threaded builds for modules calling certain re-entrant system calls,
  binary compatibility was accidentally lost between 5.8.0 and 5.8.1.
  Binary compatibility with 5.8.0 has been restored in 5.8.2, which
  necessitates breaking compatibility with 5.8.1. We see this as the
  lesser of two evils.

  This will only affect people who have a threaded perl 5.8.1, and compiled
  modules which use these calls, and now attempt to run the compiled modules
  with 5.8.2. The fix is to re-compile and re-install the modules using 5.8.2.

However, the "boneheads" at Apple couldn't have known this anymore than
the "boneheads" on p5p did when they released 5.8.1.

But there is hope...

  The hash randomisation introduced with 5.8.1 has been amended. It
  transpired that although the implementation introduced in 5.8.1 was source
  compatible with 5.8.0, it was not binary compatible in certain cases. 5.8.2
  contains an improved implementation which is both source and binary
  compatible with both 5.8.0 and 5.8.1, and remains robust against the form of
  attack which prompted the change for 5.8.1.

"in certain cases" hopefully means that if you didn't turn hash randomization
on you wouldn't be effected.  Somebody should try it out.


As for Apple using threads: since bin compat is lost between 5.6.x and
5.8.x, upgrading from 5.6.x to 5.8.x is a good time for Apple to decide to 
turn on things like threads and 64bit ints.  Otherwise they'd have to wait
for 5.10.  So it was a perfectly sensible thing to do.


-- 
Michael G Schwern        [EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
Out of ammunition.  God save the King.


-------------------------------------------------------
This SF. Net email is sponsored by: GoToMyPC
GoToMyPC is the fast, easy and secure way to access your computer from
any Web browser or wireless device. Click here to Try it Free!
https://www.gotomypc.com/tr/OSDN/AW/Q4_2003/t/g22lp?Target=mm/g22lp.tmpl
_______________________________________________
Fink-devel mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fink-devel

Reply via email to