NEWS for File::Util

Sun Feb 10 21:32:36 CST 2013
   More added to the TODO list since the last news update.  We have now a
   4.x build that is CPAN ready (as a TRIAL).  The manual has been combed
   through and polished off, the test suite has been greatly improved thanks
   to newer/better "diesnice" tests made possible by Test::Fatal.  Several
   bugs have been caught and put to rest due to the expanded testing,
   because the improved tests revealed them where they had been hiding.

Tue Jan 29 18:59:25 CST 2013
   Most of the goals in the TODO list have been finished, or well on course
   for completion.  Stability of new features and design are sufficient
   enough that I feel like we're ready for the first CPAN release of the 4.x
   series in the next few days probably.

   Remaining tasks will be the ongoing improvement of the test suite and the
   documentation.  Those are the kind of tasks that are seemingly "never done".

   Everything is testing well, performing well, running well on all platforms
   I have available for testing (which are many).  Overall the state of
   the File::Util distribution and code is better than ever.

Tue Jan 22 00:28:30 CST 2013
   Version 4.000000 has (and never will be) released to the CPAN, as it was
   still in active development at the time it hit that mark.  Development
   continues, and the first formal release of the 4.x version distributions
   is soon approaching.  Documentation seems all that is left.  There's a
   whole slew of new features to document (higher order functions and the new
   method invocation syntax are just two examples).

   Much more has been done in the way of improving the test suite, and
   the dist is being constantly tested on Windows, Solaris, and Unix so
   future releases to the CPAN will never bring surprises like those that
   happened when development first shifted to the use of Dist::Zilla.


Thu Jan 10 22:44:45 CST 2013
   The latest release (v 4.0) brings many fixes to the table.  The fixes
   affect nearly all platforms and architectures.  Users are encouraged to
   upgrade, as this is not merely a features-added release.

   Fundamental changes in the internal layout of File::Util have been
   made; it isn't a single module file anymore.  This does NOT affect the
   end user.  To the user, this change is completely transparent and does
   not affect their programs or libraries that use File::Util.

   This change is a step forward in the stated goal of File::Util to bring
   a more "modern" (as in Modern::Perl) interface to the user while
   preserving compatibility with current syntax.

   Also in this release we move to auto-versioning a la Dist::Zilla plugins
   PkgVersion and AutoVersion (thank you to the authors of those plugins)

   Further, the test suite has been updated to make use of Test::More and
   Test::NoWarnings across the board, bringing better "kwalitee" (as in
   CPANTS) to you and to OS package maintainers for various platforms out
   there.

   Since the new year and new goals for File::Util, CPANTS metrics for
   kwalitee of the distribution have climbed from well below 100 to
   almost 140.  This will continue to improve.  Onward and upward.

   Finally, several code optimizations have been made for faster performance,
   made possible by the increasingly rigorous test suite.

   Re: flock() on Solaris -
   Updates have been made to the test suite so flock() problems on
   Solaris don't incorrectly cause test results to appear to have failed
   on that single platform.  Solaris users should be aware of the problems
   with discretionary locks on their platform.  It is not only Perl
   that experiences issues, but Python, Ruby, and others.  The problem
   is specifically that Solaris will happily lock a file, but will very
   often NOT unlock it until the process has exited.  This causes all
   kinds of problems.  The documentation for File::Util will be updated
   in order to advise Solaris users of opening the same file more than
   once during the lifetime of a process.


Mon Dec 31 23:25:00 CST 2012
   This latest release (v 3.33) is not a feature release.  It's a
   documentation update, a few bug fixes, several code optimizations, and
   code cleanup.  Mostly, it is a great step forward in the CPAN package
   itself.  Read on for more details...

   Please have a look at the CHANGES file, because there have been and will
   continue to be big changes/improvements to File::Util both in terms of the
   code itself and the CPAN distribution package releases.

   File::Util is now migrated to git and uses Dist::Zilla to create a
   build environment that works better in windows platforms.  This
   brought about the moving the content of Util.pod back into Util.pm
   which does have its benefits, but makes the actual file size larger
   than I want; I'll probably soon make a cookbook and slim down the main
   documentation a bit, since it's very exhaustive, and bring things back
   into the file sizes I like to see.  Compile times and run times have
   not been affected by the POD move.

   File::Util now must pass Perl::Critic tests as well, therefore the
   so-called CPANTS "kwalitee" of the code has been markedly increased.

   File::Util will be signed with a Module::Signature from now on, as
   long as this doesn't introduce failures in the build/test phases for
   CPAN testers and end users alike.

   These changes are part of an overall effort to "keep moving forward",
   make things better, and also make the distribution compliant with
   Fedora and Debian packaging standards.  File::Util already has a
   maintained package for Ubuntu.

   There's a writeup of my most recent reflections on File::Util that I
   posted on Perl Monks which explains some of my new goals for the
   distribution, the code, and the future of File::Util.  You can read it at
   http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=1011110

   Happy new year!
