version 0.88
==================================

Full version object support, with patch for bug in Perl 5.10.0 core
version support.

YOU SHOULD INSTALL THIS RELEASE WHEN USING VERSION OBJECTS IN PERL 5.10.0.
There was a bug caused by objects serialized by YAML that will cause Perl
5.10.0 to segfault.  As long as some module calls 'use version', then the
replacement code will take effect and Perl will not crash.

Major Changes in 0.88 - 2010-12-19
=====================================
Fix Makefile.PL to make Strawberry Perl happy.  Resolves:

  https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=63991

Major Changes in 0.87 - 2010-12-09
=====================================
Remove Build.PL since there are modules in the Module::Build tool chain
that require version.pm, leading to circular dependencies.  This also allows
Module::Build itself to depend on version.pm.

Major Changes in 0.86 - 2010-11-26
=====================================
is_strict/is_lax were not exported correctly (which no one noticed).  Also
pull in strict/lax tests from core.

Major Changes in 0.85 - 2010-10-25
=====================================
Don't include MYMETA.yml file in distro

Major Changes in 0.84 - 2010-10-24
=====================================
Restore public API vcmp() broken in 0.83

Major Changes in 0.83 - 2010-10-17
=====================================
Changed vverify API (David Golden).  Improved heuristic for non-magical
v-strings (Perl 5.6.0-5.8.0).  Install in proper patch post-@INC
reordering.

Major Changes in 0.82 - 2010-04-13
=====================================
Still more changes to sync with Perl 5.12.0-as-released.  Rewritten POD
thanks to many hands, but mostly David Golden.  Vastly improved Regex
definitions from Zephram.

Major Changes in 0.81 - 2010-02-01
=====================================
Merge in changes from bleadperl that will be part of Perl 5.12.0.
Completely rewrite pure Perl code to operate exactly like the XS code,
through the creation of a character-array class called charstar.  Now
the pure Perl code and XS code can be more easily be synchronized.

Major Changes in 0.80 - 2010-01-21
=====================================
No outwardly visible changes.  This release is to fix an assertion error
with certain picky/older compilers.  NOTE: this is not the version object
code that will be part of Perl 5.12.0, which will be released shortly as
0.81.

Major Changes in 0.79 - 2010-01-03
=====================================
No outwardly visible changes.  This release is to match the code that 
will part of Perl 5.12.0, but which doesn't affect the external API of
the CPAN release.


Major Changes in 0.78 - 2009-10-12
=====================================
More changes to improve the non-magic v-string heuristics, this time 
affecting both the pure Perl and XS backends.  NOTE: these fixes only
matter if you are running Perl 5.6.x to 5.8.0 (inclusive).  Beginning
with Perl 5.8.1, v-strings are now magical and version.pm no longer has
to guess.  Resolves:

	https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=50347

Also resolve the issue where attempting to install CPAN releases on top
of core releases (e.g. 5.10.0 and 5.10.1) would not DTRT.  Resolves:

	https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=49667

Major Changes in 0.7702 - 2009-09-07
=====================================
Add additional contraints to the code which tries to guess whether something
is a v-string or not for Perl 5.6.0 through 5.8.0 (inclusive).  Resolves:

	https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=49348

Major Changes in 0.7701 - 2009-07-28
=====================================
Special RHEL4.x/Fedora4.x Are Too Stupid to Live Release.  Those distros
have never updated beyond Perl 5.8.5/5.8.6 respectively.  Consequently,
they contain a complete broken Test::More::use_ok which doesn't load the
package into the correct namespace:

	https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=48268

thus causing mysterious test failures.  No version.pm code was changed at
all. :(

Major Changes in 0.77 - 2009-07-26
===================================

Complete POD rewrite to document common usage in version.pod and put all
of the implementation details into version::Internals.

Resolve a number of RT tickets:
RT#48135 - Compilation failure using MS VC++ 7.0.
RT#47980 - Remove need for runtime class loading in pure Perl code
RT#46921 - locale and eval action at a distance.
RT#45241 - mistaken regex to convert large exponential numbers
to non-exponential form before scanning.


Please read the POD documentation for usage/details.  See the CHANGES file
for full details of all changes to the module behavior.

INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   $ perl Build.PL
   $ ./Build
   $ ./Build test
   # ./Build install

This release includes an optional pure Perl implementation (in case
you don't have a C-compiler or if some reason you want your code to be
much slower).  You can test it by calling the build script as

    $ perl Build.PL --perl_only

and it will install the Perl only version.

OR

To install with ExtUtils::MakeMaker:

   $ perl Makefile.PL
   $ make
   $ make test
   # make install

and correspondingly

   $ perl Makefile.PL --perl_only

will install the Perl only version.
  

DEPENDENCIES

The same C compiler used to build Perl (or not).  Module::Build 0.2611
or better.

Module::Build installs fine under 5.005_03 or better, though the optional
dependency Archive::Tar doesn't.  If you install Module::Build without any
of the optional dependencies, you can safely install version.pm.


COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

This module can be distributed under the same terms as Perl.

Copyright (C) 2004-2010 John Peacock