=head1 NAME

HISTORY - public release history for Data::Dumper

=head1 DESCRIPTION

=over 8

=item 2.09  (9 July 1998)

Implement $Data::Dumper::Bless, suggested by Mark Daku <daku@nortel.ca>.

=item 2.081  (15 January 1998)

Minor release to fix Makefile.PL not accepting MakeMaker args.

=item 2.08  (7 December 1997)

Glob dumps don't output superflous 'undef' anymore.

Fixes from Gisle Aas <gisle@aas.no> to make Dumper() work with
overloaded strings in recent perls, and his new testsuite.

require 5.004.

A separate flag to always quote hash keys (on by default).

Recreating known CODE refs is now better supported.

Changed flawed constant SCALAR bless workaround.

=item 2.07  (7 December 1996)

Dumpxs output is now exactly the same as Dump.  It still doesn't
honor C<Useqq> though.

Regression tests test for identical output and C<eval>-ability.

Bug in *GLOB{THING} output fixed.

Other small enhancements.

=item 2.06  (2 December 1996)

Bugfix that was serious enough for new release--the bug cripples
MLDBM.  Problem was "Attempt to modify readonly value..." failures
that stemmed for a misguided SvPV_force() instead of a SvPV().)

=item 2.05  (2 December 1996)

Fixed the type mismatch that was causing Dumpxs test to fail
on 64-bit platforms.

GLOB elements are dumped now when C<Purity> is set (using the
*GLOB{THING} syntax).

The C<Freezer> option can be set to a method name to call
before probing objects for dumping.  Some applications: objects with
external data, can re-bless themselves into a transitional package;
Objects the maintain ephemeral state (like open files) can put
additional information in the object to facilitate persistence.

The corresponding C<Toaster> option, if set, specifies
the method call that will revive the frozen object.

The C<Deepcopy> flag has been added to do just that.

Dumper does more aggressive cataloging of SCALARs encountered
within ARRAY/HASH structures. Thanks to Norman Gaywood 
<norm@godel.une.edu.au> for reporting the problem.

Objects that C<overload> the '""' operator are now handled
properly by the C<Dump> method.

Significant additions to the testsuite.

More documentation.

=item 2.04beta  (28 August 1996)

Made dump of glob names respect C<Useqq> setting.

[@$%] are now escaped now when in double quotes.

=item 2.03beta  (26 August 1996)

Fixed Dumpxs.  It was appending trailing nulls to globnames.
(reported by Randal Schwartz <merlyn@teleport.com>).

Calling the C<Indent()> method on a dumper object now correctly
resets the internal separator (reported by Curt Tilmes
<curt@ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov>).

New C<Terse> option to suppress the 'C<VARI<n> = >' prefix 
introduced.  If the option is set, they are output only when
absolutely essential.

The C<Useqq> flag is supported (but not by the XSUB version
yet).

Embedded nulls in keys are now handled properly by Dumpxs.

Dumper.xs now use various integer types in perl.h (should
make it compile without noises on 64 bit platforms, although
I haven't been able to test this).

All the dump methods now return a list of strings in a list
context.


=item 2.02beta  (13 April 1996)

Non portable sprintf usage in XS code fixed (thanks to 
Ulrich Pfeifer <pfeifer@charly.informatik.uni-dortmund.de>).


=item 2.01beta  (10 April 1996)

Minor bugfix (single digit numbers were always getting quoted).


=item 2.00beta  (9 April 1996)

C<Dumpxs> is now the exact XSUB equivalent of C<Dump>.  The XS version
is 4-5 times faster.

C<require 5.002>.

MLDBM example removed (as its own module, it has a separate CPAN 
reality now).

Fixed bugs in handling keys with wierd characters.  Perl can be
tripped up in its implicit quoting of the word before '=>'.  The
fix: C<Data::Dumper::Purity>, when set, always triggers quotes
around hash keys.

Andreas Koenig <k@anna.in-berlin.de> pointed out that handling octals
is busted.  His patch added.

Dead code removed, other minor documentation fixes.


=item 1.23      (3 Dec 1995)

MLDBM example added.

Several folks pointed out that quoting of ticks and backslashes 
in strings is missing. Added.

Ian Phillips <ian@pipex.net> pointed out that numerics may lose 
precision without quotes.  Fixed.


=item 1.21     (20 Nov 1995)

Last stable version I can remember.

=back

=cut
