ruby/NEWS

# -*- rd -*-
= NEWS

This document is a list of user visible feature changes made between
releases except for bug fixes.

Note that each entry is kept so brief that no reason behind or
reference information is supplied with.  For a full list of changes
with all sufficient information, see the ChangeLog file.

== Changes since the 1.9.2 release
=== License

* Ruby's License is changed from a dual license with GPLv2
  to a dual license with 2-clause BSDL.

=== C API updates

* rb_scan_args() is enhanced with support for option hash argument
  extraction.

* ruby_vm_at_exit() added.  This enables extension libs to hook a VM
  termination.

=== Library updates (outstanding ones only)

* builtin classes

  * Kernel

    * Kernel#respond_to? now returns false for protected methods.

  * Float
    * new constants:
      * File::NULL
        name of NULL device.
    * extended methods:
      * String#unpack supports endian modifiers

  * String
    * new methods:
      * String#prepend

  * Time
    * extended methods:
      * Time#strftime supports %:z and %::z.

  * IO
    * extended methods:
      * IO#putc supports multibyte characters

  * Array
    * extended methods:
      * Array#pack supports endian modifiers

* io/console
  * new methods:
    * IO#noecho {|io| }
    * IO#echo=
    * IO#echo?
    * IO#raw {|io| }
    * IO#raw!
    * IO#getch
    * IO#winsize
    * IO.console

* webrick
  * new method:
    * WEBrick::HTTPRequest#continue for generating '100 continue' response.

* uri
  * new methods:
    * URI::Generic#hostname
    * URI::Generic#hostname=

* stringio
  * extended methods:
    * StringIO#set_encoding can get 2nd argument and optional hash.

* rexml
  * [incompatible] support Ruby native encoding mechanism
    and iconv dependency is dropped. This means encoding
    methods (Document#encoding, XMLDecl#encoding,
    Output#encoding and Source#encoding) return an Encoding
    object instead of an encoding name.

=== Language changes

* Regexps now support Unicode 6.0. (new characters and scripts)

* [experimental] Regexps now support Age property.
  Unlike Perl, current implementation takes interpretation of the
  interpretation of UTS #18.
  http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr18/

=== Compatibility issues (excluding feature bug fixes)

* Kernel#respond_to?

  See above.

* REXML::Document#encoding, REXML::XMLDecl#encoding,
  REXML::Output#encoding and REXML::Source#encoding

  Return an Encoding object not encoding name as a String.