# pperl 0.6.6

*2026-07-26 to 2026-07-27, 12 commits.*

## Modules

- **Compress::Raw::Zlib** is native and uses the system's zlib, so
  `Compress::Zlib`, the pure-Perl `IO::Compress::Gzip` and
  `DBM_Filter::compress` work. Its version, `ZLIB_VERNUM`, compressed
  lengths, CRC-32 and Adler-32 checksums and status codes match perl5's.
  bzip2 is not covered.
- **Import lists**: `use` of a native module accepts Exporter's full
  grammar: `!name` and `!:tag` remove names, a list that begins with a
  removal starts from the default exports, and `:DEFAULT` is a tag.
  `use Compress::Raw::Zlib qw(!crc32 !adler32)`, as IO::Compress
  writes it, imported nothing and left the module unusable. Unknown
  names are reported together in one error, as Exporter does.
- **Storable** no longer warns "Attempt to free unreferenced scalar"
  when a stored structure refers to the same value more than once.
  Weak references come back from `thaw` and `dclone` as weak references,
  without the "panic: del_backref" error.
- **PDL**: assigning through a slice, as in
  `$a->slice("1:3") .= pdl(10,20,30)`, works; it died with "dimension
  mismatch" or set the parent's elements to zero.
- **`use re`**: `use re 'taint'`, `use re 'eval'` and `use re '/aa'`
  take effect; they were silently ignored.
- **POSIX, Socket and Encode** gain export tags: POSIX `:math_h`,
  Socket `:crlf`, `:addrinfo` and `:all`, Encode `:all`, `:default`,
  `:fallbacks` and `:fallback_all`. POSIX also has `strxfrm`.
- **Devel::Peek**: `SvREFCNT($x)` works as documented; every call died
  with a usage message.
- **Hash::Util**: `hash_traversal_mask` reads and sets a hash's
  traversal mask, and returns `undef` for a hash that has none, as on
  perl5; it always returned 0.

## Command line

- **The daemon** can keep a compiled image of a script:
  `--via-daemon=script` or `PPERL_DAEMON=2` runs the script from it, so
  a repeated run skips compiling the script and the modules it loads as
  well as starting the interpreter. `--daemon-max-scripts=N` limits how
  many scripts are kept (100 by default; the least recently used goes
  first), and `--daemon-reset` drops one script's image, or with no path
  all of them, and exits.
- **`--interactive`**, in builds that offer it, says on standard error
  that it is not implemented and exits with status 2. It printed a
  banner and reported success without running anything.

## Distribution

- **Benchmark suite**: pperl's benchmark suite ships as a separate
  archive with its documentation and runs outside a source tree. It finds
  pperl through `--pperl=PATH`, `$PPERL`, a `pperl` beside it or on the
  `PATH`, and `--display` shows saved results without a pperl binary.