For the latest information on ActivePerl, please see:
http://www.ActiveState.com/ActivePerl/What's new in the 1800 Series
This build corresponds to the Perl 5.18.1 source code release.
The 1800 series builds of ActivePerl are not binary compatible with builds in the 1600 or earlier series. Any extensions built using binaries from the ActivePerl 1600 or earlier series will need to be recompiled. Note especially that this applies to PPM packages that may have been built for earlier series of ActivePerl.
The 1800 series builds of ActivePerl use 64 bit integers on platforms that are otherwise 32 bit. The main benefit is that Perl's scalars now can represent larger integers precisely, without turning to float approximations. The $Config{archname} of these builds has grown to include the -64int- segment.
All Windows builds are now built with the MinGW compiler.
PPM is faster in the common situation where a single repository is configured. The repository state can now be transfered as compressed SQLite database image prepared on the server.
The 'ppm upgrade' command now allow the install area to be overridden and will install the specified package even when it's not already present.
Running 'sudo ppm ...' now ensures that user files created does not end up owned by root.
Significant changes that have occurred since the 5.16 release are documented in perl5180delta. Bugfixes that went in the 5.18.1 release are documented in perl5181delta.
Most bundled distributions have been updated to their latest released version from CPAN. Use the ppm list command to check the exact version included in this release.