Jerry Hedden wrote:
> Does it have to be?  For example, according to CPANTS there are no
> CPAN modules that have 'threads' as a requirement other than
> 'thread::shared', 'Thread::Suspend' and 'Thread::Cancel', and I
> know they won't break.

John Peacock remarked:
> The world isn't CPAN; there may be lots of private code which uses 
> 'threads' which you won't ever find out about.

Of course.  I only used CPAN modules as an example.

> More to the point, however, is what does it do _now_, i.e. can you 
> currently stringify a thread object at all?  If that concept isn't 
> available now, this has nothing do to with 'backwards compatibility'
> at all, since you are introducing new behavior...

Currently, stringifying a threads object results in a string like:
  threads=SCALAR(0x100326a4)
just as any object would stringify.  Not entirely useful other than it
being a unique string, and telling you it was a threads object.  As
such, I would tend to classify it as 'new behavior'.

Yves (demerphq) commented:
> That's the problem with having default stringification behaviour.
> Unless you explicitly document the stringification behaviour as
> being open to change people are allowed to assume it wont and use
> the default behaviour.

Agreed, but does that mean this is really such a big deal that a slight
potential for imcompatibility is grounds for barring any improvements?

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