Change 13588 by jhi@alpha on 2001/12/10 04:03:10
Tell about the downside of safe signals.
Affected files ...
.... //depot/perl/pod/perldelta.pod#276 edit
Differences ...
==== //depot/perl/pod/perldelta.pod#276 (text) ====
Index: perl/pod/perldelta.pod
--- perl/pod/perldelta.pod.~1~ Sun Dec 9 21:15:05 2001
+++ perl/pod/perldelta.pod Sun Dec 9 21:15:05 2001
@@ -300,11 +300,19 @@
=back
-=head2 Signals Are Now Safe
+=head2 Safe Signals
Perl used to be fragile in that signals arriving at inopportune moments
could corrupt Perl's internal state. Now Perl postpones handling of
-signals until it's safe.
+signals until it's safe (between opcodes).
+
+This change may have surprising side effects because signals no more
+interrupt Perl instantly. Perl will now first finish whatever it was
+doing, like finishing an internal operation (like sort()) or an
+external operation (like an I/O operation), and only then look at any
+arrived signals (and before starting the next operation). No more corrupt
+internal state since the current operation is always finished first,
+but the signal may take more time to get heard.
=head2 Unicode Overhaul
End of Patch.
