Changes in version 2.36
-----------------------

**************** WARNING -- EXPERIMENTAL CODE AHEAD ****************

* Parsing options from an arbitrary array

  The entry point GetOptionsFromArray (exported on demand) can be used
  to parse command line options that are not passed in via @ARGV, but
  using an arbitrary array.

    use Getopt::Long qw(GetOptionsFromArray);
    $ret = GetOptionsFromArray(\@myopts, ...);

* Parsing options from an arbitrary string

  The entry point GetOptionsFromString (exported on demand) can be
  used to parse command line options that are not passed in via @ARGV,
  but using an arbitrary string.

    use Getopt::Long qw(GetOptionsFromString);
    $ret = GetOptionsFromString($optstring, ...);

  Note that upon completion, no arguments may remain in the string.
  If arguments may remain, call it in list context:

    ($ret, $args) = GetOptionsFromString($optstring, ...);

  @$args will have the remaining arguments.

**************** END EXPERIMENTAL CODE ****************

* Number values for options may include underscores for readability
  (just like Perls numbers).

* Bugfix for Ticket #19432 (found and fixed by khali).

* Bugfix to make it cooperate with the bignum pragma. Thanks to Merijn
  and Yves.

* Various small fixes to make the test suite run under 5.004_05.

* More examples (skeletons).

Changes in version 2.35
-----------------------

* long_prefix_pattern configuration variable.

  prefix_pattern has now been complemented by a new configuration
  option 'long_prefix_pattern' that allows the user to specify what
  prefix patterns should have long option style sematics applied.
  This will enable people to do things like

    foo.pl /option=value

  instead of forcing people to use the short option style

    foo.pl /option value

  This enhancement was suggested and implemented by Yves Orton.

* Bugfix for Ticket #11377 (bug found and fixed by Ryan).
* Bugfix for Ticket #12380.

* Options can take multiple values at once. E.g.,

    --coordinates 52.2 16.4 --rgbcolor 255 255 149

  To handle the above command line, the following call to GetOptions
  can be used:

    GetOptions('coordinates=f{2}' => \@coor, 'rgbcolor=i{3}' => \@color);

  You can specify the minimum and maximum number of values desired.
  The syntax for this is similar to that of regular expression
  patterns: { min , max }. 

Changes in version 2.34
-----------------------

* Auto-vivification of array and hash refs

  If an option is specified to require an array or hash ref, and a
  scalar reference is passed, this is auto-vivified to array or hash
  ref. 

  Example:

	@ARGV = qw(--foo=xx);
	GetOptions("foo=s@", \$var);
	# Now $var->[0] eq "xx"

* Auto-supplied verbose and help options are no longer taken into
  account when determining option ambiguity. This eliminates the
  common problem that you suddenly get an ambiguous option warning
  when you have an option "verbose" and run your program with "-v".

* Cosmetic changes in some error messages.

Changes in version 2.33
-----------------------

The following new features are marked experimental. This means that if
you are going to use them you _must_ watch out for the next release of
Getopt::Long to see if the API has changed.

* Getopt::Long can automatically handle --version and --help options
  if the calling program did not specify a handler explicitly.

  Two configuration parameters have been added: 'auto_help' (or
  'help') and 'auto_version' (or 'version'). If set, Getopt::Long will
  itself take care of --help and --version options. Otherwise,
  everything is exactly as it was before.

  The new features will be enabled by default for programs that
  explicitly require version 2.3203 or later.

  Getopt::Long uses module Pod::Usage to produce the help message from
  the SYNOPSIS section of the program's POD.

  Using a --help (or -?) command line option will write the SYNOPSIS
  section of the program's POD to STDOUT, and exit with status 0.
  However, an illegal option will produce the help text to STDERR,
  and exit with status 2. This is in accordance with current
  conventions.

* Two subroutines can be exported on demand:

  - VersionMessage

    This subroutine prints the standard version message.

  - HelpMessage

    This subroutine prints the standard help message.

  Both subroutines take the same arguments as Pod::Usage::pod2usage,
  see its documentation for details.  

  Example:

    use Getopt::Long 2.33 qw(GetOptions HelpMessage);
    GetOptions(...) or HelpMessage(2);

* Subroutine Configure can now be exported on demand.

* Negatable options (with "!") now also support the "no-" prefix.
  On request of Ed Avis.

* Some fixes with hashes and bundling.
  Thanks to Anders Johnson and Andrei Gnepp.
  Mandatory/optional status for hash values is now effective.
  String valued options with no value now default to the empty string
  instead of 1 (one).
  NOTE: The hash options still remain more or less experimental.

* Fix a pass_through bug where the options terminator (normally "--")
  was not passed through in @ARGV.
  Thanks to Philippe Verdret.

* Add FAQ: I "use GetOpt::Long;" (Windows) and now it doesn't work.

Changes in version 2.32
-----------------------

* Fix a bug where the initial value for a optional numeric argument
was not used for value of a hash option.

* Remove 5.005 thread safety code. Getopt::Long is completely thread
safe when using the 5.8 ithreads.

Changes in version 2.31
-----------------------

* Fix a bug where calling the configure method on a
  Getopt::Long::Parser object would bail out with 
  Undefined subroutine &Getopt::Long::Parser::Configure called at
  Getopt/Long.pm line 186.

Changes in version 2.30
-----------------------

* Fix a problem where a 'die' from a 'warn' via a localized
  $SIG{__WARN__} was not properly propagated from a callback.
  Thanks to Diab Jerius.

Changes in version 2.29
-----------------------

* Fix a problem where options were not recognized when both
  auto_abbrev and ignore_case were disabled. Thanks to Seth Robertson.

* Remove Carp.

Changes in version 2.28
-----------------------

* When an option is specified more than once, a warning is generated
  if perl is run with -w. This is a correction to 2.27, where it would
  unconditionally die.

  An example of duplicate specification is GetOptions('foo', 'foo'),
  but also GetOptions('foo=s', 'foo') and GetOptions('Foo', 'foo')
  (the latter only when ignore_case is in effect).

Changes in version 2.27
-----------------------

* You can now specify integer options to take an optional argument.
  that defaults to a specific value. E.g.,  GetOptions('foo:5' => \$var)
  will allow $var to get the value 5 when no value was specified with
  the -foo option on the command line.

  Instead of a value, a '+' may be specified. E.g.,
  GetOptions('foo:+' => \$var) will allow $var to be incremented when
  no value was specified with the -foo option on the command line.

* Fix several problems with internal and external use of 'die' and
  signal handlers.

* Fixed some bugs with subtle combinations of bundling_override and
  ignore_case.

* A callback routine that is associated with a hash-valued option will
  now have both the hask key and the value passed. It used to get only
  the value passed.

* Eliminated the use of autoloading. Autoloading kept generating
  problems during development, and when using perlcc.

* Avoid errors on references when an option is found in error, e.g.
  GetOptions('fo$@#' => \$var).
  Thanks to Wolfgang Laun.

* When an option is specified more than once, an error is now
  generated. E.g., GetOptions('foo', 'foo').
  Thanks to Wolfgang Laun.

* Lots of internal restructoring to make room for extensions.

* Redesigned the regression tests.

* Enhance the documentation to prevent common misunderstandings about
  single character options.

Changes in version 2.26
-----------------------

* New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
  Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
  and binary (0b1001).

* Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.

* Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.

Changes in version 2.25
-----------------------

* Change handling of a lone "-" on the command line. It will now be
  treated as a non-option unless an explicit specification was passed
  to GetOptions. See the manual.
  In the old implementation an error was signalled, so no
  compatibility breaks are expected from this change.

* Add $VERSION_STRING. This is the string form of $VERSION. Usually
  they are identical, unless it is a pre-release in which case
  $VERSION will be (e.g.) 2.2403 and $VERSION_STRING will be "2.24_03".

Changes in version 2.24
-----------------------

* Add object oriented interface:

    use Getopt::Long;
    $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser;
    $p->configure(...configuration options...);
    if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ...

* Add configuration at 'use' time:

    use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling);

* Add configuration options "gnu_getopt" and "gnu_compat".

  "gnu_compat" controls whether --opt= is allowed, and what it should
  do. Without "gnu_compat", --opt= gives an error. With "gnu_compat", 
  --opt= will give option "opt" and empty value.
  This is the way GNU getopt_long does it.

  "gnu_getopt" is a short way of setting "gnu_compat bundling permute
  no_getopt_compat. With "gnu_getopt", command line handling should be
  fully compatible with GNU getopt_long.

* Correct warnings when the user specified an array or hash
  destination using a non-lowercase option, e.g. "I=s@".

* Correct ambiguous use of 'set' and 'reset' in the Configuration
  section of the documentation. 

* Add configuration option "posix_default" to reset to defaults as if
  POSIXLY_CORRECT were set.

* Disallow "no" prefix on configuration options "default", "prefix" and
  "prefix_pattern". 

* Add a section "Trouble Shooting" to the documentation, with
  frequently asked questions.

Changes in version 2.23
-----------------------

* When a call-back routine issues 'die', messages starting with "!"
  are treated specially. Currently, only "!FINISH" is recognised (see
  the next bullet point). Other messages that start with "!" are
  ignored.

* Change 'die("FINISH") (see changes in 2.21) to die("!FINISH"). This
  is an incompatible change, but I guess noone is using this yet.

Changes in version 2.22
-----------------------

* Fixes a bug in the combination of aliases and negation.

  Old:  "foo|bar!" allowed negation on foo, but not on bar.
  New:  "foo|bar!" allows negation on foo and bar.

  Caveat: "foo|f!", with bundling, issues the warning that negation on
  a short option is ignored. To obtain the desired behaviour, use

	"foo!" => \$opt_foo, "f" => \$opt_foo
  or
	"foo|f" => \$opt_foo, "nofoo" => sub { $opt_foo = 0 }

  Remember that this is _only_ required when bundling is in effect.

Changes in version 2.21
-----------------------

* New documentation.

* User defined subroutines should use 'die' to signal errors.

* User defined subroutines can preliminary terminate options
  processing by calling die("FINISH");

* Correct erroneous install of Getopt::Long manpage.
  Previous versions seem to install Getopt::GetoptLong instead of
  Getopt::Long.

Changes in version 2.20
-----------------------

* Prevent the magic argument "<>" from being interpreted as option
  starter characters if it is the first argument passed.
  To use the characters "<>" as option starters, pass "><" instead.

* Changed license: Getopt::Long may now also be used under the Perl
  Artistic License.

* Changed the file name of the distribution kit from "GetoptLong..."
  to "Getopt-Long-..." to match the standards.

Changes in version 2.19
-----------------------

* Fix a warning bug with bundling_override.

There's no version 2.18
-----------------------

Changes in version 2.17
-----------------------

* Getopt::Long::config is renamed Getopt::Long::Configure. The old
  name will remain supported without being documented.

* Options can have the specifier '+' to denote that the option value
  must be incremented each time the option occurs on the command line.
  For example:

     my $more = 2;
     Getopt::Long::Configure("bundling");
     GetOptions ("v+" => \$more);
     print STDOUT ("more = $more\n");

  will print "more = 3" when called with "-v", "more = 4" when called
  with "-vv" (or "-v -v"), and so on.

* Getopt::Long now uses autoloading. This substantially reduces the
  resources required to 'use Getopt::Long' (about 100 lines of over
  1300 total).

* It is now documented that global option variables like $opt_foo
  need to be declared using 'use vars ...' when running under 'use
  strict'. 

* To install, it is now required to use the official procedure:

     perl Makefile.PL
     make
     make test
     make install

Changes in version 2.16
-----------------------

* A couple of small additional fixes to the $` $& $' fixes.

* The option prefix can be set using config("prefix=...") or, more
  powerful, with config("prefix_pattern=..."); see the documentation
  for details.

* More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.

This version is identical to 2.15, which was not released.

There's no version 2.14
-----------------------

Changes in version 2.13
-----------------------

* All regexps are changed to avoid the use of $`, $& and $'. Using one
  of these causes all pattern matches in the program to be much slower
  than necessary.

* Configuration errors are signalled using die() and will cause the
  program to be terminated (unless eval{...} or $SIG{__DIE__} is
  used).

* Option parsing errors are now signalled with calls to warn().

* In option bundles, numeric values may be embedded in the bundle
  (e.g. -al24w80).

* More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.

* Removed non-standard version number matching. Version 1.121 is now
  more than 1.12 but less than 1.13. 

Changes in version 2.12
-----------------------

* A single question mark is allowed as an alias to an option, e.g. 

    GetOptions ("help|?", ...)

Changes in version 2.11
-----------------------

* User linkage may be an object, provided the object is really a hash.

  For example:

    {	package Foo;
	sub new () { return bless {}; }
    }

    my $linkage = Foo->new();

    GetOptions ($linkage, ... );

* Some bug fixes in handling obscure cases of pass-through.

Changes in version 2.9
----------------------

* A new way to configure Getopt::Long. Instead of setting module local
  variables, routine Getopt::Long::config can be called with the names
  of options to be set or reset, e.g.

    Getopt::Long::config ("no_auto_abbrev", "ignore_case");

  Configuring by using the module local variables is deprecated, but
  it will continue to work for backwark compatibility.

Changes in version 2.6
----------------------

* Handle ignorecase even if autoabbrev is off. 

* POD corrections.

Changes in version 2.4
----------------------

* Pass-through of unrecognized options. Makes it easy to write wrapper
  programs that process some of the command line options but pass the
  others to another program.

* Options can be of type HASH, now you can say

    --define foo=bar

  and have $opt_define{"foo"} set to "bar".

* An enhanced skeleton program, skel2.pl, that combines the power of
  Getopt::Long with Pod::Usage. 
  Module Pod::Usage can be obtained from CPAN,
  http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Brad_Appleton. 

Possible incompatibility in version 2.4
---------------------------------------

Previous versions of Getopt::Long always downcased the option variable
names when ignorecase was in effect. This bug has been corrected. As a
consequence, &GetOptions ("Foo") will now set variable $opt_Foo
instead of $opt_foo.

