Cons

New ways to configure how the signatures of source files and derived files are used, n internal md5::debug package for easier debugging of signature calculation and a command-line option to use it, a new AfterBuild() method for executing Perl code after a target file has been evaluated, a new DefaultRules() method to allow the default build rules to be configured explicitly, a new RuleSet() method to fetch easily the stock set of build rules for a traditional UNIX/Linux or Microsoft Visual Studio tool chains, experimental support for building targets via direct execution of Perl code references, and changes to calling sequences of the semi-internal _Objects() and sig::md5::srcsig() methods.

Support for updating targets by executing Perl code instead of shell commands, updates to several methods to support processing arrays of file names, reworking of the config file namespace manipulation to support use of external Perl modules, a fix for the QuickScan dependency scanner's PATH separator on Windows NT, and fixes for various path name manipulations.

This release adds fixes for renaming similar files, and copying file permissions on non-UNIX systems. Win32 fixes have been added for UNC path names, upper-case drive letters, reporting exit status accurately, and appending .exe to program names if it's not already specified. Cons is now "perl -w" and "use strict" clean. A new method call supports chdir() to a Conscript file's directory, allowing globbing of file names. Debian and Red Hat packages are now available.

This is the first separate development release. It includes better error messages, Win32 fixes for binary file contents and case-insensitive drive letters, a fix for command-line directory targets with the -t option, and a fix for whitespace parsing in command-line rewriting via %[-%].

Fixes were made to QuickScan and SplitPath. Win32 fixes were made for the C++ default rule and .bat file wrapper.