Re: Term::ANSIColor v6.0.0 TRIAL release available

This seems like a reasonable approach to me. Can you elaborate a little 
on why you're dropping support for older Perls? I struggle to support 
old Perl's with my modules, so maybe I can borrow some insight for your 
experience.

-- Scottchiefbaker

On 8/1/2026 11:04 AM, Russ Allbery wrote:
> I have just uploaded a v6.0.0-TRIAL release of Term::ANSIColor to CPAN for
> early testing. I am hoping this will avoid the surprise that happened when
> I uploaded podlators v6.0.0 a couple of years ago with similar changes.
>
> This is advance warning that I will be dropping Perl 5.8 and 5.10 support
> from the Term::ANSIColor distribution on CPAN in the next release. I am
> following the Lyon Amendment for version support policy and only promising
> ongoing support for Perl versions within the support range spelled out
> there, although I am being even more conservative in bumping the minimum
> version for now.
>
> If you are a module author who wants to continue to support those old
> versions of Perl, please be aware that some Perl package managers will try
> to resolve dependencies from CPAN instead of from Perl core and always
> install the latest version. On Perl 5.8 and 5.10, this could potentially
> then fail once the new Term::ANSIColor is released due to its minimum Perl
> version. Alternatives are to use a different module management mechanism
> that understands supported Perl versions, or to install an older release.
>
> My current plan is to make an official v6.0.0 release in a month or two.
>
> Changes in this upcoming release:
>
>   - Drop support for Perl 5.8 and 5.10. Term::ANSIColor now requires Perl
>     5.12 or later.
>
>   - Term::ANSIColor now uses semantic versioning for the package and module
>     versions, with a v prefix to work with Perl's packaging system.
>
>   - uncolor called on \e[m or the empty string now returns "clear" rather
>     than nothing, since that escape sequence is a valid way to clear all
>     attributes. Thanks, johnsonea. (GitHub #9)
>
>   - Fix handling of the NO_COLOR environment variable so that it has no
>     effect when set to the empty string, as required by the specification.
>     Thanks, Ricardo Signes.
>
>   - Return the string with no changes if no attributes are passed to the
>     colored function instead of raising a warning. Thanks, val.
>
>   - Update the NOTES discussion of supported ECMA-048 attributes to correct
>     multiple inaccuracies and avoid making claims about which attributes
>     are commonly supported. Thanks to G. Branden Robinson for pointing out
>     that xterm now supports italic.
>
>   - Update the URL for information about truecolor support.
>