Change Log: 2.104.0

C code normally relies on #include <assert.h> to add support for assert's. D has them builtin to the language, which is much more convenient and does not rely on a preprocessor. This extension adds

__check(assign-expression)

as an expression to ImportC. The compiler switch -checkaction=C gives it the same behavior as C's assert macro. If the compiler switch -release is thrown, the __check's are ignored. The __check expressions are handy for writing C programs that are free of reliance on #include.

__assert is not used due to conflicts with some C .h files.

Using alias this for classes has not been clearly specified and the lookup rules in such circumstances are not defined. As a consequence, various failures or crashes may appear when alias this is used in conjunction with classes. Starting with this release, alias this for classes is being deprecated. As an alternative, getter/setter methods may be used to replace the alias this. This can be generically handled by:

static foreach(member, __traits(allMembers, LeClass))
    mixin("ref auto " ~ member() { return $field_name." ~ member ~ "; }");

Deprecation warnings for DIP25 violations have been enabled since 2.092. Starting with this release, it will report errors, unless the -revert=dip25 switch is used. Using the switch (or its short version -dip25) is now deprecated.

ref int escapeRef(ref int x) {return x;}

// Formerly:
// Deprecation: returning `x` escapes a reference to parameter `x`
//        perhaps annotate the parameter with `return`
//
// Now it is an error, unless `-revert=dip25` is used

In order to make it dllimport, use:

export extern int a;

Up until this release, D had both traits(isVirtualFunction) and traits(isVirtualMethod) (and their coressponding traits(get...) counterpart). The differenrcte between the two is that isVirtualFunction returns true for final methods that do not override anything. This is in contradiction with the D spec which states that final functions that do not override other functions cannot be virtual. isVirtualMethod correctly returns false in that case.

Starting with this release, both traits(isVirtualFunction) and traits(getVirtualFunctions) are deprecated. If the behavior of traits(isVirtualFunction) is desired, it can be achieved by traits(isVirtualMethod, f) || (traits(isFinalFunction, f) && !traits(isOverrideFunction, f)).

In preparation for enabling -preview=in by default, using in parameters on function that have neither D nor C++ linkage is deprecated. Users can replace instances of in with either const or scope const. Refer to v2.101.0 changelog's for a full rationale.

Using in ref (or ref in) on function parameters will now yield a deprecation. Users are encouraged to remove the ref and compile with -preview=in, which will infer whether the parameter should be passed by reference or value. Users wanting a specific ABI are encouraged to use scope const ref instead. Note that this also applies to auto ref in, which is equivalent to in with -preview=in, but the latter doesn't require the function to be templated.

Previously, an immutable, const, inout or shared exception could be thrown and then caught in an unqualified catch (Exception e) clause. That breaks type safety. Throwing a qualified object is now deprecated. This helps to prevent possible mutation of an immutable object in a catch clause.

The runtime also modifies a thrown object (e.g. to contain a stack trace) which can violate const or immutable objects. Throwing qualified objects has been deprecated for this reason also.

Until now, clamp used a template constraint to check if the passed types could be used. If they were not, it was very tedious to figure out why.

As the template constraint is not used for overload resolution the constrains are moved into static asserts with expressive error messages.

Up until now graphemeStride, byGrapheme and decodeGrapheme functions in std.uni have used obsolete rules from earlier Unicode standards.

This release brings grapheme breaking rules up to date with Unicode version 15. This means Phobos functions now recognise extended pictogram sequences and prepend characters.

Up until now filter used a template constraint to check if the passed Data could be used. If it were not, it was very tedious to figure out why.

As the template constraint is not used to overload the symbol template function, the constrains are move into static asserts with expressive error messages.

Up until now sort used a template constraint to check if the passed Range could be used. If it were not, it was very tedious to figure out why.

As the template constraint is not used to overload the symbol template function, the constrains are move into static asserts with expressive error messages.

cSourcePaths passes the C source files in all specified directories to the compiler. All C sources found in the given directories for 'cImportPaths' are passed to the D compiler. This ensures backward compatible behaviour for projects that stored C sources aside of D source file, while porting them to D.

The second keyword 'cImportPaths' will add additional search paths for C headers. These directories are passed to the D compilers as addition include paths. The feature might need additional tweaking, because the include paths are currently joint with the D import paths. This might change in future to support independant search paths for C to be passed to the D compilers.

The previous automatic, on, off values are still supported, but undocumented, because they are used in almost no other program like this. For consistency, with other Linux tools especially, we have implemented and switched the defaults to the widely-used auto, never, always values.

Previous versions of dub stored packages in the following format: $CACHE_PATH/$PACKAGE_NAME-$PACKAGE_VERSION/$PACKAGE_NAME/ Starting from this version, the format will be: $CACHE_PATH/$PACKAGE_NAME/$PACKAGE_VERSION/$PACKAGE_NAME.

Introducing a new level will help users quickly list what packages they actually have installed, and reduce visibility of packages that might update frequently. It will render various commands (e.g. du) more useful, pave the way for a package GC function, and make manual browsing easier.

More importantly, it will allow future version of dub to infer the version from the path to the package, removing the need to read (or edit) the recipe file on every dub invocation.