New in 2013.12

+ The Whatever Star now works inside chain operators like comparisons
+ Private attributes from roles are now visible in the classes they apply to
+ Use invokedynamic in some places on the JVM.
+ Memory improvements in ListIter
+ Faster method List.combinations
+ Simple lookahead assertions in regexes are optimized
+ Regexes do less superfluous scanning

New in 2013.11

+ Many concurrency primitives harmonized with new S17, but still pretty fluid
+ Refactored build system that allows building rakudo on both backends in the same place
+ Order::Increase/Decrease are deprecated.  Please use Order::Less/More.
+ Leading whitespace is ignored for :sigspace
+ Better null pattern detection in regexes
+ The "gethostname" function implemented
+ Warn when private attributes are a marked rw or readonly
+ "is DEPRECATED" trait now produces report when process finished
+ Parcel.rotate implemented
+ Performance optimization: unfold junctions in 'when' clauses
+ capitalize/.capitalize have been removed, as per docs/deprecations
+ improved run()/shell(), these return Proc::Status-objects now
+ The ... range operator can now be chained: 1,2,3 ... 10,15,20 ... 100
+ various other bug fixes, optimisations and additional tests

New in 2013.10

+ postcircumfix {} and [] are now implemented as multi subs rather than multi methods.  This should allow for better optimization in the future.
+ Add support for "is DEPRECATED", making it easy for early adopters to stay current.
+ Track multiple spec changes for various container classes.
+ Greatly reduce object creation during Regex parsing.
+ Various portability fixes.
+ qx// and run() now auto-quote correctly
+ Allow #`[...]-style comments in regexes
+ unlink() behaves like P5's, it deletes write-protected files on windows

New in 2013.09
+ candidate argument to bless removed (per spec change)
+ @a.VAR.name and %h.VAR.name implemented
+ The $var.++ and $var.() syntaxes work
+ Lots of improvements on the Set and Bag types
+ [op]() with relational operators vacuously return True
+ tr/// implemented
+ Sockets on JVM implemented
+ sleep(), sleep-time() and sleep-till() updated to spec

New in 2013.08
+ "is default" traits on variables, $/, $!, $_ are default Nil
+ "is dynamic" traits on variables, $/, $!, $_ are dynamic
+ "of TypeObject" trait on variables
+ .VAR.default/dynamic/of return the state of these traits
+ Assigning Nil, calling undefine() restores the default value
+ .WHAT more accurately returns a type object for specifically typed cases
+ Option --gen-nqp for ConfigureJVM.pl
+ Include file name in parser errors
+ Parse labels, tr/// (both don't do anything useful under the hood yet)
+ CALLER::<$var> now only works on dynamic variables, as per spec.
+ Improvements to Threads, including Channel and KeyReducer (JVM only)
+ Asynchronous file reading (JVM only)
+ Improved JVM interop, including 'use :from<java>' (JVM only)
+ Fixed subroutine inlining on JVM
+ Fixed %*CUSTOM_LIB on JVM
* Fixed sink context handling on JVM
+ Reimplementation of Buf as a role
+ Implemented Blob role
+ Implemented sized/encoded Buf/Blob types (buf8, blob8, utf8, etc.)
+ Str.encode now returns most specific appropriate type
+ "once" phaser fully implemented
+ Named parameters "with" and "as" on uniq/squish
+ "samewith()" for calling method on same dispatcher again
+ "will" variable trait partially implemented ($_ not set yet)
+ Interpolating strings into heredocs now dedents properly
+ Solved a slowdown when declaring custom operators
+ Improved P5-regexes (backslash sequences, code blocks)
+ Make type objects appear as Nil in non-scalar contexts
+ Placeholder variables $^A .. $^Z no longer allowed, as per spec
+ printf %d now supports bigints also on Parrot
+ my and our scoped methods no longer go into the method table
+ Implemented keybag(), KeyBag.push, KeyBag.categorize
+ Re-implemented hash iteration for a performance win
+ Various optimizations, code cleanups and error message enhancements

New in 2013.07
+ Huge progress in JVM backend (feature-wise almost on par with Parrot)
+ List.first is now lazy
+ unspace before argument lists is now supported
+ fixed handling of indented heredocs
+ basic support for threads and promises (JVM only)
+ improved sprintf and other formatting routines
+ keyof method for typed hashes to get key type
+ Hash.perl nows works for typed hashes
+ 'is parcel' and 'is default' traits (work in progress)
+ Parcel.new now works
+ slight optimization to join of many items
+ implemented canonpath for Win32 IO::Spec
+ implemented squish
+ made []:(kv|p|k|v) work according to spec
+ properly parse Pod formatting codes with brackets other than <...>
+ the POD_TO_TEXT_ANSI environment variable now leads to some formatting
  being applied by Pod::To::Text
+ declaration of multiple operators in a scope now generates much smaller
  serialized output
+ Int.round method now takes a scale argument
+ implemented Complex.ceiling, Complex.floor, Complex.round

New in 2013.06
+ JVM backend added - passes initial sanity tests
+ type captures in signature binder implemented
+ IO::Spec::Unix.canonpath made more efficient
+ IO::Handle methods gist, perl, path added
+ Int.msb and Int.lsb implemented
+ dir() is now lazy
+ lines($limit) now doesn't read an extra line
+ .^mro methods added to a few role metaclasses
+ $/ and $! now visible in eval/REPL
+ IO::Handle.copy moved to IO::Path.copy
+ .{} adverb combinations all implemented
+ :$<foo> colonpair syntax implemented
+ 'my &foo; multi foo() { }' gives better error message
+ reduce() more aware of fiddliness
+ &first now returns Nil instead of failing
+ $*CWD and $*TMPDIR now contain IO::Path objects
+ REPL bug fixed when same line issued twice
+ pick/pop/push/roll/reverse/rotate/sort/classify/categorize
  now fail immediately if the list is infinite
+ categorize now returns a Hash, not a Parcel of Pairs
+ "undef" warning now refers to Any, not Mu
+ improved error messages for hash shapes
+ Hash.(classify|categorize) implemented
+ IO::Path.chmod implemented
+ IO::Path.succ and .pred implemented
+ syntax parser now allows a dot before hyper postfix
+ Str.succ added for codepoints \x2581..\x2588
+ Cool.path implemented
+ sequences between 1-codepoint strings implemented
+ div and / fail with X::Numeric::DivisionByZero (rather than dying)
+ doing .perl on Rat with denominator 0 doesn't go into an infinite loop anymore
+ Capture.exists implemented

New in 2013.05
+ IO::Spec, a port of Perl 5's File::Spec
+ support for exporting things form EXPORT subroutine
+ ?-quantifier in regexes doesn't create arrays in the Match object anymore
+ speedup of repeated shifts of large lists and arrays by 70%+
+ implemented Cool.lines
+ renamed IO to IO::Handle; IO is now a tag role, as per spec
+ simplify timezone handling
+ .Set and .Bag methods for List and Parcel
+ regex special characters can be used as delimiters
+ allow slice with :exists adverb on hashes …
+ .hash now accepts optional :type and :of named parameters
+ Make :exists and :delete up to spec …
+ fix for autoviv Typed hash problem
+ constant-fold infix:<~>
+ make decl and init of our-scoped arrays/hashes work
+ fix regex interpolation slowdown
+ fix exporting of subroutines
+ fix slurpy is-rw array-parameters
+ failed regex matches return Nil
+ add support for IO::Path::<os subclasses>
+ fix reporting of errors in gather/take.
+ added 125 extra opening/closing bracket-pairs
+ fix build failure on SPARC and PowerPC
+ underlying nqp layer supports parrot and JVM as backend, in preparation
  for JVM support in a future Rakudo release
> more than 100 not listed changes

New in 2013.04
+ add Capture.Bool()
+ optimize getting size of numeric Range
+ for loops are eager again
+ improvements to DUMP()
+ wrap NQP objects in ForeignCode, allowing perl6 OO calls on them
+ improve some messages on parsefail.
+ add link and symlink to IO
+ reduce compile-time autothreading to avoid issues with !==
+ improve optimizer - caching, constants
+ fix List.ACCEPTS() for Whatever special case
+ bring 'require'  closer to spec, esp. by taking paths
+ bring 'IO::Path' closer to spec
+ remove parrot dynops already provided as nqp ops
+ translate a dynop to nqp code
+ update from pir:: calls to nqp::

New in 2013.03
+ Type names now gist as (Any) rather than Any()
+ Warn when pure expressions are used in sink context
+ Cool.substr(...) now correctly accepts whatever-star closures
+ Fix character class subtraction bugs
+ Correctly detect undeclared variables in regex assertions
+ :i now respected in character classes
+ Improved output of Rat.perl
+ Implemented shellwords postcircumfix (%h<< $x 'foo bar' >>)
+ User-defined circumfixes now parse a semilist rather than just an expression
  and handle whitespace correctly
+ Forbid null operators
+ Warn about leading 0 not indicating octal in Perl 6
+ Fix some automatic end of statement on "}" parse bugs
+ Better error message on for(...) {} being interpreted as a function call
+ Array interpolations now properly do LTM
+ Respect :i in constructs like /:i <$var>/
+ Autothread "none" and "all" junctions before "any" and "one"
+ Helpful error if you write "else if"/"elif" instead of "elsif"
+ Throw exception if a Range is used as a Range endpoint
+ Corrected argument order in IO.seek
+ Multi-dispatch now mostly implemented in NQP, not C
+ Fixed LEAVE (and thus UNDO/KEEP/temp) not firing in multis or upon 'next'
  in a for loop

New in 2013.02
+ "Did you mean ..." suggestions for symbol-not-found errors
+ Compile-time optimization of some cases of junctions in boolean context
+ Date and DateTime now support a .delta method
+ IO::Socket.get now works again with non-Unicode characters
+ $() now takes $/.ast into account
+ proper return value for smartmatching against a substitution
+ better error reporting when a parent class does not exist
+ constant folding for routines marked as 'is pure'
+ natively typed variables now work in the REPL
+ better error reporting in the REPL
+ writable $_ in -p and -e one-liner
+ speed up eqv-comparison of Bufs
+ warnings for useless use of (some) literals, variables and constant
  expressions in sink context
+ /../ and rx/.../ literals match against $_ in sink context
+ array variable interpolation into regexes

New in 2013.01
+ sink context; for-loops are now lazy by default
+ first mentioning a variable from outer scope and then redeclaring it
  in the same scope (my $a; { $a; my $a }) is now an error.
+ the long-deprecated "SAFE" setting has been removed
+ 'require' now works with indirect module names
+ restored socket read semantics to returning the requested number of bytes
+ $obj.Some::Role::meth() now passes the correct $obj
+ try/CATCH now returns Nil when the CATCH is triggered, rather than the
  exception; this brings it in line with try without a CATCH
+ whatever-star cases of splice now implemented
+ sequences with Junction endpoints now work
+ corrected precedence of various set operators
+ fixed binding of non-Any things into hashes and arrays
+ can now import multis with the same name from different modules,
  provided all dispatchers are onlystar

New in 2012.12
+ ~/.perl6/lib is gone from the default include path
+ fixed indent method's handling of empty lines
+ fixed .indent(*)
+ parse errors now formatted like in STD, with color
+ location of parse error now indicated with context
+ highwater algorithm implemented, greatly improving accuracy of parse error
  line numbers and locations in a range of cases
+ some parse errors now report what the parser was looking for at the time the
  parse failed
+ better errors for unmatched closing brackets and two terms in a row
+ uniq now has === semantics as specified, not eq semantics
+ junction auto-threader optimized and is an order of magnitude faster
+ implemented sub term:<foo>
+ implemented texas versions of the Set and Bag operators
+ good error for use of . to concatenate strings
+ flattening large lists of Parcels now happens in about half the time
+ adopted STD panic/sorry/worry model, meaning that we now keep parsing
  further and can report multiple issues in a range of cases
+ we now catch and complain about post-declared type names
+ variable redeclarations are now just a warning, not an error
+ a mention of an &foo that is never defined is now an error
+ fixed .perl output for a Pair with a Pair key
+ interpolation of undeclared arrays, hashes and functions now detected
+ { a => $_ } now correctly considered a block, not a hash as before

New in 2012.11
+ user-defined operators only affect the parser in the scope they are declared in
+ fixed pre-compilation of modules containing user-defined operators
+ implemented precedence related traits (equiv, looser, tighter, assoc)
+ Perl 6 grammar NFAs are pre-computed, saving some work on each invocation; this
  shaved around 10% off the time needed to run the spectests
+ redeclaring a class as a role now gives a better error
+ the < foo bar > syntax in regexes now respects :i
+ << ... >> now interpolates, respecting quoting and pairs
+ fix error reporting for not-found dynamic variables
+ many protos now have much narrower signatures
+ quote parsing implementation aligned with the approach STD uses
+ regexes and quotes have better support for user-selected delimiters
+ quote adverbs
+ heredocs
+ carry out IO::Path.dir deprecation
+ implement infix:<andthen>
+ macro arguments now carry their lexical environment properly
+ postfix operators of the form '.FOO' take precedence over method calls
+ version control markers detected and gracefully complained over
+ INIT phasers now work as r-values
+ our ($x, $y) style declarations fixed
+ take and take-rw now evaluate to the taken value
+ implemented cando method on Routine
+ FIRST/NEXT/LAST can now be used in all types of loop (previously limited to for)
+ implemented operator adverbs
+ implemented :exists and :delete subscript adverbs and on hashes
+ implemented :p, :k, :v and :kv subscript adverbs on arrays and hashes
+ fixed shell words post-processing like << foo "bar $baz" >>
+ byte-order mark at the beginning of a file is now ignored
+ fixed bug that could lead to disappearing symbols when loading pre-compiled modules
+ Configure no longer passes --optimize to Parrot if --parrot-option is specified
+ deprecated current &foo semantics
+ fixed #`foo and friends at start of statementlist
+ simplify setting line number of compile-time exceptions
+ made :($a, $b) := \(1, 2) update $a and $b

New in 2012.10
+ :60[24, 59, 59] radix form
+ delegation to methods using the handles trait
+ fixed serialization of Buf
+ improved handling of :P5 regexes (more features, less bugs)
+ determining that an object lacks a method is usually now much faster
+ reduced memory usage of Match objects and optimized their construction a little
+ some code-generation improvements related to void context
+ implemented :dba('...') modifier in regexes
+ various error messages improved through use of :dba('...') in the Perl 6 grammar
+ implemented 'x' in pack
+ added $*CUSTOM-LIB
+ eval in a method can now see self, attributes and $?PACKAGE
+ each REPL line no longer implies a fresh GLOBAL
+ fixed some Pod parsing issues with Windows newlines
+ fixed interaction of :i and LTM (alternations and protoregexes now respect it)
+ import of custom meta-objects only affects the scope they are imported into
+ made <-> lambdas work
+ can now parse nested pairs of quote delimeters, like q{ foo q{ bar } baz }

New in 2012.09.1
+ is-prime and expmod
+ smart matching against Signature literals
+ binding to signatures in declarators
+ the is hidden and base traits
+ ability to set encoding on sockets temporarily removed (reverts to 2012.08 behavior)

New in 2012.09
+ class Iterable does not inherit from class Cool anymore
+ basic macro unquoting
+ basic support for m:P5/.../ regexes
+ support for indirect type names in routine and type declarations
+ compiler now built with QAST-based NQP, which generates better code, thus
  making the compiler a little faster
+ support for "is export" traits on constants
+ implemented Str.wordcase
+ can now write more complex proto subs and methods, using {*} to enter the
  dispatcher
+ tie-breaking with constraints now picks the first matching one rather than
  demanding they be mutually exclusive

New in 2012.08
+ tclc implemented
+ --> ReturnType in signatures and prefix type constraints of routine return
  types are honored
+ reduced memory usage at build time by around 35% - 40%
+ the argument to IO::Socket.recv is now interpreted as a number of characters
+ enum lists and arguments to parametric roles are now evaluated at compile time
+ switched to new internal AST and backend representations (QAST and PIRT)
+ removed deprecated routines Str.bytes and Str.lcfirst/&lcfirst
+ errors from traits now contain file name and line number
+ IO::File and IO::Dir have been removed
+ inliner has been improved and can inline a wider range of routines
+ simple implementation of the 'soft' pragma
+ fixed over-eager treatment of numeric literals as int rather than Int in cases
  where they appeared each side of an infix operator
+ detect circularities in module loading
+ sigilless variables in signatures when proeceed by | or \
+ prevented blocks that declare variables turning into hash constructors
+ made pre-compilation complain if dependencies are not pre-compiled yet
+ fixed interpolation of double-quoted strings in regexes
+ fixed issue with Num.new not being friendly to subclassing
+ implemented handling of complex numbers in Str.Numeric

New in 2012.07
+ Deprecated SAFE.setting in favor of RESTRICTED.setting
+ Ranges can now interpolate in argument lists
+ The built-in meta-objects (such as Metamodel::ClassHOW) now inherit from Any
+ &open now supports :enc/:encoding
+ Exception.fail, .resumable and .resume
+ Changed &dir to return IO::Path objects, not strings
+ Deprecated .bytes, .ucfirst, and .lcfirst
+ &slurp now supports :bin
+ &spurt implemented
+ cleaned up Version implementation
+ fixed :s file test
+ recognize obosolete rand() and rand(N) forms at compile time
+ anonymous subset types 'subset :: of Int where { $_ > 0 }'

New in 2012.06
+ Rakudo is now compiled with the same regex engine as user-space regexes use
+ transitive longest-token matching in protoregexes
+ changed the output of Match.gist
+ string to number conversion now fails for non-numbers
+ string to number conversion now recognizes radix notation
+ string incrementation is now aware of more scripts
+ <|w> word boundary in regexes implemented
+ more errors from within the meta model now contain line number and file name
+ &push and &unshift functions can now autovivify
+ user-defined operators properly participate in LTM
+ Rakudo's C code is now compiled with optimization switches turned on
+ basic module loading tracing with the RAKUDO_MODULE_DEBUG=1 env variable
+ longest token matching with alternations
+ require with argument list
+ compile time errors in loaded modules now show a module loading backtrace
+ improved list and .map handling
+ can now use | to flatten a pair into an argument list as a named argument

New in 2012.05
+ meta ops //=, ||= and &&= now short-circuit properly
+ Failure objects don't blow up the REPL anymore
+ allow case insensitive regex matches without ICU in limited cases
+ %*ENV now propagates into subprocesses
+ RAKUDOLIB env variable supported in addition to PERL6LIB
+ -I and -M command line options
+ $?LINE and $?FILE variables
+ warnings now include line number from program, not from CORE.setting
+ reduction meta-operator on list-associative ops now has correct semantics
+ now have :th alias for :nth in Str.match
+ import collisions now report the name of the module that is to blame
+ ms// fixed
+ <$x> in regexes caches the compiled regex, which can be a big performance win
+ implemented temp and let
+ 'use' can now import by tag name
+ 'use' with positional arguments
+ lib.pm
+ updated calling conventions for traits
+ implemented fff flip-flop operator; improvements to ff form also
+ removed current directory from default library search path
+ 'import' works
+ symbols installed in EXPORT in all nested packages, not just UNIT::EXPORT
+ enumeration types can be used as roles
+ END phasers now run when program ends with exit or an exception
+ fix Rat.floor and .ceiling to work for large numbers
+ improved Rat stringification
+ Real is now a role, as it should be
+ implemented < foo bar baz > syntax for alternations in regexes
+ implemented <( and )> syntax for setting from/to of match  in regexes
+ support for non-Int enums
+ basic support for Version literals
+ chmod now available as a function
+ roundrobin implemented
+ fixed a bug in precompilation of modules that use roles from other modules
+ basic implementation of pack and unpack
+ implemented substr-rw, which provides an l-value (assignable) substring
+ implemented <~~> (recursive call into self) syntax in regexes
+ 'LAZY' statement prefix

New in 2012.04.1
+ autvivification for arrays and hashes
+ more robust module precompilation
+ improved infrastructure for calling C code
+ $.foo style calls now contextualize correctly
+ &infix:<cmp> now return members of the Order enum in all cases
+ --doc=format now loads Pod::To::format and uses it for rendering
+ 'lib/' is no longer in the default include path
+ improved Parameter.perl
+ add .changed, .modified and .accessed methods to IO
+ improved --help output
+ install precompiled test module for speedup
+ fixed printing of backtraces when regexes are in the call chain
+ case insensitive regex matches now also work for interpolated variables

New in 2012.04
+ 'defined' is now a listop instead of a prefix op
+ fixed :16('0d...')
+ implemented simple interpolation in names in type declarations (class ::(const) { })
+ $=POD renamed to $=pod
+ fixed slicing of non-lists with infinite ranges
+ fixed accidental over-serialization, cutting ~300KB off each pre-compiled module
+ scalar positionals no longer treated as slices
+ implemented Routine.package
+ join will now always reify at least 4 elements of a list if possible
+ warnings now have line numbers
+ brought back Str.indent
+ ban declaring pseudo-packages, with a helpful error
+ a name followed by :: now returns .WHO, so Foo::<&bar> style lookups work
+ Exception.Bool now returns true
+ avoided re-parsing of longname, which speeds up the parse a bit overall
+ implemented MY, CALLER, OUTER, UNIT, CORE, SETTING and DYNAMIC pseudo-packages
+ implemented ::<$x> and ::{'$x'} style lookups
+ some small optimizations to various Str built-ins and MapIter
+ improved --doc output
+ added $*PERL
+ implemented IO::ArgFiles.slurp

New in 2012.03
+ updated to dyncall 0.7
+ infix:<eqv> now autothreads over junctions
+ more typed exceptions
+ pre-compiled modules/settings are now serialized, not re-built on load
+ startup time is now about 25% of what it once was
+ significant memory and time reduction (~40%) when pre-compiling modules/settings
+ BEGIN and CHECK now work in r-value context
+ constant declarator now works with non-literals on the RHS
+ implemented Set, Bag, KeySet and KeyBag types
+ implemented :exhaustive and :nth match adverbs
+ implemented ENTER, LEAVE, KEEP and UNDO phasers
+ implemented FIRST, NEXT and LAST phasers in for loops
+ implemented START phaser, including use of it in r-value context
+ implemented also syntax for adding traits inside a block/package
+ implemented macro declarations and quasi quotes (sans placeholders)
+ implemented anonymous enums
+ 'our multi' now dies (used to ignore the 'our')
+ implemented PRE and POST phasers
+ ~25% performance improvement to array indexing

New in 2012.02
+ catch duplicate accessor generation required of "has $.x; has @.x;"
+ many more typed exceptions thrown
+ undeclared attributes mentioned in signatures now caught at compile time
+ empty Buf is now False in boolean context
+ implemented <prior>
+ implemented /<Foo::Bar::baz>/ syntax
+ /<x>/ can call a predeclared lexical regex x
+ conjugate is now called conj
+ enumeration values .gist to just the key, not the full name
+ <!> in regexes fixed
+ implemented Match.make(...) method
+ better error reporting for improper use of nextsame and friends
+ initializers now parsed as part of a variable declarator
+ trailing whitespace now removed from Pod declarator blocks
+ List.tree made more useful
+ implemented rename and copy functions
+ ().pick and ().roll now return Nil
+ default MAIN usage message includes .WHY of the candidates
+ X::Base eliminated in favor of Exception
+ various range iteration fixes; Num ranges now produce Num lists
+ LHS of the xx operator is now thunked
+ can now declare state/constant/our in regexes (before, only :my worked)
+ improved backtraces
+ catch constructs that require an invocant but don't have one
+ catch uses of virtual method calls in submethods and attribute initializers
+ improved parsing and performance of reduction meta operators
+ Rat arithmetic now properly defaults to Num if the denominator is too big
+ FatRat implemented
+ implemented long forms of regex adverbs (e.g. "ignorecase" maps to "i")
+ fixed "but True" and "but False"
+ object hashes, with the my %h{SomeObjectType} syntax
+ implemented Int($x) style coercions
+ implemented Capture.perl

New in 2012.01
+ -c command line option re-implemented
+ take flattening bug fixed
+ duplicate named parameter names detected
+ fixed clone being too shallow with regard to containers
+ fixed negative modulo for bigint
+ better Routine.perl
+ .DEFINITE macro implemented
+ .^methods, .^attributes and .^parents now support :excl (the new default) and :all
+ Array.delete implemented
+ restored basic -n and -p functionality
+ improved parameter introspection
+ fixed operations on bigints when the first operand had been mixed in to
+ fixed multi-dispatch narrowness calculation for native types
+ binding to array and hash elements
+ added Order enumeration, and updated cmp and <=> to use it
+ adding various missing magicals, such as &?ROUTINE and ::?ROLE
+ accessor generation for my $.x and our $.x cases
+ fixed @x>>.() (hyper-invocation)
+ updated Complex.Str to match current spec
+ fixed eval to see GLOBAL properly
+ implemented 0 but Answer(42) style mix-ins
+ fixed various issues in scoping/handling of $/
+ fixed usage of make in a regex (previously, only worked in action methods)
+ optimized Range.roll and Range.pick for large ranges
+ fixed non-numeric, no-Str ranges
+ fixed build on Cygwin
+ fixed regex backtracking into subrules and captures

New in 2011.12
+ improved protoregex support, including NFA caching
+ <before ...> and <after ...> (lookahead and lookbehind)
+ backslash sequences in character classes
+ fixed quantified captures and :r interaction bug
+ optimized match object construction, ListIter, substr and chomp
+ improved performance of send/get on sockets
+ optimizer detects missing private methods and simplifies calls (level 3 only)
+ fixed some issues when an array was assigned to itself, maybe using .=
+ implemented .wrap and .unwrap, plus wrap handles with a .restore method
+ implemented .trans on strings
+ unicode properties can be matched against in regexes
+ binding to @, % and & sigils now checks for the appropriate role
+ assignments to variables declared with the & sigil now checked for Callable
+ typed hashes, partial support for typed arrays
+ some parametric role fixes
+ can now use but operator with a type object
+ smartmatching of regexes against arrays and hashes
+ socket IO now implements .write and custom input line separators
+ implemented getc
+ implemented .WALK
+ implemented ff, ^ff, ff^ and ^ff^
+ implemented .REPR macro
+ implemented Proxy class
+ some typed errors are now thrown from within the compiler
+ stubbed methods from roles now require those methods to be implemented
+ updated docs/ROADMAP
+ .WHICH now returns ObjAt objects
+ defining new operators

New in 2011.11
+ CATCH blocks are now much closer to spec
+ big integer support
+ basic protoregex support with NFA-driven LTM for some declarative constructs
+ correct default values for natively typed variables
+ fixed initialization of state variables
+ improved support for natively typed variables
+ catch more uses of undeclared variables
+ splice() is now implemented
+ uniq() is now implemented
+ several runtime errors now throw properly typed error objects
+ various performance improvements, for example to the X meta op and Str.succ
+ improved support for MAIN argument parsing
+ fixed lexicals/recursion bug
+ IO.copy is now implemented

New in 2011.10
+ operators and functions with native type arguments
+ detection of call to undefined routines at CHECK time
+ various optimizations: inlining of operators, CHECK time dispatch decisions
+ performance improvements of MapIter
+ support @$foo style derefencing/coercion
+ Exception.backtrace
+ eval() has stopped to catch exceptions

New in 2011.09
+ Rewritten meta object protocol and object storage
+ many speedups
+ Int, Num and Str are now far more lightweight
+ much more robust handling of infinite list
+ basic LoL (List of Lists) support
+ :U and :D type modifiers
+ protos and multis now conform to the new spec
+ improved enum support
+ basic 'constant' declarator
+ .WHAT and friends as macros
+ chrs sub and method
+ support for .gist
+ run() has been renamed to shell() to conform to current spec
+ hyper methods now descend into nested data structures
+ basic safe mode (through --seting=SAFE)
+ recording and reporting of test timings (tools/test_summary.pl)
+ Pod parsing and --pod=text option
+ basic support for .WHY
+ greatly improved BEGIN-time support
+ traits applied at BEGIN time for packages, routines and attributes
+ parametric roles reify types properly, fixing many bugs
+ better handling of type variables
+ support $?CLASS, which is generic in roles
+ support import/export of custom meta-objects for built in package declarators
+ custom meta-objects can override method dispatch
+ faster, allocation-free multi-dispatch cache
+ a custom BUILD does not suppress default values
+ undeclared attributes detected and reported at compile time
+ basic support for native int/num types on lexical variables
+ int/num as attributes are stored compactly in the object body

New in 2011.07
+ fractional powers of negative numbers now result in Complex numbers
+ obtain spectests from a specific branch of the `roast' repo
+ fix bug that prevented build on systems with little RAM

New in 2011.06
+ added take-rw built-in
+ numerous build system improvements
+ assignment now evaluates arguments right-to-left

New in 2011.05 release
+ added a call counter for builtins in Perl 6-level subroutines
+ gcd (greatest common divisor) and lcm (largest common multiple) operators
+ build system improvements
+ added --ignore-parrot-rev option to Configure.pl
+ Configure.pl now creates "config.status" file
+ fixed relational operators when used with NaN
+ implemented Int.base
+ speedup smart-matching against numbers and Str.comb with default arguments
+ added RAKUDO_SUBLOG environment var for tracking subroutine calls
+ overall performance speedups

New in 2011.04 release
+ implemented Str.indent
+ A new, much simpler API and implemention of IO::Socket::INET
+ Unified error messages to use "Cannot"

New in 2011.03 release
+ improved error message on type check failure in assignment
+ -n and -p command line options
+ Test.pm's skip() now has argument ordering consistent with todo()
+ implemented complex conjugation
+ more IO methods related to stat

New in 2011.02 release
+ IPv6 support
+ more robust numeric exponentation
+ --ll-backtrace command line option for PIR level stack traces
+ future-proof for upcoming generational garbage collector in parrot
+ various constructs now return Nil
+ infix:<orelse> implemented
+ infix:<^^> and infix:<xor> improved
+ negation metaoperator is now restricted to operators that return Bool

New in 2011.01 release
+ faster subroutine calls (type cache)
+ 'handles RoleName' now works
+ Test.pm: s/done_testing/done/
+ non-spec debugging pragma Devel::Trace
+ improved parsing of keyword boundaries
+ sped up .comb

New in 2010.12 release
+ new .trans algorithm
+ fixed $*PID on MacOS X
+ don't register names of anon types
+ configuration improvements
+ updated Any functions
+ fix $*IN_DECL leakage
+ implemented Hash.hash
+ Temporal updates
+ Buf.decode fixed
+ open() fixed for binary flag

New in 2010.11 release
+ now works with parrot on git
+ implemented qw//
+ 5x speedup of .trans 
+ various improvements to Set
+ don't use deprecated charset ops anymore
+ Bool.Bool and Bool.so now return False
+ implemented &elems
+ improved error for Date.new(Str)
+ improvement on hyperoperators
+ indexings like .[0 .. *-1] work now

New in 2010.10 release
+ True and False now stringify according to the specification
+ basic form of 'require' for run time module loading
+ warnings from the setting now produce line numbers in the users' program
+ local time zone available as $*TZ
+ more consistent line numbers from warnings
+ getting and setting attributes via introspection
+ implement samespace, ms// and ss///
+ hyper operator invoving = can now modify their arguments
+ speed up Str.flip by over a factor of 100

New in 2010.09 release
+ new methods on IO concerning the modify and access time of files
+ S32::Temporal now completely implemented
+ Instants and Durations
+ speedup for slurp() and .reverse built-ins
+ various improvements to the Set type
+ revamp of series operator code, and adaption to new spec
+ implement ...^ up-to-but-excluding-series operator
+ allow :r and :ratchet modifiers on regex quoting constructs
+ Bool.pick
+ significantly improved enum implementation

New in 2010.08 release
+ syntactic adverbs on substitutions, rx quotes and m//, e.g. '$x ~~ s:2nd/a/b/'
+ updated ROADMAP
+ speedups for integer operations
+ the Match class's .perl method now produces useful, roundtrippable Perl code
+ the MAIN subroutine can now parse short arguments
+ the cmp and <=> operators now work on more numeric types
+ the Buf class now has .pack and .unpack methods with partial functionality
+ numeric bitshift operators now have the correct precedence
+ smartmatch against True or False is now an error

New in 2010.07 release
+ support for delegation via 'handles'
+ implemented binding with := and read-only binding with ::=
+ implement OS related built-ins like mkdir, cwd
+ improved diagnostics in Test.pm
+ basic binary IO, buffer encoding and decoding
+ magic $*ARGFILE file handle
+ more robust closures
+ multi-level Array and Hash element autovivification
+ perl6 --version now identifies the exact git sha1 and parrot version
+ implemented 'is rw' trait on classes
+ file tests now work through IO, ie.  'README'.IO ~~ :e
+ generic, multi-level Whatever-currying (eg grep !(* % 2), @list)
+ improved error reporting in many cases, especially multi-method dispatch
+ implemented backtracking into capturing groups and subrules
+ phasers refactored, they can now return results and see the setting
+ custom circumfix operators
+ basic .wrap and .unwrap implementation
+ weighted Hash.pick
+ .perl on custom classes now dumps attributes
+ Basic implementation of the ==> and <== feed operators
+ Int ~~ Num is no longer true, as per spec; use Numeric instead
+ Improvements to enumerations

New in 2010.06 release
+ new list model with immutable iterators, lots of fixes to lists and arrays
+ variable interpolation into regexes
+ compile time Whatever currying for infix, prefix and postfix operators
+ autoprinting in the REPL shell
+ in @*INC, the current directory '.' now comes at the end, as in Perl 5
+ basic Buf implementation: Str.encode/Buf.decode work for UTF-8
+ proper Perl 6 match objects
+ Backtraces with Perl 6 subroutine names and line numbers
+ MAIN and USAGE subs
+ basic version of Str.trans
+ mix-ins with non-roles (5 but 'string')
+ @*ARGS is now read-write
+ IO::Socket::INET again works in CORE
+ hash and array slices have been greatly improved
+ basic support for callframe() and CallFrame type

New in 2010.05 release
+ implemented lexical and anonymous classes and roles
+ manual pages are now installed
+ the .match method now understand the adverbs :c; :p, :nth, :x, :g, :ov
+ test reports with tools/test_summary.pl now record detailed timing information
+ many improvements to numeric handling
+ implemented S (sequential) meta operator
+ fixed placeholder parameters ($^a, $^b)
+ basic enum implementation
+ implemented List.classify
+ turned on an additional 47 test files
+ further improved error messages
+ implement zero-argument versions of many binary operators
+ basic interoperation with Perl 5 through the external Blizkost project

New in 2010.04 release
+ interpolation of expression ending in postcircumfixes into double-quoted
  strings (for example "cards: @cards.sort()")
+ prefix and postfix hyper operators
+ multi subs now work properly when lexically scoped
+ implemented item assignment with tighter precedence than the comma operator
+ loading of .pm6 modules
+ Basic implementation of Numeric and Real roles
+ implementation of DateTime and Date built-in types
+ named regexes can be declared outside of grammars again
+ support for numbers with arbitrary radix, including fractional numbers (:16<DEAD.BEEF>)
+ implemented fmt(), printf() note() and IO.getc built-in routines
+ infix meta operators now inherit the precedence of the modified operator
+ &[+] short name for infix operators
+ hash slices
+ signature literals
+ smart-matching against signatures
+ more consistent implementation of prefix:<|> for interpolating things into
  signatures
+ better error message on accidental usa of Perl 5 features such as << as
  bit shift operators, and catch many perl 5 magic variables
+ implemented type Cool
+ implemented anonymous classes and roles
+ implemented $*PID
+ method introspection works again
+ better error message for calling non-existent routine in a namespace
+ now run programs with the setting as an outer lexical scope, as per spec

New in 2010.03 release
+ The trigonometric functions and the Rat class have received numerous
  updates, making them faster and more complete
+ .^parent now works again
+ The invocation logic has received various speedups
+ Hash creation has been optimized
+ Various improvement related to constant internal strings have led to
  slight speedups
+ .pick, .sort, .keys, .values, .kv, sprintf were reimplemented, ported
  from the old 'alpha' branch
+ The statement modifier for loop works again
+ Various parsing bugs have been sorted out; one having to do with
  closing curly braces at the end of a line not terminating the statement
+ .CREATE, .BUILDALL and .can in the OO system have received attention,
  some of it leading to mild speedups
+ $*PROGRAM_NAME and @*ARGS now work
+ Deferral works again (nextsame/nextwith/callsame/callwith)
+ Array.delete works again
+ Fixed .?, .+ and .* along with matching latest spec on .?
+ Switch untyped variables to default to Any instead of Mu
+ &foo lookup syntax works again (including for operators)
+ Various cases of eqv operator implemented
+ Make overriding postcircumfix:<( )> work again, this time per spec
+ Make junctions of code objects invokable again
+ Lazy implementation of the Z operator
+ Added back @*INC
+ Read-only %*ENV support
+ Grammars work again
+ Implemented regexes taking parameters
+ Implemented proto-regex declarations
+ Initial work on getting subset types working again
+ Add back many of the file test methods
+ Added docs/S11-Modules-proposal.pod documenting how we intend to handle
  modules through Rakudo *
+ First cut of locating and loading modules with a given version and/or
  authority, and in absence of a requirement selection of the latest
  version by default if multiple are available.
+ Many improvements to the series operator
+ Implemented 'need' and a first cut of 'import'; 'use' works in terms
  of them
+ Import is now into the lexical scope by default, as per spec
+ Removed requirement to hand-pre-compile .pm to .pir for use with 'use'
+ Improved multi-dispatch candidate not found errors to include details of
  the available candidates
+ Implemented 'use MONKEY_TYPING'
+ Many cases of smart-match work again
+ $x.Foo::bar() and $x.$y() work again
+ $.foo(1,2,3) works again
+ !, R, X and Z meta-operators work, albeit with some caveats
+ s/foo/bar/ and s[foo] = 'bar' substitution syntax implemented
+ Array.rotate added back
+ User defined operators (prefix, postfix, infix) working again
+ Many more small but important improvements to built-in types and functions
+ Various other bug fixes
+ ROADMAP updates

New in 2010.02 release
+ The branch formerly known as 'ng' becomes the new master branch
+ The previous master branch is now Rakudo/alpha
+ NQP-RX replaces NQP in the Parrot Compiler Toolkit, enabling the
  source code of the compiler to be written in a subset of Perl 6 that
  is much more powerful, most importantly with regexes, as the name
  suggests
+ The revised Perl6/Grammar.pm is much closer to the canonical STD.pm
+ Regexes may declare contextual and lexical variables
+ Lazy lists and arrays are partly implemented
+ The object metamodel is largely written in NQP-RX instead of PIR
+ The name of the root of the object hierarchy is now Mu
+ The term 'undef' is gone, replaced by Nil, Mu or *.notdef depending on
  context
+ Builtin classes derive from Cool which derives from Any
+ The refactored source code is more compact and more easily extended
+ The number of spectests passed has reduced from a peak of 32731 in
  alpha to 24221, because porting the functionality to the new master
  is still ongoing
+ Release numbering changes from 'dash' to 'dot' delimiter to get on
  better with various package management systems

New in 2010-01 release
+ Added method form of eval.
+ Implemented :s and :l file operators
+ Added functions for logarithms using $base
+ Refactored subroutine calls to use new Context structures in Parrot 2.0.0

New in 2009-12 release
+ Only minor maintenance was done because all attention was being given
  to the Rakudo/ng branch, bringing in the new nqp-rx bootstrap compiler

New in 2009-11 release
+ Rakudo now uses Parrot's updated calling convention features
+ support unpacking of arrays, hashes and objects in signatures
+ changed .pick to use :replace instead of :repl
+ many core setting optimizations and bugfixes
+ IO::Socket.recv() has been extended to accept a parameter specifying the
  number of bytes which will be received
+ Rakudo now looks up %INC in the right namespace when loading libraries for
  foreign languages

New in 2009-10 release
+ smolder reports for spectest runs
+ more Complex trig functions
+ pure Perl 6 implementation of the Complex type
+ some variants of the new series operator
+ correct construction of twigilled colonpairs
+ infix:<eqv>, .pred and .succ for the Rat type
+ when configuring with --gen-parrot, pass --optimize to parrot's Configure.pl
+ moved more operators to the setting and thus made them overloadable
+ { %hash } now correctly constructs a hash, not a closure
+ new, faster low level Signature type
+ improved Signature introspection
+ new, much faster signature binder
+ improved various error messages related to signature binding
+ signature literals now supported
+ binding of named arguments to positional parameters
+ attributive parameters implemented
+ package blocks now run as immediate blocks, as per the spec
+ lexical variables declared outside of packages now visible inside them

New in 2009-09 release
+ updates to numeric operators: infix</>(Int, Int) creates a Rat
+ Rat (rational) numbers
+ overloadable builtin operators
+ contextual variables
+ setting values in %*ENV now works
+ partial support for trigonometric functions of complex numbers
+ better handling of custom traits, many builtin traits moved to core setting
+ improved type dispatch for builtin operators, type coercions

New in 2009-08 release
+ Rakudo must now be built from an installed parrot, and can be installed
  itself
+ separate Perl 6 meta class
+ introspection on roles
+ declaration of methods in the meta class by writing method ^newmethod($obj)
+ :tree options for parent class, attribute and role introspection
+ allow some custom postcircumfix:<( )> methods
+ moved more built-ins into the setting
+ implement operators infix:<!%> (divisibility test) and prefix [||] and [//]
+ updated ROADMAP in preparation for the Rakudo Star release
+ instead of throwing nasty parse errors, Rakudo now informs you that feed
  operators are not yet implemented
+ improved testing: planless testing with done_testing(); better diagnostic
  output from is()
+ the syntax for embedded comments has changed
+ embedded Pod comments are now recognized
+ support for defining traits and applying them to routines, classes and roles
+ "hides" trait (class A hides B { ... }), and "is hidden"
+ better handling of slurpy and optional in multi-dispatch
+ use of .?, .+ and .* with indirect calling form ($obj.+@cands)
+ .can improved; now returns something usable as an iterator
+ lastcall implemented

New in 2009-07 release
+ extensive refactor of the multi dispatch code to get closer to the spec
+ better handling of named arguments in multi dispatch
+ operators and traits can be defined in the setting
+ basic implementation of the series and eqv operators
+ refatored trait code to match updated specification
+ implemented more cases of smartmatching against hashes
+ fixed state variables to work with //= and ||= initialization
+ improved testing: when Rakudo dies with  'Null PMC Access' it is never
  considered a success
+ implemented the :all flag to split which keeps captures
+ added List.rotate builtin
+ nextwith and callwith now also work properly with methods
+ take() without outer gather now merely warns
+ introspection of roles and attributes

New in 2009-06 release
+ refactored and corrected object initialization (BUILD/CREATE)
+ attributes initilizations can now use attributes defined earlier
+ method calls are now faster
+ basic safe mode that forbids IO and execution of external programs
+ implemented meta operators for user defined operators
+ initial implementation of Temporal (date/time related objects)
+ type checking of implicit return values
+ improved introspection methods
+ cleaned up IO methods
+ improved "is export" handling for modules and setting
+ automatically transcode to iso-8859-1 for faster parsing when possible
+ refactored and corrected assignment, .succ, .pred, C<++>, C<-->, 
  postcircumfix:<[ ]>, Whatever
+ "module Foo;"  now allows statements before it
+ improved Unicode string handling
+ better support for Str increment/decrement in Unicode ranges
+ many performance improvements

New in 2009-05 release
+ updated docs/ROADMAP
+ basic support for custom operators
+ operators can now be referenced as &infix:<+>
+ meta operator support for custom operators
+ cross-language library loading
+ stack traces now include source file name and line number
+ implemented Regex type
+ .WALK (parent classes in configurable order)
+ .name method on routines
+ refactored enums, thereby fixing many enum related bugs
+ fixed namespace of eval()ed code
+ implemented parallel dispatch (@objects>>.methods)
+ initial support for «...» quotes
+ text files now default to utf8 encoding
+ fixes to Match.perl and Match.chunks
+ implemented 'constant name = $value'
+ documented build dependencies
+ grep() accepts general matcher, things like @list.grep(Int) work
+ trigonometric functions (sin, cos, ...) now available via 'use Num :Trig'
+ qx{} quotes now work (except on Windows)
+ hyper-operators on hashes now work (%a >>+<< %b)
+ initial implementation of $foo.@bar
+ refactored wrap and unwrap to work with candidate lists; fixes some bugs
+ refactored/improved callsame and callwith, and added nextsame and nextwith
  (only work for dispatches of the form $foo.@bar and with wrap so far)
+ partial implementation of .^parents and .^methods
+ can initialize attributes in terms of others
+ many other bug fixes and performance enhancements

New in 2009-04 release (#16, "Bratislava")
+ wrap and unwrap for subroutines
+ calling a method on a Whatever star generates a closure
+ 1+*, *+1 and others generate closures (*-1 missing)
+ Associative, Positional and Callable are now parametric roles
+ typed arrays and hashes
+ parametric role subtyping (R[T1] ~~ R[T2] where T1 ~~ T2)
+ .invert and .push on Hashes
+ enforce return types of subroutines (partial implementation)
+ parallel testing
+ Configure.pl now supports passing options to parrot's Configure
+ support for lexical subroutines and multis
+ implemented \c[character name] in double quoted strings and regexes
+ implemented Perl 5 regexes
+ rx/.../ regex quoting
+ sockets support has been added (IO::Socket)
+ regex patterns may now be quantified by a separator regex
+ moved many methods to the setting
+ exporting and importing by tags, support :DEFAULT export tag
+ implemented START blocks
+ implemented roots builtin
+ implemented .ast on Match objects
+ added Match.caps and Match.chunks
+ split() now supports limits in all cases
+ prefix:<=> and the "fish operator" ( =<> ) are now gone
+ .readline is now .get
+ roles are now punned on any method call on the role
+ many other bug fixes

New in 2009-03 release (#15, "Oslo")
+ implemented $*PROGRAM_NAME magical variable
+ outer lexicals are now visible in eval()
+ next, last etc. work in grep()
+ added R metaoperator
+ add an initial draft of Match.perl 
+ refactor Grammar and Match class hierarchy
+ fix if/unless/while/until/for/... on line after close curlies
+ add Q quoting, including Q:PIR
+ added "state" variables
+ //= fixed to short-circuit, and added short-circuiting &&= and ||=
+ multi-subs now have the Multi type and have a .candidates method
+ multi-method dispatch now looks up the class hierarchy
+ various fixes to using roles as type constraints
+ support bare sigils in signatures
+ more methods and functions moved to (Perl 6) setting
+ many other bug fixes

New in 2009-02 release (#14, "Vienna")
+ first release independent of Parrot releases
+ passing 7076 spectests (+796 since 2009-01 release)
+ build and use fakecutable (perl6.exe) by default
+ redesigned build, configuration, and test subsystems
+ add settings/ directory for builtins written in Perl 6 (was "prelude")
+ improve diagnostics in Test.pm
+ allow anonymous classes via C<::>
+ re-use existing parameterized roles instead of creating new ones
+ roles now pun classes when .new is called on them
+ 'proto' now marks all same-named routines as 'multi'
+ XopX is now Xop
+ implement <-> (rw) pointy blocks
+ added min= and max= metaoperators
+ many many bugfixes
+ publish release schedule
+ documentation improvements
