Ruby 1.9.2 approaches with release candidate

The Ruby developers have announced the first release candidate for Ruby 1.9.2, the latest iteration of the Ruby language. The developers say they are on schedule to release the final version in August after adjusting their plans in March to ensure that 1.9.2 would pass all RubySpec tests. Currently 1.9.2 RC1 passes 99% of those tests and is expected to be released in August.

Ruby 1.9.2, described as "mostly compatible" with 1.9.1, features a new IPv6-supporting socket API, new character set encodings, a multiple random number generator Random and a reimplemented Time which no longer suffers a year 2038 issue. Other enhancements include new methods added to Array, Enumerable, Enumerator, File, Env and Digest and many other classes. For a summary of the changes, refer to the 1.9.2 RC1 News file, or for a detailed breakdown of changes, see the change log.

As with all development releases, use of Ruby 1.9.2 RC1 in a production environment is not recommended, and the developers request that users report any bugs they find. The source code for Ruby 1.9.2RC1 is available to download from the announcement page in bzipped or gzipped tar format or as a zip file. Ruby is licensed under the Ruby licence or under the GPLv2.

(djwm)