What Version of Perl Introduced '=encoding'?

[jgamble]

I'm considering adding an '=encoding' command paragraph to my POD instead of using the E<> formatting code (see perlpod). But I'm concerned that this feature appeared in a version of Perl later than the versions I want to support.

What version of Perl introduced '=encoding'? And is there a table somewhere that lists features introduced versus the version of Perl in which those features appeared?

Thanks.

[toolic]

=encoding is not mentioned in http://search.cpan.org/~gsar/perl-5.6.0/pod/perlpod.pod on CPAN, but it is in http://perldoc.perl.org/5.8.8/perlpod.html.

I didn't see any mention of when it was added when I grepped through the perldelta docs

[remiah]

When I saw the content of perldoc, It was Pod::Perldoc, which shows us pod pages.

When I see CHANGES of Pod::Perldoc, there was a mention for =encoding trouble.

I guess this RT has some relation to OP's problem.

[Anonymous Monk]

That pod feature (like 99% of pod features) isn't dependent on perl version. See perlpodspec/Pod::Simple

[Tux]

The ChangeLog of Pod::Simple states:

2003-08-12  Sean M. Burke <[e-mail]>
    * Release 0.97
    * Loooking goooooood.  Not smelling so much like beta anymore!
    * I think this might be the last version before I go
      putting "use utf8" all over the place.

    * Added placefolders for "=encoding" support.  If you use
      "=encoding", you'll get an error about "not yet implemented"
      instead of "unknown directive".
…
2003-09-01  Sean M. Burke <[e-mail]>
    * Release 2.01
    * Moved all version numbers up to 2.01 for reasons of Tibetan
      numerology.

    * Implemented =encoding.  Thanks a million to Jarkko, Autrijus,
      Dan Kogai, and many others for their help, patience, and
      encouragement.

We have a very useful tool called corelist available when installing Module::CoreList that helps you answer the next question:

$ corelist -a Pod::Simple

Pod::Simple was first released with perl v5.9.3
  v5.9.3     3.04
  v5.9.4     3.04
  v5.9.5     3.05
  v5.10.0    3.05
  v5.10.1    3.07
  v5.11.0    3.07
  v5.11.1    3.08
  v5.11.2    3.10
  v5.11.3    3.13
  v5.11.4    3.13
  v5.11.5    3.13
  v5.12.0    3.13
  v5.12.1    3.14
  v5.12.2    3.14
  v5.12.3    3.14
  v5.12.4    3.14
  v5.13.0    3.13
  v5.13.1    3.14
  v5.13.2    3.14
  v5.13.3    3.14
  v5.13.4    3.14
  v5.13.5    3.14
  v5.13.6    3.14
  v5.13.7    3.15
  v5.13.8    3.15
  v5.13.9    3.15
  v5.13.10   3.15
  v5.13.10   3.15
  v5.13.11   3.16
  v5.14.0    3.16
  v5.14.1    3.16
  v5.14.2    3.16
  v5.15.0    3.16
  v5.15.1    3.18
  v5.15.2    3.18
  v5.15.3    3.19
  v5.15.4    3.19
  v5.15.5    3.19
  v5.15.6    3.19
  v5.15.7    3.19
  v5.15.8    3.19
  v5.15.9    3.20
  v5.16.0    3.20
  v5.16.1    3.20
  v5.17.0    3.20
  v5.17.1    3.20
  v5.17.2    3.20
  v5.17.3    3.23
$