librasteve

2026.21 Release #193

TPRC Early Bird is Expiring

It is just over 30 days before the start of The Perl and Raku Conference 2026 in Greenville, SC, USA. Even if you are a procrastinator, it’s time to make your plans to attend!

Early bird pricing for registration will end on May 28. Special conference pricing for our block of hotel rooms also expires on May 28. So it is definitely time to get yourself registered and to get your room reserved.

The conference planning team needs to know if you are coming so they can make sure and have everything ready for you (t-shirt, lunches, name badge, planetarium tickets, etc). Please register today!

Registration: https://tprc.us

Rakudo Release #193

On behalf of the Rakudo development team, I’m happy to announce the May 2026 release of Rakudo #193 – also known as 2026.05. Rakudo is an implementation of the Raku language. [says Will Coleda]

New in 2026.05:

Improvements:

  • MoarVM debugserver improvements [a8b8c713]
  • Update to mimalloc v2.3.2 [71cb699c]
  • Improve error messaging of Mu values [42ef8973]
  • QuantHash refactor, now allowing key parameterization with coercive types [5c37ccea][d8f907ee][9e6d078e][f5773837][b8f0e1f9][287dfb25]
  • Simplify Int multi for infix:<%> (#6177) [13fcc50e]
  • Many RakuAST improvements and fixes (see RakuAST section) now allowing:
    • Synthetically built RakuAST code to be used in precompiled modules
    • Code.assuming now builds a Callable using RakuAST for better performance and features
    • sprintf on 6.e now builds a Callable for better performance and adherence to standards
    • Building and installing Rakudo with RAKUDO_RAKUAST=1 now works
    • Installing modules with RAKUDO_RAKUAST=1 now works
  • In other words: major steps towards releasing the next Raku language level

Fixes:

  • Fix “Missing infix inside R” when using RZ/RX infix form [6baf3735][764a3382]
  • Mu BUILDPLAN walkers: route @/% attr init through STORE :INITIALIZE [76f3f79a][a4ccac2c]
  • Fixes from MoarVM/NQP including: optimizations, avoiding segfaults [af66caff][9e649f70][12e6f4df][07e67462]
  • Make Format.raku subclass safe [0dcdb5c5]
  • Fix Test.rakumod failure-attribution across frontend / Repository combos [aa5abe40][57b9943f]

Additions:

  • JITDUMP support [5e09687f]
  • Add obituary for Clifton Wood [b49217d2]

RakuAST:

  • drop dead compile-time-value read in package-lookup parse [9620e240][995fdc58]
  • emit lexical lookup for generic ‘is T’ attribute container initializer [3fc33fda][836f8fcb]
  • nominalize sigilless variable invocant for .= initializers [2cf777b2][3983159b]
  • store explicit container base type as RakuAST::Type AST [2408d059]
  • emit runtime construction for generic Definedness/Coercion types [c4dcb61c][bdb8ee9e]
  • tighten generic detection in Type::Simple via IMPL::Archetypes.is-generic [f9a1a517]
  • Fix .EVAL at BEGIN time losing access to setting symbols [fa177fef][4666cd56]
  • Guard $!block in TraitTarget::Variable for NULL setting compilation [13cfef08][4e8a2c06]
  • Fix build-exception crash on uncomposed exception type stubs [d7295890][8ecf4c4d]
  • propagate COMPILING_CORE_SETTING into QAST stage [b2489e8d][07310601]
  • avoid pathologically slow Raku dispatch in add-phasers-handling-code [768819d6][dabe0f4d]
  • nominalize default value for definite-constrained variables [224aa3d8][b59889e7]
  • install instantiation lexicals for nested generic packages in roles [c53eaeea]
  • merge loaded stub package into enclosing same-named class [2af7c683][d69bb16c]
  • Fix multi-part type name lookup when resolved type is generic [7da16e72]
  • Narrow typevar scope to actual type captures in signatures [45d1eade]
  • Fix generic nested packages in parametric roles [a4c712fe]
  • Fix colon invocant syntax with Whatever [6a13156f][386eb023]
  • dedupe @declarations at the source in ast-lexical-declarations [f8b2ac3c][fc7e95d7]
  • Fix .EVAL at BEGIN time breaking module precompilation [46ce0e3f][0b3f0f5f]
  • Extract shared coderef-fixup loop into IMPL-FIXUP-COMPILED-CODEREFS [9885a375]
  • extract Raku module-loader prelude helper [b15a0f87]
  • emit BOOTSTRAP load as pre-deserialize task for CORE. [1dc23fba][1e95be44]
  • align nested-EVAL fixup with legacy frontend so $!do gets unstubbed [7cb5a5bc][e91fa0db]
  • route ContainerDescriptor creation through one Mu-aware helper [64b08ae0][46f12ddf]
  • skip per-compunit implicit decls when compiling CORE setting [a32c4c58][97e5c1bb]
  • don’t set Mu refinement on where-free subsets [63b0013f][5e263cb3]
  • nominalize coercive types for descriptor default in pre-6.e [e326ab3e][bbec4369]
  • declare $¢ with a Scalar container, matching legacy [8bf03215]
  • Account for CORE/SETTING differences when built with RakuAST [c6c2cb1f][e20e8cc0]
  • Re-instate the RakuAST based implementation of .assuming [6cb6ac32]
  • Add a rakuast variant to the Azure CI build/test matrix [505c6b4f][1e6da94c] don’t rely on magical %_ inside nested blocks of ParameterAST [d8957e54]
  • align @/% resolution with the legacy frontend’s de-facto behavior [b2671803][9a66df20]
  • Revert “RakuAST: make sure non-blocks are sunk in start” [d4d146a9]
  • fix subset-typed parameter binding under v6.e [92e003e2][0106c6b8]
  • re-allocate @!compstuff in IMPL-LINK-META-OBJECT if cleanup nulled it [c2db2a1c]
  • report stub grammars in X::Package::Stubbed alongside other stubs [585e93fe][6654591f]
  • retry .& resolution at check time to handle forward references [60ff486a][3b68b4c8]
  • add meta-object to RakuAST::Declaration::Import [e803a394][ec00e3b6]
  • strip colonpairs from subset/enum meta-object names [fc09ce63][c4ed6b48]
  • evaluate non-trivial package colonpair values once, cached [3761996b] [0e03c00c]
  • literalizing subroutine calls will never work [c1d292bb]
  • silent-replace cross-compunit class reload in ‘our’ scope [eb91c164][9e341da6]
  • suspend precomp-dep recording across REPO chain setup [081e4ba0][05c18fa1]
  • fix deparsing of RakuAST::VarDeclaration::Anonymous [b162d0a0]
  • resolve externally-defined types in synthesised closures [82cd9152][4e96aa26]
  • keep parameter target for type-object constraints [b31e255f]
  • stop currying through special-op postfixes (.WHAT etc.) [437a589e]
  • Add test to avoid regression on .assuming in precompiled module loaded via another [45b604d7][a716df8f]
  • sprintf on 6.e now builds a Callable using RakuAST for better performance [1e134814][a8235075][ec26e96f][767a89de][8c5157ae][47b5e306][31076bbc][505e0061][7a0d2661][661ffbb7][b10adfb3] [ea7786dc][6f0f1f5a][6f0f1f5a][81b3d172][6ae9ef82][842b8d2d][36e9e032][456781a5][f4f231be]
  • EVAL: register compiled code refs and drain cleanup for AST EVAL [ce279451]
  • EVAL: bridge AST EVAL to outer Perl6::World during legacy precomp (#6176) [df18dda4]

The following people contributed to this release:

Nick Logan, Elizabeth Mattijsen, Will Coleda, Daniel Green, librasteve, Patrick Böker, Timo Paulssen

Editor’s note: I chose not to abridge this very long list of RakuAST items – since one key takeway from this release is that RakuAST work is gathering a head of steam!

Sparrow Corner

Sparrow6 integration. Ansible replaced by Sparrow6 for Ditana COSMIC (Wayland) configuration management and testing, with substantial contributions from Alexey.

https://github.com/acrion/ditana-installer/releases/tag/v0.9.3

Anton’s Corner

Anton Antonov has served up a double helping of predictions this week…

Thin MCP Client with Docker MCP Toolkit
Генериране на код чрез DSL примери

Elizabeth’s Corner

Elizabeth Mattijsen makes some SUBTLE CHANGES to sprintf in 6.e … With RakuAST getting closer to be the default backend, it was time to me to revisit the work I did on sprintf about 3 years ago (but which was halted because of the inability to be able to use synthetically generated code in precomp files. Which is now fixed, thanks to @ugexe++).

Weekly Challenge

Weekly Challenge #375 is available for your betterment.

Raku Tips ‘n Tricks

Alot of times, when coming to Raku from non-Perl languages, folk wrestle with the Raku sigils:- $calar, @rray, %ash and &allable.

One straightforward and obvious benefit comes in the form of Str interpolation. Let’s take a look…

my $name = "Ada"; say "Hello, $name";                    
# Hello, Ada

my $age = 42; say "Age: $age";                          
# Age: 42

my @colors = <red green blue>; say "@colors";           
# red green blue

my @colors = <red green blue>; say "First: @colors[0]"; 
# First: red

my %user = name => "Ada"; say "Name: %user<name>";      
# Name: Ada

my $x = 5; my $y = 7; say "$x + $y = {$x + $y}";       
# 5 + 7 = 12

my $animal = "cat"; say "A {$animal.uc} naps";          
# A CAT naps

my $price = 9.99; say "Price: \$$price";                
# Price: $9.99

my $lang = "Raku"; say qq:to/END/;
Learning $lang is fun
END
# multiline interpolation

sub greet { "Hello" }; say "&greet()";                  
# Hello 

my $name = "Ada"; say 'Hello, $name';                   
# no interpolation in single quotes
  • Double quotes "" or the qq construct introduce interpolation
  • Single quotes '' or q, Q do not interpolate
  • Each sigil ($, @, %, &) has a role in triggering interpolation
  • $ may just be used ‘as-is‘ followed by your variable identifier of course
  • The others are often used with their postcircumfix accessors:- @ with [], % with {} or <>, & with ()
  • Curlies {} are used to any embed code within interpolated text – just like a block
  • And you can escape the interpolation with backwhack \
  • All of the above makes for a very readable mixed text style when you get your eye in

Comparisons:

print(f"Hello, {name}")                       # Python
printf("Hello, %s\n", name);                  # C
echo "Hello, $name\n";                        # PHP
puts "Hello, #{name}"                         # Ruby
console.log(`Hello, ${name}`);                # JavaScript
say "Hello, $name";                           # Raku

To read further, checkout the Q-lang in the Raku docs.

Your contribution is welcome, please make a gist and share via the #raku channel on IRC or Discord.

Comments About Raku

New Modules

Updated Modules

Winding down

Congrats to the core team for driving a steady release cadence. It’s very encouraging to see the super long list of RakuAST items … can it be that far to go?

Sorry about the Parrot joke.

Please keep staying safe and healthy, and keep up the good work! Even after week 69 of hopefully only 209.

~librasteve

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