NEWS for Ruby 4.0.0

This document is a list of user-visible feature changes since the 3.4.0 release, except for bug fixes.

Note that each entry is kept to a minimum, see links for details.

Language changes

• *nil no longer calls nil.to_a, similar to how **nil does not call nil.to_hash. [Feature #21047]

• Logical binary operators (||, &&, and and or) at the beginning of a line continue the previous line, like fluent dot. The following code examples are equal:

  ```ruby
  if condition1
   && condition2
  #...
  end
  ```
  
  Previously:
  
  ```ruby
  if condition1 && condition2
  #...
  end
  ```
  
  ```ruby
  if condition1 &&
   condition2
  #...
  end
  ```
  
  [[Feature #20925]]

Core classes updates

Note: We're only listing outstanding class updates.

• Array

  * {Array#rfind} has been added as a more efficient alternative to `array.reverse_each.find` [[Feature #21678]]
  * {Array#find} has been added as a more efficient override of {Enumerable#find} [[Feature #21678]]

• Binding

  * {Binding#local_variables} does no longer include numbered parameters.
  Also, {Binding#local_variable_get}, {Binding#local_variable_set}, and
  {Binding#local_variable_defined?} reject to handle numbered parameters.
  [[Bug #21049]]
  
  * {Binding#implicit_parameters}, {Binding#implicit_parameter_get}, and
  {Binding#implicit_parameter_defined?} have been added to access
  numbered parameters and "it" parameter. [[Bug #21049]]

• Enumerator

  * {Enumerator.produce} now accepts an optional `size` keyword argument
  to specify the size of the enumerator.  It can be an integer,
  {Float::INFINITY}, a callable object (such as a lambda), or `nil` to
  indicate unknown size.  When not specified, the size defaults to
  {Float::INFINITY}.
  
    ```ruby
    # Infinite enumerator
    enum = Enumerator.produce(1, size: Float::INFINITY, &:succ)
    enum.size  # => Float::INFINITY
  
    # Finite enumerator with known/computable size
    abs_dir = File.expand_path("./baz") # => "/foo/bar/baz"
    traverser = Enumerator.produce(abs_dir, size: -> { abs_dir.count("/") + 1 }) {
      raise StopIteration if it == "/"
      File.dirname(it)
    }
    traverser.size  # => 4
    ```
  
  [[Feature #21701]]

• ErrorHighlight

  * When an ArgumentError is raised, it now displays code snippets for
  both the method call (caller) and the method definition (callee).
  [[Feature #21543]]
  
  ```
  test.rb:1:in 'Object#add': wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2) (ArgumentError)
  
      caller: test.rb:3
      | add(1)
        ^^^
      callee: test.rb:1
      | def add(x, y) = x + y
            ^^^
          from test.rb:3:in '<main>'
  ```

• Fiber

  * Introduce support for {Fiber#raise(cause:)} argument similar to
  {Kernel#raise}. [[Feature #21360]]

• Fiber::Scheduler

  * Introduce {Fiber::Scheduler#fiber_interrupt} to interrupt a fiber with a
  given exception. The initial use case is to interrupt a fiber that is
  waiting on a blocking IO operation when the IO operation is closed.
  [[Feature #21166]]
  
  * Introduce {Fiber::Scheduler#yield} to allow the fiber scheduler to
  continue processing when signal exceptions are disabled.
  [[Bug #21633]]
  
  * Reintroduce the {Fiber::Scheduler#io_close} hook for asynchronous {IO#close}.
  
  * Invoke {Fiber::Scheduler#io_write} when flushing the IO write buffer.
  [[Bug #21789]]

• File

  * {File::Stat#birthtime} is now available on Linux via the statx
  system call when supported by the kernel and filesystem.
  [[Feature #21205]]

• IO

  * {IO.select} accepts {Float::INFINITY} as a timeout argument.
  [[Feature #20610]]
  
  * A deprecated behavior, process creation by {IO} class methods
  with a leading `|`, was removed.  [[Feature #19630]]

• Kernel

  * {Kernel#inspect} now checks for the existence of a `#instance_variables_to_inspect` method,
  allowing control over which instance variables are displayed in the `#inspect` string:
  
    ```ruby
    class DatabaseConfig
      def initialize(host, user, password)
        @host = host
        @user = user
        @password = password
      end
  
      private def instance_variables_to_inspect = [:@host, :@user]
    end
  
    conf = DatabaseConfig.new("localhost", "root", "hunter2")
    conf.inspect #=> #<DatabaseConfig:0x0000000104def350 @host="localhost", @user="root">
    ```
  
    [[Feature #21219]]
  
  * A deprecated behavior, process creation by {Kernel#open} with a
  leading `|`, was removed.  [[Feature #19630]]

• Math

  * {Math.log1p} and {Math.expm1} are added. [[Feature #21527]]

• Pathname

  * Pathname has been promoted from a default gem to a core class of Ruby.
  [[Feature #17473]]

• Proc

  * {Proc#parameters} now shows anonymous optional parameters as `[:opt]`
  instead of `[:opt, nil]`, making the output consistent with when the
  anonymous parameter is required. [[Bug #20974]]

• Ractor

  * {Ractor::Port} class was added for a new synchronization mechanism
  to communicate between Ractors. [[Feature #21262]]
  
    ```ruby
    port1 = Ractor::Port.new
    port2 = Ractor::Port.new
    Ractor.new port1, port2 do |port1, port2|
      port1 << 1
      port2 << 11
      port1 << 2
      port2 << 12
    end
    2.times{ p port1.receive } #=> 1, 2
    2.times{ p port2.receive } #=> 11, 12
    ```
  
    {Ractor::Port} provides the following methods:
  
    * {Ractor::Port#receive}
    * {Ractor::Port#send} (or {Ractor::Port#<<})
    * {Ractor::Port#close}
    * {Ractor::Port#closed?}
  
    As a result, {Ractor.yield} and {Ractor#take} were removed.
  
  * {Ractor#join} and {Ractor#value} were added to wait for the
  termination of a Ractor. These are similar to {Thread#join}
  and {Thread#value}.
  
  * {Ractor#monitor} and {Ractor#unmonitor} were added as low-level
  interfaces used internally to implement {Ractor#join}.
  
  * {Ractor.select} now only accepts Ractors and Ports. If Ractors are given,
  it returns when a Ractor terminates.
  
  * {Ractor#default_port} was added. Each {Ractor} has a default port,
  which is used by {Ractor.send}, {Ractor.receive}.
  
  * {Ractor#close_incoming} and {Ractor#close_outgoing} were removed.
  
  * {Ractor.shareable_proc} and {Ractor.shareable_lambda} are introduced
  to make shareable Proc or lambda.
  [[Feature #21550]], [[Feature #21557]]

• Range

  * {Range#to_set} now performs size checks to prevent issues with
  endless ranges. [[Bug #21654]]
  
  * {Range#overlap?} now correctly handles infinite (unbounded) ranges.
  [[Bug #21185]]
  
  * {Range#max} behavior on beginless integer ranges has been fixed.
  [[Bug #21174]] [[Bug #21175]]

• Ruby

  * A new toplevel module {Ruby} has been defined, which contains
  Ruby-related constants. This module was reserved in Ruby 3.4
  and is now officially defined. [[Feature #20884]]

• Ruby::Box

  * A new (experimental) feature to provide separation about definitions.
  For the detail of "Ruby Box", see [doc/language/box.md](file.box.html).
  [[Feature #21311]] [[Misc #21385]]

• Set

  * {Set} is now a core class, instead of an autoloaded stdlib class.
  [[Feature #21216]]
  
  * {Set#inspect} now uses a simpler display, similar to literal arrays.
  (e.g., `Set[1, 2, 3]` instead of `#<Set: {1, 2, 3}>`). [[Feature #21389]]
  
  * Passing arguments to {Set#to_set} and {Enumerable#to_set} is now deprecated.
  [[Feature #21390]]

• Socket

  * {Socket.tcp} & {TCPSocket.new} accepts an `open_timeout` keyword argument to specify
  the timeout for the initial connection. [[Feature #21347]]
  * When a user-specified timeout occurred in {TCPSocket.new}, either {Errno::ETIMEDOUT}
  or {IO::TimeoutError} could previously be raised depending on the situation.
  This behavior has been unified so that {IO::TimeoutError} is now consistently raised.
  (Please note that, in {Socket.tcp}, there are still cases where {Errno::ETIMEDOUT}
  may be raised in similar situations, and that in both cases {Errno::ETIMEDOUT} may be
  raised when the timeout occurs at the OS level.)

• String

  * Update Unicode to Version 17.0 and Emoji Version 17.0.
  [[Feature #19908]][[Feature #20724]][[Feature #21275]] (also applies to Regexp)
  
  * {String#strip}, `strip!`, `lstrip`, `lstrip!`, `rstrip`, and `rstrip!`
   are extended to accept `*selectors` arguments. [[Feature #21552]]

• Thread

  * Introduce support for {Thread#raise(cause:)} argument similar to
  {Kernel#raise}. [[Feature #21360]]

Stdlib updates

We only list stdlib changes that are notable feature changes.

Other changes are listed in the following sections. We also listed release history from the previous bundled version that is Ruby 3.4.0 if it has GitHub releases.

The following bundled gems are promoted from default gems.

• ostruct 0.6.3
  • 0.6.1 to v0.6.2, v0.6.3
• pstore 0.2.0
  • 0.1.4 to v0.2.0
• benchmark 0.5.0
  • 0.4.0 to v0.4.1, v0.5.0
• logger 1.7.0
  • 1.6.4 to v1.6.5, v1.6.6, v1.7.0
• rdoc 7.0.3
  • 6.14.0 to v6.14.1, v6.14.2, v6.15.0, v6.15.1, v6.16.0, v6.16.1, v6.17.0, v7.0.0, v7.0.1, v7.0.2, v7.0.3
• win32ole 1.9.2
  • 1.9.1 to v1.9.2
• irb 1.16.0
  • 1.14.3 to v1.15.0, v1.15.1, v1.15.2, v1.15.3, v1.16.0
• reline 0.6.3
  • 0.6.0 to v0.6.1, v0.6.2, v0.6.3
• readline 0.0.4
• fiddle 1.1.8
  • 1.1.6 to v1.1.7, v1.1.8

The following default gem is added.

• win32-registry 0.1.2

The following default gems are updated.

• RubyGems 4.0.3
• bundler 4.0.3
• date 3.5.1
  • 3.4.1 to v3.5.0, v3.5.1
• delegate 0.6.1
  • 0.4.0 to v0.5.0, v0.6.0, v0.6.1
• digest 3.2.1
  • 3.2.0 to v3.2.1
• english 0.8.1
  • 0.8.0 to v0.8.1
• erb 6.0.1
  • 4.0.4 to v5.1.2, v5.1.3, v6.0.0, v6.0.1
• error_highlight 0.7.1
• etc 1.4.6
• fcntl 1.3.0
  • 1.2.0 to v1.3.0
• fileutils 1.8.0
  • 1.7.3 to v1.8.0
• forwardable 1.4.0
  • 1.3.3 to v1.4.0
• io-console 0.8.2
  • 0.8.1 to v0.8.2
• io-nonblock 0.3.2
• io-wait 0.4.0
  • 0.3.2 to v0.3.3, v0.3.5.test1, v0.3.5, v0.3.6, v0.4.0
• ipaddr 1.2.8
• json 2.18.0
  • 2.9.1 to v2.10.0, v2.10.1, v2.10.2, v2.11.0, v2.11.1, v2.11.2, v2.11.3, v2.12.0, v2.12.1, v2.12.2, v2.13.0, v2.13.1, v2.13.2, v2.14.0, v2.14.1, v2.15.0, v2.15.1, v2.15.2, v2.16.0, v2.17.0, v2.17.1, v2.18.0
• net-http 0.9.1
  • 0.6.0 to v0.7.0, v0.8.0, v0.9.0, v0.9.1
• openssl 4.0.0
  • 3.3.1 to v3.3.2, v4.0.0
• optparse 0.8.1
  • 0.6.0 to v0.7.0, v0.8.0, v0.8.1
• pp 0.6.3
  • 0.6.2 to v0.6.3
• prism 1.7.0
  • 1.5.2 to v1.6.0, v1.7.0
• psych 5.3.1
  • 5.2.2 to v5.2.3, v5.2.4, v5.2.5, v5.2.6, v5.3.0, v5.3.1
• resolv 0.7.0
  • 0.6.2 to v0.6.3, v0.7.0
• stringio 3.2.0
  • 3.1.2 to v3.1.3, v3.1.4, v3.1.5, v3.1.6, v3.1.7, v3.1.8, v3.1.9, v3.2.0
• strscan 3.1.6
  • 3.1.2 to v3.1.3, v3.1.4, v3.1.5, v3.1.6
• time 0.4.2
  • 0.4.1 to v0.4.2
• timeout 0.6.0
  • 0.4.3 to v0.4.4, v0.5.0, v0.6.0
• uri 1.1.1
  • 1.0.4 to v1.1.0, v1.1.1
• weakref 0.1.4
  • 0.1.3 to v0.1.4
• zlib 3.2.2
  • 3.2.1 to v3.2.2

The following bundled gems are updated.

• minitest 6.0.0
• power_assert 3.0.1
  • 2.0.5 to v3.0.0, v3.0.1
• rake 13.3.1
  • 13.2.1 to v13.3.0, v13.3.1
• test-unit 3.7.5
  • 3.6.7 to 3.6.8, 3.6.9, 3.7.0, 3.7.1, 3.7.2, 3.7.3, 3.7.4, 3.7.5
• rexml 3.4.4
• rss 0.3.2
  • 0.3.1 to 0.3.2
• net-ftp 0.3.9
  • 0.3.8 to v0.3.9
• net-imap 0.6.2
  • 0.5.8 to v0.5.9, v0.5.10, v0.5.11, v0.5.12, v0.5.13, v0.6.0, v0.6.1, v0.6.2
• net-smtp 0.5.1
  • 0.5.0 to v0.5.1
• matrix 0.4.3
  • 0.4.2 to v0.4.3
• prime 0.1.4
  • 0.1.3 to v0.1.4
• rbs 3.10.0
  • 3.8.0 to v3.8.1, v3.9.0.dev.1, v3.9.0.pre.1, v3.9.0.pre.2, v3.9.0, v3.9.1, v3.9.2, v3.9.3, v3.9.4, v3.9.5, v3.10.0.pre.1, v3.10.0.pre.2, v3.10.0
• typeprof 0.31.1
• debug 1.11.1
  • 1.11.0 to v1.11.1
• base64 0.3.0
  • 0.2.0 to v0.3.0
• bigdecimal 4.0.1
  • 3.1.8 to v3.2.0, v3.2.1, v3.2.2, v3.2.3, v3.3.0, v3.3.1, v4.0.0, v4.0.1
• drb 2.2.3
  • 2.2.1 to v2.2.3
• syslog 0.3.0
  • 0.2.0 to v0.3.0
• csv 3.3.5
  • 3.3.2 to v3.3.3, v3.3.4, v3.3.5
• repl_type_completor 0.1.12

RubyGems and Bundler

Ruby 4.0 bundled RubyGems and Bundler version 4. see the following links for details.

• Upgrading to RubyGems/Bundler 4 - RubyGems Blog
• 4.0.0 Released - RubyGems Blog
• 4.0.1 Released - RubyGems Blog
• 4.0.2 Released - RubyGems Blog
• 4.0.3 Released - RubyGems Blog

Supported platforms

• Windows

  * Dropped support for MSVC versions older than 14.0 (_MSC_VER 1900).
  This means Visual Studio 2015 or later is now required.

Compatibility issues

• The following methods were removed from Ractor due to the addition of Ractor::Port:

  * {Ractor.yield}
  * {Ractor#take}
  * {Ractor#close_incoming}
  * {Ractor#close_outgoing}
  
  [[Feature #21262]]

• ObjectSpace._id2ref is deprecated. [Feature #15408]

• Process::Status#& and Process::Status#>> have been removed. They were deprecated in Ruby 3.3. [Bug #19868]

• rb_path_check has been removed. This function was used for $SAFE path checking which was removed in Ruby 2.7, and was already deprecated. [Feature #20971]

• A backtrace for ArgumentError of "wrong number of arguments" now include the receiver's class or module name (e.g., in Foo#bar instead of in bar). [Bug #21698]

• Backtraces no longer display internal frames. These methods now appear as if it is in the Ruby source file, consistent with other C-implemented methods. [Bug #20968]

  Before:

  ruby -e '[1].fetch_values(42)'
  <internal:array>:211:in 'Array#fetch': index 42 outside of array bounds: -1...1 (IndexError)
          from <internal:array>:211:in 'block in Array#fetch_values'
          from <internal:array>:211:in 'Array#map!'
          from <internal:array>:211:in 'Array#fetch_values'
          from -e:1:in '<main>'

  After:

  $ ruby -e '[1].fetch_values(42)'
  -e:1:in 'Array#fetch_values': index 42 outside of array bounds: -1...1 (IndexError)
          from -e:1:in '<main>'

Stdlib compatibility issues

• CGI library is removed from the default gems. Now we only provide cgi/escape for the following methods:

  * {CGI.escape} and {CGI.unescape}
  * {CGI.escapeHTML} and {CGI.unescapeHTML}
  * {CGI.escapeURIComponent} and {CGI.unescapeURIComponent}
  * {CGI.escapeElement} and {CGI.unescapeElement}
  
  [[Feature #21258]]

• With the move of Set from stdlib to core class, set/sorted_set.rb has been removed, and SortedSet is no longer an autoloaded constant. Please install the sorted_set gem and require 'sorted_set' to use SortedSet. [Feature #21287]

• Net::HTTP

  * The default behavior of automatically setting the {Content-Type} header
  to `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` for requests with a body
  (e.g., {POST}, {PUT}) when the header was not explicitly set has been
  removed. If your application relied on this automatic default, your
  requests will now be sent without a Content-Type header, potentially
  breaking compatibility with certain servers.
  [[GH-net-http #205]]

C API updates

• IO

  * `rb_thread_fd_close` is deprecated and now a no-op. If you need to expose
  file descriptors from C extensions to Ruby code, create an {IO} instance
  using {RUBY_IO_MODE_EXTERNAL} and use `rb_io_close(io)` to close it (this
  also interrupts and waits for all pending operations on the {IO}
  instance). Directly closing file descriptors does not interrupt pending
  operations, and may lead to undefined behaviour. In other words, if two
  {IO} objects share the same file descriptor, closing one does not affect
  the other. [[Feature #18455]]

• GVL

  * `rb_thread_call_with_gvl` now works with or without the GVL.
  This allows gems to avoid checking `ruby_thread_has_gvl_p`.
  Please still be diligent about the GVL. [[Feature #20750]]

• Set

  * A C API for {Set} has been added. The following methods are supported:
  [[Feature #21459]]
  
    * `rb_set_foreach`
    * `rb_set_new`
    * `rb_set_new_capa`
    * `rb_set_lookup`
    * `rb_set_add`
    * `rb_set_clear`
    * `rb_set_delete`
    * `rb_set_size`

Implementation improvements

• Class#new (ex. Object.new) is faster in all cases, but especially when passing keyword arguments. This has also been integrated into YJIT and ZJIT. [Feature #21254]
• GC heaps of different size pools now grow independently, reducing memory usage when only some pools contain long-lived objects
• GC sweeping is faster on pages of large objects
• "Generic ivar" objects (String, Array, TypedData, etc.) now use a new internal "fields" object for faster instance variable access
• The GC avoids maintaining an internal id2ref table until it is first used, making object_id allocation and GC sweeping faster
• object_id and hash are faster on Class and Module objects
• Larger bignum Integers can remain embedded using variable width allocation
• Random, Enumerator::Product, Enumerator::Chain, Addrinfo, StringScanner, and some internal objects are now write-barrier protected, which reduces GC overhead.

Ractor

A lot of work has gone into making Ractors more stable, performant, and usable. These improvements bring Ractor implementation closer to leaving experimental status.

• Performance improvements
  • Frozen strings and the symbol table internally use a lock-free hash set [Feature #21268]
  • Method cache lookups avoid locking in most cases
  • Class (and generic ivar) instance variable access is faster and avoids locking
  • CPU cache contention is avoided in object allocation by using a per-ractor counter
  • CPU cache contention is avoided in xmalloc/xfree by using a thread-local counter
  • object_id avoids locking in most cases
• Bug fixes and stability
  • Fixed possible deadlocks when combining Ractors and Threads
  • Fixed issues with require and autoload in a Ractor
  • Fixed encoding/transcoding issues across Ractors
  • Fixed race conditions in GC operations and method invalidation
  • Fixed issues with processes forking after starting a Ractor
  • GC allocation counts are now accurate under Ractors
  • Fixed TracePoints not working after GC [Bug #19112]

JIT

• ZJIT
  • Introduce an experimental method-based JIT compiler. Where available, ZJIT can be enabled at runtime with the --zjit option or by calling RubyVM::ZJIT.enable. When building Ruby, Rust 1.85.0 or later is required to include ZJIT support.
  • As of Ruby 4.0.0, ZJIT is faster than the interpreter, but not yet as fast as YJIT. We encourage experimentation with ZJIT, but advise against deploying it in production for now.
  • Our goal is to make ZJIT faster than YJIT and production-ready in Ruby 4.1.
• YJIT
  • RubyVM::YJIT.runtime_stats
    • ratio_in_yjit no longer works in the default build. Use --enable-yjit=stats on configure to enable it on --yjit-stats.
    • Add invalidate_everything to default stats, which is incremented when every code is invalidated by TracePoint.
  • Add mem_size: and call_threshold: options to RubyVM::YJIT.enable.
• RJIT
  • --rjit is removed. We will move the implementation of the third-party JIT API to the ruby/rjit repository.