In http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20060517225141.GT45236@plum.flirble.org, Nicholas Clark announces that he's working on a 5.8.9 release, and that for releases of 5.8.x after that, the pumpkin will pass to Dave "Mr. Fix It" Mitchell. They both deserve hearty thanks for their many long hours of work improving perl, both in the past and in the future.