Date: 03 Apr 2001 07:40:37 -0600 From: Tim Ayers <tayers@bridge.com> To: "FreeBSD Questions" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Perl 5.003 / 5.6 / CPAN Message-ID: <pueup0dm.fsf@tim.bridge.com> In-Reply-To: "Ted Mittelstaedt"'s message of "Tue, 3 Apr 2001 00:03:55 -0700" References: <000c01c0bc0c$3f2395a0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
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>>>>> "T" == Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> writes: T> you DON'T want to install Perl 5.6 if you can help it. T> While it's going to run all Perl scripts, the big problems are the T> user-written modules that are up on CPAN. Many are broken and have T> half-assed attempts to "error check" and make sure that they are T> running on the correct version of Perl - they look for strings like T> "5.0XX" and such, and when they see 5.6 they complain that the Perl T> version is too old, or worse don't run. I've had no problems with Perl 5.6.0 and I have not run across a module that doesn't install in 5.6 because of bad version checks. If your fears are true, then we are in a bunch of trouble when we all upgrade to FreeBSD 4.3, which I believe is going to contain Perl 5.6. I think there are many more modules requiring 5.6 than are broken by 5.6. Perl 5.6 is more than 2 years newer than 5.005* and contains a lot of fixes and changes. Also the original author started down this path because of Bundle::CPAN, which legitimately (and correctly!) requires Perl 5.6. T> The problem I think is that the Perl authors figure that the T> CPAN module authors will error check their modules against T> every new version of Perl that comes out. I don't think that is a problem. It seems like a reasonable assumption by the Perl authors. Who else should test it? T> Unfortunately, my experience is that the majority of CPAN module T> authors don't appear to give a damn about this. Hmm. Don't give a damn? More likely they don't have access to a variety of Perl versions and platforms. I agree that many of the less commonly used modules don't undergo rigorous testing, but it is free after all. T> or they lose interest in supporting their modules. This is possibly true, but I think it's pretty rare for a module to break because of a newer version of Perl. If someone runs across a problem with a module they should email the author. If they get no response, they should post to this list or comp.lang.perl.modules or some other obvious place and I'm sure someone will help out. If I see messages of this type, I'll be happy to help. Back to Hervey's questions: >>>>> "H" == "Hervey Wilson" <herveyw@dynamic-cast.com> writes: H> - Has anyone successfully installed the ports collection version H> of Perl (5.6) ? I don't think you can install Perl 5.6 from the ports. My ports tree is recently cvsup'ed (like 5 minutes ago) and trying to make /usr/ports/lang/perl5 says ===> perl-5.005 is forbidden: perl is in system. I _have_ installed Perl 5.6 from source on FreeBSD 4.1.1 and 4.2. H> If so, can you provide any hints / tips to avoid problems ? See http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=984468+988853+/usr/local/www/db/text/2001/freebsd-questions/20010318.freebsd-questions for my explanation of installing Perl by hand. H> If I do a "make world" will the 5.6 version get trashed ? You probably want to add NOPERL= true to /etc/make.conf so that make world does not clobber your new Perl. HTH and Hope you have a very nice day, :-) Tim Ayers (tayers@bridge.com) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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