multiple perl versions

[Daniel J. Luke]

On Feb 13, 2012, at 4:44 PM, Dan Ports wrote:
> Python has the same issue, but we've gotten pretty good over the years
> at making sure that ports invoke `python2.7` instead of `python`. Not
> so much with perl -- looking through my installed ports, I see a bunch
> of references to /opt/local/bin/perl, and I'm guessing at least some of
> them wouldn't work right with a non-default perl5 version.

I think that some (most?) of this is legacy from when perl5 provided our default perl version - and other references are likely cases where the port doesn't care which version of perl is installed (just that some perl exists).

It's not ideal.

> Sure, we could fix these ports, but I'm wondering if it's worth the
> effort. I'm wondering if we wouldn't be better off supporting a single
> version of perl5 (presumably 5.14 these days) and eliminating the
> p5.x-* subports. It would simplify a lot of things, and the benefits of
> supporting multiple simulataneous perl versions seem pretty marginal to
> me (but maybe I'm missing something?)


+1 from me. It would probably also be a good idea to make it perl5.14 +threads (and if a non-threaded perl is needed, it should probably be a separate port) at the same time.

--
Daniel J. Luke                                                                   
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