Perl and Python version updates

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On Jun 2, 2021, 9:29 AM -0500, Ken Cunningham <ken.cunningham.webuse at gmail.com>, wrote:
>
> Seems like a fine idea to me. Thing is, you actually don't want to be that current anyway.
>
> 1. as far i understood, for perl the recommended version should be perl5.30 which is stable (even tho’ not maintained), one year old (latest updated 20200601):
>
> version latest update status
> 5.30 2020-06-01 old version - not maintained
> 5.32 2021-01-23 old version - still maintained
> 5.34 2021-05-20 current stable - not yet in macports
>
>
> I would personally upgrade the recommended perl the day it stops getting security updates, to one version newer. Minimum fuss, maximum compatibility. Let the well-funded Linux distros fix all the tedious headaches updating modules to newer perl versions. But as you have heard, others feel a reason to be more cutting edge.
>
> We find modules get updated to new perl or python versions without anyone testing the build or function, or running the test suite. Just because it shows up as an option is no indication that it actually works (which is the whole point of hanging back a bit).
>
>

I look at my FreeBSD servers in choosing the Perl branch: currently (FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE) 5.30. FreeBSD is a bit more conservative than the above mentioned Linux distros.
> 2. what about python? as far as i understood should be 3.9 (also one year old and with 3.10 still in beta, expected release oct 2021):
>
> version maintainance release end of support
> 3.9 bugfix 2020-10-05 2025-10
> 3.8 bugfix 2019-10-14 2024-10
> 3.7 security 2018-06-27 2023-06-27
> 3.6 security 2016-12-23 2021-12-23
> 2.7 end-of-life 2010-07-03 2020-01-01
>
>
> I believe macports' recommended python version is already 3.9 at present, we have that, and most ports default to that. Ones that don't should be updated to do so, if they actaully work with python39 (we have found a number of them don't).
>
>
> does it make sense? also, what are we supposed to do with python2.7?
>
>
> We need python27 for various bootstrapping things, and for all the software (like llvm !) that still needs it to work properly.
>
> So I think we'll have python27 in some form or other forever.
>
> K
>
Somehow FreeBSD can do w/o Python 2.7 (as of Python 2.7 EOL, FreeBSD 12.2 IIRC). They have the same llvm/clang infrastructure as macOS/MacPorts.

The default Python branch on FreeBSD currently is 3.8. I use 3.9 on my MacPorts build systems to see if something breaks.
>
> —
> ferdy
>


Marius
__
Marius Schamschula
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