[MacPorts] #16830: RFE: Have only one perl5 package

[MacPorts]

#16830: RFE: Have only one perl5 package
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 Reporter:  mcalhoun@…             |       Owner:  mcalhoun@…              
     Type:  enhancement            |      Status:  assigned                
 Priority:  Normal                 |   Milestone:  Port Enhancements       
Component:  ports                  |     Version:  1.6.0                   
 Keywords:                         |        Port:  perl5, perl5.8, perl5.10
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Comment(by mcalhoun@…):

 Replying to [comment:35 jmr@…]:
 > Replying to [comment:18 jmr@…]:
 > > I don't like that perl5 is just a clone of perl5.8; they conflict and
 there are ports that depend on both. Couldn't perl5 install nothing but a
 ${prefix}/bin/perl symlink, and depend on whichever perl5.x we decide is
 preferred?
 >
 > From the number of tickets being filed because of the conflict, it looks
 like this would be saving a lot of user pain. Is there any reason for not
 doing it this way? (I don't see one given in the comments.)

 A little of the user pain was caused by #17182.[[BR]]
 Most of the user pain, however, has been caused by a lack of foresight on
 my part.[[BR]]
 If the dependency tree of large_port has, at some point, dependencies on
 path:bin/perl:perl5.8 and path:bin/perl:perl5, then
 {{{
 port install perl5.8 && port install large_port (no problem)
 port install perl5 && port install large_port (no problem)
 port install large_port (problem)
 }}}
 Most ports have been moved to the form path:bin/perl:perl5, but PortGroup
 perl5 can not be until the next version of MacPorts is released (it has
 been changed in r42484 and r42584). [[BR]]
 Unfortunately, reports of this problem did not start coming in until after
 most ports had been changed to path:bin/perl:perl5. [[BR]]
 Fortunately, almost all of them will stop as soon as the next MacPorts is
 released.

 > Couldn't perl5 install nothing but a ${prefix}/bin/perl symlink, and
 depend on whichever perl5.x we decide is preferred?
 I think that transition would be even more difficult.[[BR]]
 Simultaneously, we would have to change perl5.8 to not install
 ${prefix}/bin/perl and increase the revision number of all ports which
 expect ${prefix}/bin/perl to be provided by perl5.8.

 Despite the problems, I still think this transition has been well worth
 it.[[BR]]
 Previously, most ports depended on port:perl5.8 and expected it to provide
 ${prefix}/bin/perl, so an upgrade to Perl 5.10 still would have required
 many port changes.[[BR]]
 We have also avoided the fate of python, where each port must take into
 consideration 2 to 4 different versions of python.

 Just to reiterate, the long term goal is that, once we have the ability to
 force users to upgrade dependencies (see #17473), then we can
  * Change perl5.8 so that it doesn't conflict with perl5 (and doesn't
 provide ${prefix}/bin/perl)
  * Force users to upgrade all ports which depend on perl5.8.
  * Live happily ever after (at least until Perl 6 comes out).

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.macports.org/ticket/16830#comment:36>
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