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

[MacPorts]

#16830: RFE: Have only one perl5 package
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  Reporter:  mcalhoun at macports.org  |       Owner:  mcalhoun at macports.org
      Type:  enhancement            |      Status:  assigned             
  Priority:  Normal                 |   Milestone:  Port Enhancements    
 Component:  ports                  |     Version:  1.6.0                
Resolution:                         |    Keywords:                       
      Port:                         |  
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Comment(by ricci at macports.org):

 Replying to [comment:12 dluke@…]:
 > Replying to [comment:11 ricci@…]:
 > >     I don't think we should switch to perl5.10 yet - as was noted its
 still in 'testing' and for those of us that use perl for "production" work
 using a 'testing' version is a Bad Thing(tm).
 >
 > It's 'testing' as opposed to 'maintenance' and is what is recommended
 for new installs.

         Their language isn't the best (on
 http://cpan.org/src/README.html), they start off the paragraph with:

                 For stable production use the maint branches are
 recommended.

         Then end the paragraph with:

                 but you should still start using them.

         To me that says they want you to use 5.10.0 so it gets widespread
 testing, but if you have production-quality needs, you should use a
 version that's in 'maint' rather than 'testing'.  I don't see anywhere
 else where 5.10.0 is recommended for new installs.


 >
 > >     I don't think we should alter perl's @INC to use a common space
 (for those that don't know, perl creates versioned directories for
 modules, aka ${prefix}/lib/perl5/5.8.8/,
 ${prefix}/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.8/) as that will make it impossible to
 have both perl5.8 and perl5.10 (and later versions) installed at the same
 time.
 >
 > The @INC changes I was referring to would let us install perl modules of
 more recent versions than the included modules and have a simple 'use
 module;' pick up the new version. There should be at least one open ticket
 that discusses this (along with other possible solutions). vinc17 is
 right, though, that that won't be an immediate issues since perl5.10
 doesn't have the same problem with outdated core modules as per5.8 does.

         Yes, I read that your description of the @INC change was the
 inversion of the @INC paths so that the macports-installed versions would
 be picked up first (I see tickets #12710 and #12950 exist about this,
 there may be more), I was commenting more about the dangers using a non-
 versioned @INC path.
         I'm all for doing the @INC inversion (ala FreeBSD ports).

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.macports.org/ticket/16830#comment:13>
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