How change pert5.18 to perl5.16?

[Murray Eisenberg]

Because p5-libapreq2 won't build with perl5.18 -- see http://trac.macports.org/ticket/28831 -- and because perl5.18 is currently my default version of perl5, I need to try again but now with perl5.16. How?

I tried first "sudo port select perl5 perl5.16" (and same thing with just "perl" instead of "perl5") but get error "The specified group 'perl5' does not exist."

Next attempt was to uninstall perl5.18:

  $ sudo port uninstall perl5.18
--->  Unable to uninstall perl5.18 @5.18.2_0, the following ports depend on it:
--->  	perl5 @5.12.4_0+perl5_18
Error: org.macports.uninstall for port perl5.18 returned: Please uninstall the ports that depend on perl5.18 first.
Please see the log file for port perl5.18 for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_registry_portfiles_perl5.18_5.18.2_0/perl5.18/main.log
Warning: Failed to execute portfile from registry for perl5.18 @5.18.2_0
--->  Unable to uninstall perl5.18 @5.18.2_0, the following ports depend on it:
--->  	perl5 @5.12.4_0+perl5_18
Error: port uninstall failed: Please uninstall the ports that depend on perl5.18 first.

Unfortunately, trying to uninstall perl5 @5.12.4_0+perl5_18 won't go through because I have a large number of other ports that depend upon perl4.12:

  $ sudo port uninstall perl5 @5.12.4_0+perl5_18
--->  Unable to uninstall perl5 @5.12.4_0+perl5_18, the following ports depend on it:
--->  	autoconf @2.69_2
--->  	automake @1.14_0
--->  	llvm-3.4 @3.4-r193358_0+assertions
--->  	clang-3.4 @3.4-r193358_0+analyzer+assertions+python27
--->  	ghostscript @9.10_1+x11
--->  	imake @1.0.5_1
--->  	glib2 @2.38.1_0
--->  	gtk-doc @1.18_0+python27
--->  	llvm-3.4 @3.4-r193941_0+assertions
--->  	clang-3.4 @3.4-r193941_0+analyzer+assertions+python27
--->  	glib2 @2.38.2_0
--->  	llvm-3.4 @3.4-r195772_0+assertions
--->  	clang-3.4 @3.4-r195772_0+analyzer+assertions+python27
--->  	llvm-3.4 @3.4-r197314_0+assertions
--->  	clang-3.4 @3.4-r197314_0+analyzer+assertions+python27
--->  	ghostscript @9.10_2+x11
--->  	automake @1.14.1_0
--->  	llvm-3.4 @3.4-r198150_0+assertions
--->  	clang-3.4 @3.4-r198150_0+analyzer+assertions+python27
--->  	gtk-doc @1.18_3+python27
--->  	llvm-3.4 @3.4_1+assertions
--->  	clang-3.4 @3.4_0+analyzer+assertions+python27
--->  	gtk-doc @1.20_0+python27
--->  	gtk-doc @1.20_1+python27
--->  	apache2 @2.2.26_0+preforkmpm
--->  	mod_perl2 @2.0.7_1
--->  	automake @1.14.1_1
--->  	texi2html @5.0_1
--->  	openldap @2.4.31_4
--->  	automake @1.14.1_2
Error: org.macports.uninstall for port perl5 returned: Please uninstall the ports that depend on perl5 first.
Please see the log file for port perl5 for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_registry_portfiles_perl5_5.12.4_0+perl5_18/perl5/main.log
Warning: Failed to execute port file from registry for perl5 @5.12.4_0+perl5_18

Is there some other way to proceed without having to uninstall all these others then reinstall them with perl5.16 as default?

---
Murray Eisenberg		murrayeisenberg at gmail.com
503 King Farm Blvd #101		Home (240)-246-7240
Rockville, MD 20850-6667	Mobile (413)-427-5334