Rebuild all ports for perl minor version update?

[John Marino]

On 6/14/2013 12:40, Jerry wrote:
> Just so I am understanding this correctly, the problem is not with
> Perl-5.18, but rather applications that were written for earlier
> versions that may not have in fact been written in tight compliance
> with the specifications of the earlier versions and those problems seem
> to reside on *BSD platforms more readily than other OSs. Is that a fair
> statement?

I don't think that's a fair statement.  First, where is your support 
your statement that the broken applications didn't have "tight 
compliance with the specifications"?  That sounds like conjecture.  I 
also don't see how you make the leap that BSD has more problems than 
other architectures.

> In my opinion, rather than just issuing a blanket embargo of the newer
> version, I would think that issuing a warning of its potential
> problems, (and I do stress the use of POTENTIAL as opposed to
> GUARANTEED ramifications) to be a more suitable solution to the
> situation. Users would be free to make their own decisions. Unless the
> intent is to lock *.BSD into versions < 5.18 ad infinitum, at some
> point the action must be taken anyway.

I despise languages that aren't backwards compatible, so if 5.18 
actually broke compatibility intentionally then I for one would vote for 
staying on 5.16 for a long, long time.  I am reserving judgement for the 
full story.

John