Perl-5.10.0 in FBSD-7.0

[Josh Paetzel]

On Thursday 24 January 2008 06:02:25 am Gerard wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:19:29 +0100
>
> Kris Kennaway <kris at FreeBSD.org> wrote:
> > Gerard wrote:
> > > I have not been able to find any information in regards to the
> > > latest version of Perl, version 5.10.0, released in December.
> > >
> > > 1) When will this version be available in the ports system?
> >
> > After 7.0 is released.
> >
> > > 2) Will FreeBSD-7.0 use this as the default Perl version?
> >
> > Not as it will be shipped, but users can upgrade to it later.  I was
> > going to say "easily upgrade", but that might turn out to be a lie :)
> >
> > Historically, new versions of perl are a recipe for large amounts of
> > pain because of all the old perl code that stops working.  It would
> > be completely irresponsible to attempt that update prior to the
> > release (and moreover, the packages are already finalized for 7.0
> > anyway, modulo security updates).
>
> IMHO, updating to a new OS is like buying a new car. I certainly would
> not purchase a new vehicle if it contained an old motor. Yes, I could
> swap out the old motor for a new one once I purchase it; however,
> wouldn't it have been wiser for the dealer to have done so and spared
> me the problem. Perhaps this is not the ideal analogy; however, I think
> you get the idea.
>
> I just hope this decision does not cause the fiasco that the updating
> of Xorg caused and still, from reading the postings on this forum,
> still continue to cause for some users.
>
> Thanks for your response.

But you're using BSD because of it's history of stability and habit of "Just 
Working" right?

What a new version of perl has to fight is a history of years (can I say 
decades yet?) of perl upgrades that broke tons of stuff due to a lack of 
backwards compatibility.  No one listens to the perl people when they say 
that "new shiny version X isn't different in a way that will affect anything" 
anymore becasuse they've been saying that for years and it's just not been 
true.  Changing the default version of perl to 5.10.0 is going to break tons 
of ports, and everyone knows it.


-- 
Thanks,

Josh Paetzel

PGP: 8A48 EF36 5E9F 4EDA 5A8C 11B4 26F9 01F1 27AF AECB
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