Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1998 10:00:41 -0700 (PDT) From: patl@phoenix.volant.org To: Dean Hollister <dean@odyssey.apana.org.au> Cc: stable@FreeBSD.ORG, FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Perl version in FreeBSD Message-ID: <ML-3.3.905706041.4997.patl@asimov> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.02A.9809131919080.24980-100000@odyssey.apana.org.au>
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> Why is perl v4 in the standard FreeBSD release, current and stable
> releases? Why can't it be 5.00404 by default? Many packages require perl 5
> to work, so why not make 5.00404 the default...
I see that non of the other replies have addressed the original question.
You can readily dig through the mailing list archives find the gory
details of the previous discussions of this issue; but the condensed
version is:
1. Perl5 is not 100% backwards compatible with perl4. It is
quite possible that some perl4 scripts will fail if executed
by perl5.
2. Perl5 is easily available as a port/package for those who
need it.
3. The -stable branch is supposed to be exactly that - stable.
Especially as 2.x nears the final release. Upgrading perl
would be a gratuitous potentially destabilizing change.
There were also some anti-bloat arguments based on the relative
sizes of the two installations.
Now, 3.0 is a new major version. It is -expected- to include various
changes which may break backwards compatability; so it is the ideal
point at which to make the upgrade. The theory being that all of the
major incompatabilities should be introduced at once, at a major version
change. (Hence CAM, ELF, SMP, bind 8, Perl5, etc.).
-Pat
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