Re: My patches

[David Lee]

On 22 Mar 2001, Akim Demaille wrote:

> [...]
> I have a question: what is the version of Perl we can require.  There
> are feature implemented in 5.6 that I would like to use, but is it
> acceptable?  More specifically I'm using Class::Struct which was
> significantly improved since 5.005, but its only requirement is:
> 
>                 use 5.005_64;
> 
> so we can use it with Perl 5.5, provided that we distribute it
> (Hm... is it valid wrt licenses?).  Requiring 5.6 is simpler though.
> But if unacceptable, what would you say of using 5.6's Class::Struct?

My vote is for caution: that is, not to impose any limitations (e.g. 
latest version of XYZ) on users of automake that aren't strictly
necessary.

I guess that there are many sites which have gone through the effort of
installing a version of perl5 in the last couple of years, and would _not_
be keen on having to go through the extra effort of an(other) upgrade.

For information: at Solaris 8, Sun started including perl in the system. 

This is a great step forward, because not everyone is keen on having to
install their own perl.  It comes ready made and so is attractive.  (The
"keen" sites can opt to override it (and ours does so), but not everyone
is that "keen".) 

Anyway the Solaris version is: 

   # perl --version
   
   This is perl, version 5.005_03 built for sun4-solaris
   
   Copyright 1987-1999, Larry Wall
   
   Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License or the
   GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5.0 source kit.
   
   Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found on
   this system using `man perl' or `perldoc perl'.  If you have access to the
   Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.com/, the Perl Home Page.
   
   # 

One might be tempted to argue that anyone dabbling with automake will
already be a keen perl "bleeding edge" junkie; but I would urge caution
before leaping to that conclusion. 

Hope that helps your thinking through this.


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