Re: Perl version support

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Nov 23, 2005, 19:47 UTC
Message-ID: <7vwtiz4053.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <86mzjvphhj.fsf_-_@blue.stonehenge.com>

merlyn@stonehenge.com (Randal L. Schwartz) writes:

> I'd say that 50% of the Perl-using population is at 5.6, with 25% each
> at 5.5 and 5.8.  Those on 5.5 are generally unable to upgrade Perl
> for corporate reasons.

I think the target market is people who use whatever POSIXy systems for their own work. To them, git and its dependencies are merely tools to get their job done, and while they might be capable and even willing to match the version requirements if it is absolutely necessary, they'd rather spend their time on what they do best (i.e. write software or documentation or whatever, whose changes are to be managed by git), than installing or upgrading base software just to satisfy git. And I'd like to see their time spent on what they do best, instead of caring and feeding of git, too.

So in that sense, excluding 75% of people with "5.8 only" is not acceptable at all, and covering 75% with "5.6 or better" might be good enough, at least as a starter.

> If you'd like, I can review all the Perl code with a tool that
> determines the minimum Perl version, and provide patches to bring the
> code to 5.5 level.

If it is not too much trouble, I'd appreciate it, at least the first half that can be done without taking too much of your time. Is it a mechanical "lint" like thing, that says "line 47 you have list form of pipe open -- that's 5.8 and better"?