From: Randal L. Schwartz Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 19:59:30 GMT Subject: Re: Perl version support Message-ID: <86br0bm8yl.fsf@blue.stonehenge.com> In-Reply-To: <7vwtiz4053.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net> >>>>> "Junio" == Junio C Hamano writes: Junio> I think the target market is people who use whatever POSIXy Junio> systems for their own work. To them, git and its dependencies Junio> are merely tools to get their job done, and while they might be Junio> capable and even willing to match the version requirements if it Junio> is absolutely necessary, they'd rather spend their time on what Junio> they do best (i.e. write software or documentation or whatever, Junio> whose changes are to be managed by git), than installing or Junio> upgrading base software just to satisfy git. And I'd like to Junio> see their time spent on what they do best, instead of caring and Junio> feeding of git, too. Yes, this is why I keep pointing out GNU tools being used instead of POSIXy versions. :) Mostly because they break on either my Darwin laptop or my OpenBSD host server. Junio> So in that sense, excluding 75% of people with "5.8 only" is not Junio> acceptable at all, and covering 75% with "5.6 or better" might Junio> be good enough, at least as a starter. I think we're in agreement. >> 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. Junio> If it is not too much trouble, I'd appreciate it, at least the Junio> first half that can be done without taking too much of your time. Junio> Is it a mechanical "lint" like thing, that says "line 47 you Junio> have list form of pipe open -- that's 5.8 and better"? The "perlver" tool installed with the "Perl::MinimumVersion" module from the CPAN will do about 80% of it. The other 20% are things that I can use my brain for. -- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!