in reply to Inconsistencies between Perl versions

This isn't a problem of multiple development team! Note that from a Perl version to another much things changes, specially the bug fixes! Always try to use a newer version of Perl (stable). If you want a very stable use Perl-5.6.1. And note that we are in Perl-5.8.0, and Perl-5.8.1 is comming to fix some bugs in the previous.

Note that Perl-5.1 is from before 1995!!! I can't find exactly the year. Perl-5.3 is from 1996! Use at least Perl-5.4 in linux, and on Win32 Perl-5.6.1. See that the source Perl-5.1 doesn't exist in CPAN for download, and you only can find it with old old old RPMs! In other words, don't use it.

What you should know is that Perl5 is one language, Perl4 other, and Perl6 will be another. So, from Perl-5.1 to Perl-5.2 the changes are like from 1.0 to 2.0 in other softwares! From 5.6.1 to 5.8 (the release versions, since 5.7 was dev) much much things have changed, like PerlIO and specially thread!

Update: On linux you can install mutiple versions of Perl! You don't need to update the old, just install the new in other place, or in the same place if the architecture of Perl was comipled to mantain multiple versions, but I don't know if 5.1 already have this resource.

Graciliano M. P.
"The creativity is the expression of the liberty".

  • Comment on Re: Inconsistencies between Perl versions

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Re: Re: Inconsistencies between Perl versions
by Tanalis (Curate) on May 01, 2003 at 09:16 UTC
    If you want a very stable use Perl-5.6.1 ... Use at least Perl-5.4 in linux

    Why? You make two very sweeping statements there, with no underlying arguments at all. Later versions obviously have bugfixes, obviously have new features, but the stability of the versions doesn't necessarily change from release to release.

    Perl 5.004, which we (mainly) use, can handle the 100,000 rows of data we throw at it, and output the reports we need quickly and efficiently, without crashing. That's our requirement for stability - and 5.004 meets it.

    In my mind there's very little substance in a "update, because a later version's there" mentality. We don't need bleeding-edge, we need mature, stable code and mature, stable scripts. I'm not saying that later versions of Perl aren't mature and stable (completely the opposite, I'm sure they are), but from my perspective, and the point of view of the other people in the tech group where I work, there's very little potential benefit in spending a weekend upgrading a system and ensuring that everything we have still works. Ultimately, the system we have isn't broken, so why fix it?

    When it comes to mission critical systems, I think it's better to play it safe, and stick/cope with a solution that's guaranteed to work for at least a short while longer, rather than perform an unnecessary upgrade and risk things failing.

    -- Foxcub
    A friend is someone who can see straight through you, yet still enjoy the view. (Anon)

[reply]

      I'm inclined to agree. We have several 5.002 installations on fairly static systems. If I had to do something new with Perl on those boxes, I'd likely install a newer version, but I'd keep 5.002 as well lest I find a handful of scripts that break after an upgrade. (And, with dozens of scripts, thats likely.) An upgrade might also require upgrading modules, and that could get ugly.

      In the production part of my world, perl usually gets upgraded when the hardware does.

      -sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";
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