PHP is very easy to install. mod_perl is not.
I've seen this asserted before and it always leaves me scratching my head. Can you or someone else elaborate on what is so easy about installing and maintaining PHP? The way I understand it, I have to pick which "modules" I want PHP to use before compiling it. If I want to change those, add new modules or upgrade some then I have to do the ./configure (with scads of options); make; make test; make install dance. At least with perl if I want to upgrade or add DBD::Pg it is separate from the perl core so I'm not forced to do the equivalent of recompiling perl and mod_perl.

The perl dance looks like: download String::Approx, perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/lib && make && make test && make install and then any code that wants to make use of that just says use String::Approx.

Am I just not understanding PHP here or this the supposedly "easy" process? If there is a better way to manage a PHP installation I'd love to hear about it since I can see myself wanting to use PHP occassionally and it'd be good to have a maintenance process that isn't torture.

Seeking Green geeks in Minnesota

In reply to Re^4: Preaching Perl gospel to PHP converts... by diotalevi
in thread Preaching Perl gospel to PHP converts... by vladb

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