I'm curious as to what more experienced Perl programmers think about migrating scripts from 5.005 to 5.8.1.

Some facts:
--I have a large 4000 line file I'm considering migrating.
--I'm a Perl fledgling under a moderate deadline, so I'm not sure this is something I should tackle.
--The Perl scripts generate web pages containing financial information, so security would be an issue.
--Many of the subroutines contain SQL statements to get data from our database.
--There is minimal Javascript.
--Almost all HTML is generated via PRINT statements.

Some pros and cons I've thought of for my particular case (let me know if my assumptions are wrong!):

PROS:
--I don't know Perl very well, so migrating would be a good way to force a better understanding of the script.
--Eventually our systems folks will stop supporting 5.005 development. (I don't think they'll eliminate the 5.005 distribution, but they may insist on all new development going into 5.8.1).
--I have a little more time for development than originally thought (about a six-month extension), so I have some breathing room to experiment.
--I have a nice editor/debugger IDE to help.

CONS:
--My manager is anxious to see something produced.
--My manager indicated today that this project may be "throw-away" so he doesn't want too much time spent on it since he expects it may very well be replaced with something else during our next upgrade.
--I don't know what kind of "gotchas" and "toe-stubbers" there might be in migrating scripts.
--The support in my environment is not exactly speedy or great. (BUT that could be my lack of knowledge in knowing where to go for the right help).
--There is no one here that is developing in 5.8.1 (it was just loaded last week), so there aren't many contacts for help. Perlmonks is pretty much my first choice for help (gotta love that super search!). (BTW, that last sentence is not a CON...).

I'd appreciate any advice, suggestions, links, comments you could provide. A search of Perlmonks on migrating scripts were few, and they were at least a year or older.

Thanks!    Lori

In reply to Opinions on migrating Perl scripts from 5.005 to 5.8.1? by Lori713

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