Why oh why did activestate feel they needed a totally new package manager?

Because 99% of Windows Perl users don't have C compilers and CPAN is built around using your C compiler to install stuff. So if you grab a pre-built binary release of Perl, then you also want to grab some pre-built binary releases of modules. The places that make such for other operating systems also implemented their own packaging for pre-built modules. ActiveState's inability to duplicate CPAN's broad reach is just more obvious because so many people use Windows and such a high percentage of them don't have a C compiler and so grab per-built releases.

BTW, I've heard some arguments why Dave Roth doesn't release source code to some of his modules. I've never heard an argument as to why he rarely puts them on CPAN (I usually get told to just be grately that he releases any modules at all).

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")

In reply to (tye)Re2: The Missing Win32::Perms Module by tye
in thread The Missing Win32::Perms Module by Umlaut

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.