From a technical and availability standpoint, there is just no reason to keep using such an old version of perl.

I just tested this today. First what you have to understand is that i'm not using whatever version of perl came with the operating system. I always use a separate installation for my applications (that way, my upgrades/updates don't interfere with the operating system and vice versa).

I logged in to one of my development/test servers where i was running ActivePerl 5.14. The webserver (written in Perl) and all it's background workers where running. I did a parallel install of ActivePerl 5.16. Change the bash script that starts all the scripts to use the new path. Called killall -9 perl, called the startup-script and deleted to ActivePerl 5.14 folder. Total downtime of the service was about 25 seconds. Total work time was about 2 hours (including the 30 minute fire drill that interrupted me in the middle).

Also, i guess, using such an old version of perl such as 5.8.8 means you can't use a lot of newer, bugfixed and enhanced versions of CPAN modules. Isn't that a rather nasty security risk?

What about IPv6 support? If you are running such old software, i guess IPv6 support is sketchy at best. If you are doing any network stuff (especially on the internet), you should think reading RFC 6540: IPv6 Support Required for All IP-Capable Nodes. Basically, if you can't fully support IPv6 (doesn't say you must have an uplink, just be IPv6 capable), you are making a product that is does not fulfill the requirements to label it "Internet-capable".

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In reply to Re: What is a really old version of Perl? by cavac
in thread What is a really old version of Perl? by Argel

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