Multiple instances of Perl

jabberwocky has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Multiple instances of Perl by almut (Canon) on May 14, 2008 at 17:18 UTC
Is it possible for two instances of Perl, different versions, to coexist on a server? In general, yes :) — as long as you're careful to always call the right perl binary and not mess with PERL5LIB etc. (normally, each perl should know about and find its associated modules...)	[reply]
Re^2: Multiple instances of Perl by jabberwocky (Novice) on May 14, 2008 at 19:16 UTC
Thank you, almut	[reply]
Re: Multiple instances of Perl by dragonchild (Archbishop) on May 14, 2008 at 18:23 UTC
I released Perl::Install specifically to aid in managing multiple Perl installations. My criteria for good software: Does it work? Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?	[reply]
Re^2: Multiple instances of Perl by jabberwocky (Novice) on May 14, 2008 at 19:19 UTC
Thank you, dragonchild	[reply]
Re: Multiple instances of Perl by ikegami (Patriarch) on May 14, 2008 at 17:21 UTC
Yes, just install them to different directories. I have 4 versions of Perl on my machine.	[reply]
Re: Multiple instances of Perl by Anonymous Monk on May 14, 2008 at 18:30 UTC
Yes you can have as many versions of Perl as you like. Say you wish to retain your current perl which will have either a binary or a link in /usr/bin/perl (this is a good idea as installing a new perl should not break anything old). First install the new perl somewhere (say 5.8.8), then create a symlink. `$ ln -s /usr/local/new_perl5.8.8_dir/bin/perl /usr/bin/perl588 Then you just need to do #!/usr/bin/perl588 to use it in a script and $ perl588 Makefile.PL or $ perl588 -MCPAN -e 'shell' to install modules into that new Perl.` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Multiple instances of Perl by linuxer (Curate) on May 14, 2008 at 21:02 UTC
What about that .cpan directory in user's home directory? Is it really safe to have and use the same $HOME/.cpan directory (and same $HOME/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm) for different perl versions and installations?	[reply]
Re^3: Multiple instances of Perl by chromatic (Archbishop) on May 14, 2008 at 21:06 UTC
Is it really safe to have and use the same $HOME/.cpan directory (and same $HOME/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm) for different perl versions and installations? It should be fine, if you have the same (or at least a similar) version of CPAN installed and want to use the same options for all installations.	[reply]
Re^2: Multiple instances of Perl by jabberwocky (Novice) on May 14, 2008 at 19:20 UTC
Thank you, Anonymous Monk, that was very helpful	[reply]
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