in reply to Why are other popular languages very different from Perl when installing libraries, e.g. no testing needed and no compilation of C/C++ code done

So, finally the question: why does Perl need to go through all this extra rigmarole of testing and compiling any library C/C++ code?

It really doesn't, both cpan and cpanp allow you to skip running tests

ActiveState provides eggs, calls them ppms, with a tool called ppm.

Ubuntu and the like also provide binary packages via apt-get.

cygwin also provides binary packages , as does MinGW (mingw-get)

There are other binary packages like StrawberryPerl or CitrusPerl or IndigoPerl, they also support ppm.

Even Padre, the Perl IDE, comes as a binary package.

  • Comment on Re: Why is it in some other popular languages fewer steps and potential issues when installing libraries no testing needed and no compilation of C/C++ code done

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Why is it in some other popular languages fewer steps and potential issues when installing libraries no testing needed and no compilation of C/C++ code done
by hermida (Scribe) on Apr 06, 2011 at 13:33 UTC
    Oh yes thank you for reminding me, I should have remembered that one can get rpms, apt packages and other means to get binary packages.

    Just throwing out an idea: is there a way in Perl like I have described in Python to, in a universal way, create binary packages of CPAN distros yourself and package them into one file and that these can be used by Perl without having to unpackage the file? The ones listed are all very particular to different types of OS. Maybe this should be invented for Perl to make things easier for beginners and dependency management. Maybe PAR?

[reply]
[reply]
[reply]
        Ok, yep I mentioned PAR... but another just another silly question and please pardon me if I just haven't seen the right apps, I just have never seen any major app written in Perl that uses PAR to provide easy one file packaged CPAN library dependency management, my apologies but when you don't see anyone using it for such a purpose you are wary of doing it yourself. In Python these eggs are very common.
[reply]

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom