compatibility between 5.8 and 5.6

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

I'm a newbie for perl. I'm using the perl version.

-bash-3.2$ perl -v

This is perl, v5.8.6 built for i686-linux-64int

Is the modules compatible for perl 5.6 is compatible for my perl version? Is there is any incompatibility?

If any one have idea about the above problem please share it...

Comment on compatibility between 5.8 and 5.6

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: compatibility between 5.8 and 5.6 by davido (Cardinal) on Feb 16, 2012 at 16:31 UTC
Actually perl58delta addresses module compatibility with earlier versions specifically: Perl 5.8 is not binary compatible with earlier releases of Perl. You have to recompile your XS modules. (Pure Perl modules should continue to work.) The major reason for the discontinuity is the new IO architecture called PerlIO. PerlIO is the default configuration because without it many new features of Perl 5.8 cannot be used. In other words: you just have to recompile your modules containing XS code, sorry about that. Dave	[reply]
Re: compatibility between 5.8 and 5.6 by Anonymous Monk on Feb 16, 2012 at 14:41 UTC
Pure-perl modules are generally compatible. Modules that are part XS need to be recompiled for the newer version, the minor version jump from 6 to 8 indicates this. This is documented somewhere, but I cannot find it anymore.	[reply]
Re^2: compatibility between 5.8 and 5.6 by moritz (Cardinal) on Feb 16, 2012 at 14:56 UTC
It's in perlpolicy. I'd also like to point out that both 5.6 and 5.8 are both hopelessly outdated, one should look at 5.12 or 5.14 instead. Perl 6 - second systems done right	[reply]
Re^2: compatibility between 5.8 and 5.6 by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 16, 2012 at 18:05 UTC
the minor version jump from 6 to 8 indicates this. Perl 5.8.9 is Perl 5, version 8, subversion 9. If anything is minor, it's the "9". Subversion (minor version) increases do no require a rebuild, but going from 5.6 and 5.9 is a version (major version) increase, and those do require a rebuild.	[reply]