-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I have some ideas on what I'm planning on doing with the Debian Perl package in the near future.
1. Split the main executable and a small set of base files into perl-base. This would be Priority: required, should it be Essential? There will still be a main Perl package but it would supplement perl-base instead of replacing it.[1] 2. The man-pages and html-docs would go into a separate perl-doc package. 3. Currently Perl 5.004 is compiled with Perl 5.003 compatibility. Scott Ellis suggested that we turn this off when we compile Perl for libc6. This sounds like a good idea because it leads to a much cleaner namespace for embedded Perl.[2] Leading to: 4. After Perl for libc6 is out, I would issue a perl-lib package for use as a shared library for Perl. The main executable would still be statically linked for speed though.[3] 5. The Perl package will also become Perl5 at the libc6 upgrade, providing Perl. Vincent Renardias has asked if we could have a fully versioned package name of Perl5.004. This has merits but leads to overly long package names: perl5.004-base and is really inelegant. The cases where multiple full releases of Perl need to be installed are very rare and so unless there is a hew and a cry it will probably just be Perl5. 6. When developmental releases come out, I'll issue experimental packages with the full version in the name (perl5.004_50) that will only have the versioned executable name (/usr/bin/perl5.00450). This will allow experimental packages to sit alongside production versions. 7. When the maintenance releases come out, I'll wait a week or so to be sure there isn't nasty brokenness[4] and issue it as a new Perl5 package. As an aside, I have both perl-5.003.07-10 and perl-5.004-1 on my ftp site[5] as well as a tar file (perl-build-1.01.tar.gz) that will allow you to build your own perl packages from CPAN[6] sources. I'd really appreciate your input on these issues, so that I can go forward with the Perl package. Darren [1] As opposed to the brokenness I introduced in bo due to hurriedness and not thinking it through. [2] apache-modules (mod_perl), the vi clones, and others can use this then. [3] 10-25% degradation otherwise. [4] Not trying to impugn your testing, Tim (if you're reading this) but strange things do happen. [5] ftp://ftp.daft.com/pub/debian/perl* or ftp://ftp.daft.com/pub/Perl5/pause/debian/* [6] See http://www.perl.com/cpan/CPAN.html - -- <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.daft.com/~torin> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Darren Stalder/2608 Second Ave, @282/Seattle, WA 98121-1212/USA/+1-800-921-4996 @ Do you have your clothes on? I probably don't. Take yours off. Feel better. @ @ Sysadmin, webweaver, postmaster for hire. C/Perl/CGI programmer and tutor. @ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3 Charset: noconv Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface iQCVAwUBM4LWAo4wrq++1Ls5AQFPQwP/Zc/0lA2pSf+GtaB170CHzG1oEbFlv2IO bnx24LTZkL7YZobwmQIldEkdBC/++89RifaHZI6JEOOt/iOWZZKvhkhIFFMG9d5G s5QzIn0RC9WBUNgC8zBOoxelKy3j3cJAn1Az8ckTlFpvGmwtqMaxUoAMq59SEncG nR14BPDFAWQ= =iWJX -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .