# from Ken Williams
# on Tuesday 14 August 2007 07:15 pm:
>One might have noticed that a couple weeks ago I checked in some code
> in the M::B repository called inc/latest.pm .
One did.
> The idea is to allow
> users to put a bundled copy of M::B in their distribution so that
> their users don't have to have it pre-installed, but to still *allow*
> users to have their own copy pre-installed if it's at least as new as
> the bundled one.
It does sound like an interesting solution to the compatibility problem,
and I had recently pondered such a thing myself. I do believe it could
get tricky and I don't think we have the test infrastructure in place
to adequately smoke-out the troubles before it goes live (said
infrastructure probably involves cpan users using it in anger -- so the
beta test is the production run? [1])
If I understand correctly, the problem being solved is "old cpan
client" (and somewhat "standalone tarball usage") Right? So, I guess
the question is: Is that worth the effort, potential confusion/bugs,
and being tied to supporting it forever?
[1] The smokers will test alpha versions, but I'm not sure that they
would install alpha versions as dependencies. Thus, the combination of
new usage won't manifest until the adventurous distros put out a
'proper' (non-alpha) release. Also, the errors are likely to show up
in a 'dirty box' scenario which might not be easily
forseeable/testable, etc.
--
"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that
bother me, it's the parts that I do understand."
--Mark Twain
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