It's been a couple of days since we started this list, so let's try to
get going. This is a first shot to a manifest.
This list has been started in reaction to an often heard complaint
that Perl is becoming bigger and bigger, and its size is keeping
people and companies from installing, and using, it. To overcome this
problem, the current standard Perl distribution needs to be split into
a small core part, and additional modules. The core part needs to be a
useful subset capable of real life work, like adding the additional
modules. (Although we may want to use industry standard installation
tools as well.)
An additional problem is that many of Perl's run-time defaults are
actually established at build time. This makes it hard to produce a
prebuilt Perl distribution that can be installed flexibly, and
additional prebuilt modules that can be added to an arbitrary Perl
installation.
I see three problems that must be solved:
1: A perl distribution must be able to be (re)located anywhere and
use itself as a starting point to find its additional libraries
and modules.
The way ActiveState's rpm handles it (by patching the binaries and
scripts) works, but defeats the rpm functionality to verify an
installation.
2: Add-on modules (base-perl and site-perl) must be able to fit
themselves into an existing perl installation so they can be
distributed in prebuilt form.
3: The Perl distribution must be split into a core part, and
additional modules.
Patches welcome.
-- Johan
