> For the record, you will hear no disagreement from me. I recognize that > this is a HARD problem. Nonetheless, I think it's an important one, and > solving it (even imperfectly, by only supporting well-defined platforms) > would be a major coup.
I'd like to take that even further: just supporting Win32 binaries would be a major coup. Very few windows users can compile, but a much more significant percent of Un*x users can. A few more ways to address issues of multi-platform (my favorite is at the end): - Divide and conquer: design the 6PAN so that individuals and small groups can set up their own binary specific distribution sites. One person might decide to set up a Win32 distribution site, another a Mac distribution site. They can all register on the central 6PAN server. Users can then choose which distributions they prefer in general. - Unit testing: with binaries it becomes more imperative that downloaded modules are rigourously tested. Unit tests should be distributed with modules, and download clients should have a way of saving errors and (if the user givesd permission) sending them back to the developer. - My favorite: don't do binaries. With bytecode Pure Perl makes all the more sense. I'm not saying binaries should be prohibited, but the culture should steer away from them.
