From: Michael G Schwern [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Mon, Jul 04, 2005 at 10:36:39AM +0100, Ben Evans wrote:
> > I would say that this cascade effect is precisely why you *should*
> > drop 5.004 compatability. There's no excuse other than "if it ain't
> broke,
> > don't fix it" for running such an archaic Perl. People should be
> encouraged
> > to move to a more modern environment whenever possible.
>
> While I'd love it if it worked this way, more often the admins refuse to
> upgrade in spite of losing module support and its the programmer who gets
> punished. The concern is more about not breaking existing code (whether
> warrented or not) than furthering development.
>
> I just had exactly this happen to a friend of mine contracting at a
> company
> still running 5.5.3. He couldn't even convince them to install a modern
> Perl in a separate location and leave the old code running 5.5.3.
I've just been through the should-I-shouldn't-I-support-5.4 with my
(painfully slow) rewrite of Compress::Zlib. In the end I included limited
support for 5.004 because I could, plus I have no feel for how much pain I
would cause folk if I didn't.
Paul
___________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail
http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
