I was a bit late to weigh in on this point before the original thread was
closed...
Hi Stefano!
Ok for Perl as a language, but the point gains sense if Perl is considered
as a technology. For example, I think PHP gained momentum for the
simplicity of the installing procedures of products based on it.
I think this simplicity of those installations derives from the fact that
providers are easily able to build a php/mod_php which includes the most used
things (mail functions, database access, image processing) directly into the
php binary. PHP programmers only need to upload their .php files via FTP and
they just work. No modules to install, it's all already there.
Now PHP has grown a lot of scripts need different PHP extensions installed. But
due to the popularity of PHP hosts are generally more than willing to do this.
Should we go as far as creating a mod_lightperl alike to mod_php, which
makes the interpreter stay resident and and bundles the commonly used
web-related
modules?
I don't think this is the way forward. But having a way of getting Perl to be
like this with an established technology like FastCGI would be very useful.
That way standard CGI scripts would be able to take advantage of already having
the interpreter loaded without having to code specifically for FastCGI.
Something like mod_lightperl would keep things tied in with apache, whereas
FastCGI works with Apache, IIS, LigHTTPD and a lot of others.
Like embperl?
http://perl.apache.org/embperl/
Yes, exactly like this, plus the smoothing of some of the edges. Along
with the bundles you were talking about (CPAN-Standard, ...) this could
provide the fast way to setup an Apache-based environment where user can
just upload they're pages with some Perl within and go (like they do
with PHP).
A project for bundles has already been started.
http://www.perlcertifiedhosting.com/index.html although things are on pause at
the moment while the wiki gets sorted and a project path outlined. I know they
are still open for new people to get involved.
I was lucky enough to be at one of the BBPM meets where one of the members
spoke about a new project called PerlSI (Perl Scriptable Installer). The aim of
this was to address the issues of getting Perl applications installed on
machines quickly and easily. Such as installing and configuring Apache if
needed, installing all the deps, etc. Including installing XS modules in a
shared hosting environment. Giving the user a friendly GUI or command line
interface and the developer an easy framework to adapt to their needs. They
said after spending weeks looking into things and all the options, Perl
actually has the potential for apps to be easier to install that PHP ones in a
variety of hosting environments including IIS and Apache. I'm sure there will
be a notification of this project on this list once some headway has been made.
PerlBloke
