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herby1620 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:
At the moment (I just looked) ActiveState has Perl 5.8.7 on the block (I've read that 5.8.8 exists in some form as well). In addition there is a version 5.6.1 available from them. Given that the development of Perl is an ongoing enterprise (Perl 6.xxx is coming soon I read!), why would one want to upgrade to say, 5.8.x, when all the software and modules are written for 5.6.x. Is there a compelling reason (other than it is the "latest") to do an upgrade. The use is primairly an "internal" one, not subject to outside (web) influences which could corrupt it in some way (via a browser interface). The current "project" is in the "if it ani't broke, don't fix it" state running fine. Should I recommend that it be "broken" (there are quite a few linked binaries being used) just for the sake of an upgrade? At the moment, I really can't give a good answer, thus the inquiry.
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Re: Version, version, why change the version.
by GrandFather (Saint) on Mar 08, 2006 at 02:33 UTC
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Point point releases are generally bug fix versions. Check the release docs and see if any of the bugs affect you - if not, no need to update.
Point releases generally introduce some nifty new stuff and may remove some nasty old stuff. Check the release docs - if there's nothing you need, no need to update.
The release of Perl 6 has not reached "real soon now" status, don't worry about it.
Unless there are compelling reasons, like bug fixes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a pretty good argument - but you know that anyway. :)
DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel
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Within 5.6 and 5.8, it's probably good to upgrade to get the lastest bug fixes.
To go from 5.6 to 5.8 is less compelling. I presume many did the jump to obtains proper Unicode support. Other features were added as well (complete history). The jump is not too bad; code and modules that worked in 5.6 should work in 5.8, but they will need to be recompiled.
And of course, going from 5 to 6 will be a major undertaking. That jump is practically equivalent to a language switch.
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Re: Version, version, why change the version.
by ambrus (Abbot) on Mar 08, 2006 at 15:25 UTC
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Software modules are written for 5.6.x exactly because of your kind of people who just won't update to a new perl.
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