Installing Perl in AIX 5.1

[ratsinha]

We want to install newer version of Perl in AIX 5.1 , as of now we have Perl 5.8 installed. I want to write scripts so that I am able to do some excel data manipulation in excel files placed in AIX server. I found that I will need to use "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and Spreadsheet::ParseExcel" for this purpose. My query is that which version of Perl would be suitable to upgrade to, which is good enough to handle all functions of excel files and can be installed in AIX 5.1 ? (Assuming that we have to stick to AIX 5.1) Suppose if we get the option of AIX 6.1 in future then which version of Perl you would advise for my requirement?

[Argel]

My recommendation in all scenarios like this is to install your own Perl in a different location and leave the OS included Perl alone. Do you have access to the AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications? I believe it includes gcc, which you could use to compile your own version of Perl. Or you could look into installing a Perl package to a different location.

[Tanktalus]

I've been going through the old "Perl building on AIX" bugs on rt. The standard answers have been approximately: The version of AIX you're using is not supported (AIX 5.3 goes out of support at the end of this month, 5.1 is already out of support). The version of Perl you're using is out of support. I've compiled Perl 5.14.2 on AIX 6 with xlC successfully. I've also compiled 5.14.0 on the same machine, but ended up with a few problems compiling other modules that I've not had with 5.14.2, not entirely sure why that is.

Given that perl 5.12 is about to be out of support with the imminent release of perl 5.16 (some time next month), I would suggest not bothering with 5.12, either.

Please tell your management that AIX 6.1 will be the oldest level of AIX still supported by IBM as of May 1. They should upgrade as soon as possible to ensure continued support. As for your perl question, I have every plan of using perl 5.16.1 in my next deliverable. Yes, 5.16.0 isn't out yet, but I need to plan ahead :-) I've watched p5p a bit lately due to other reasons (which is how I got dragged into this), and I have to say, as a general rule, always go with the latest available version at the time of the upgrade. (Exceptions have been made for releases like 5.8.0, 5.8.7, 5.10.0.) You'll get more bugfixes, and better support.

I say all this without having tried S::WE/S::PE.

I've also written a Configure wrapper that has helped me do the above testing - that way I don't have to sit through Configure's lengthy questions and can get the same results each time, modulo the extra options passed in. If you're going to test a bunch of versions, I recommend doing the same. I even cheat: my perlconfigure tool runs off the system perl. I use perl to configure perl :-). (Then again, I also have a wrapper written to select one of a number of perls, also written in perl, and then eval 'dev_perl -S $0 "$@"' [\n] if 0; selects the right perl automatically... so I kinda cheat all the time.)

Edit: And, yes, absolutely, do not touch the system perl. Install your new version elsewhere and use that.

[Tux]

Having read the other comment, I'd have to add that these two modules should work on AIX 5.1 with perl-5.8.x without a problem. Did you actually *try* to install them?

[flexvault]

ratsinha,

Which version of AIX you can install depends on the Power level of the hardware. You need Power 5 hardware for AIX 6.1 and AIX 6.1 is 64 bit only. But I have installed Perl 5.8.8 thru 5.12.2 on AIX 4.3 thru 7.1 using gcc. The best gcc that I have found for AIX is version 4.2.4. IBM puts Perl in /usr/bin/, so I add the versions I want/need in /usr/local/bin/.

I have been working on Linux boxes of late, so I haven't upgraded any of the AIX machines to the newer versions of Perl.

Update: Fixed /usr/bin/local/ to /usr/local/bin/. Didn't see it before!

Good Luck