Re: Promoting Text::CSV to base Perl?

[Corion]

The people to lobby for that would be the Perl5-Porters. One problem that Perl faces is that the continous maintenance of things in the Perl core puts a burden on the Perl developers, hence they are not keen on taking on things that can be installed from CPAN or your distribution package manager instead.

Installing modules for the current user has also become much easier, and there is at least talk of actually getting (something like) local::lib into the Perl core. This would make locally installing modules much easier.

If you are a developer, or a person writing Perl code, you should also be able to download the two .pm files from CPAN, as Text::CSV does not need any external dependencies beyond what comes with Perl.

[Tux]

I think I can tell the net-result, whatever path is taken: it won't.

I am both a perl5 porter *and* the author/maintainer of Text::CSV_XS. Text::CSV follows Text::CSV_XS and having Text::CSV in core would thus imply to also have Text::CSV_XS in core.

The perl5 porters share the thought that if a module does not require deep CORE internals, and Text::CSV_XS does not require any core specific changes, and is (relatively) easy to write as a (CPAN) module, they/we prefer that over integration. This rule will instantly be broken if the core itself would have great use of this module.

The ease-of-port for Text::CSV_XS is guaranteed by Devel::PPPort, which is part of CORE since 5.7.3.

Having a module in CORE often makes sense to an outsider/end-user, but the burden of having it in CORE is a real pain for both the porters and the author of the module. I can tell, I also have modules in CORE, and it raises the amount of time to maintain a module.

All of the above has nothing to do with the quality or usefulness of a module! Take another example: DBI. I personally would have no job if I would not have it, but having it well-maintained makes it extremely easy to add it from CPAN to any perl installation.

[mldvx4]

"The people to lobby for that would be the Perl5-Porters. "

Thanks.

"One problem that Perl faces is that the continous maintenance of things in the Perl core puts a burden on the Perl developers, hence they are not keen on taking on things that can be installed from CPAN or your distribution package manager instead."

Fully understandable. I can appreciate that balance.

"Installing modules for the current user has also become much easier, and there is at least talk of actually getting (something like) local::lib into the Perl core. This would make locally installing modules much easier."

Perhaps that would be the way forward. If it is made easier to install local modules, then it would remove the question of adding to the core and thus be better than just debating one module at a time adding to the maintenance each time.

"If you are a developer, or a person writing Perl code, you should also be able to download the two .pm files from CPAN, as Text::CSV does not need any external dependencies beyond what comes with Perl."

Yes, I write Perl scripts at irregular, unpredictable intervals and have used that trick before albeit with some other modules. Sometimes those intervals are far enough apart that I've done a completely new installation, sometimes even a different distro, and then have to bring in the unique constellation of modules unique to my activities. Since I administer my own machines in recent decades, or have helpful sysadmins, it is usually possible to use the convenient package from the repository or the CPAN module as a fall-back. I'm thinking of the situation that newer people will find themselves in, so maybe local::lib might be considered. Is there anything to test that would help either direction?