Would it be possible to sort of split the difference? i.e. not _just_ have one single perl5 port and get rid of all the individual point releases, but rather to add perl5 as a sort of "metapackage" that is essentially the same as perl5.30. I guess metapackage isn't the right word, either. In reality more like, it's the same package as perl5.30, but simply with a more generic name that maps to whatever specific release has been blessed as the MacPorts default perl. So, these ports would all exist:
- perl5 <= the "metapackage", and is actually the same port as perl5.30, perl5.32, or whatever is deemed to be the current MacPorts default perl. - perl5.30 - perl5.28 - perl5.26 - ... So if a particular port is okay with blindly using a version of perl that tracks with the latest MacPorts default perl, they can use perl5. If a port breaks when the MacPorts default perl gets changed, then the port could still revert back to specifying a specific version of perl, by simply changing the perl5 to perl5.28. -- Jason Liu On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 11:21 PM Ryan Schmidt <[email protected]> wrote: > I've just realized this discussion has been to the old list address from > macosforge. Please always use the new list addresses at lists.macports.org > . > > > On Jun 22, 2020, at 14:34, Daniel J. Luke wrote: > > > We should just have one perl5 port that tracks the current release. > > You say this every year (or at least often). > > Are you volunteering to be the one to ensure that every port that uses > perl is compatible with the new perl release when it comes out? Without > someone to do that, blindly upgrading everything from say perl 5.28 to 5.30 > will likely break ports. > > Do you remember perl 5.26? It broke a lot of ports, requiring a lot of > fixes like this to be added: > https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/commit/454eb2b0608266ab7bdf51a82d690be0f97610fe > > The strategy currently being employed by those volunteers who are > maintaining the perl ports is to keep everything defaulted to 5.28 for now, > add 5.30 ports and fix problems in them as they're found, and once > everything is building then switch the default to 5.30. This seems sensible > to me. > >
