Re: Perl Doesn't Suck

On Fri, Jun 29, 2001 at 05:29:53PM -0500, Elaine -HFB- Ashton wrote:
> Not all OS, though most, have Perl in the base install and those that do
> even have problems. Config.pm has issues on HP and Sun, RedHat has spotty
> RPMs that occsaionally go awry. 

That's their fault.  Find a better distribution.


> *>Then again, even for big things like Tk or LWP, I've found perl's
> *>installation process to be at least more consistent.  perl Makefile.PL
> *>&& make test && make install will just about do it.  By contract, I've
> *>had to install the JMF under Linux.  HOoooooboy, that was a mess.  All
> *>sorts of little hard-coded paths and config options to tweak and
> *>jigger, copying things around by hand.  Unpleasent.  I'd imagine it
> *>would be easier to do on Solaris, but that doesn't help me.
> 
> Well, call your Linux support and ask for them to make it better/easier to
> install Java on Linux. Sun isn't going to do it for the other platforms I
> would imagine.

Well, see there's the trick.  Sun (and thus Java) cares about Solaris
and Windows.  Everyone else has to fend for themselves.  To make
matters worse, its very difficult to get your hands on the JVM source
code, so its not like I can even fix it.  With Perl, I can at least
fix it myself and roll it back into the core.  Its the old Open vs
Closed Source argument.

As a Solaris gal, this might all seem perfectly sensible.  Myself, I'm
doubly screwed running Linux (which is not Windows or Solaris) on a
PowerPC (which is not Intel or Sparc).  Sun might have perfectly valid
business reasons for concentrating on Solaris and Windows, but in the
end it still means I'm screwed.

With Perl, if you're running some fucked up OS on some fucked up
hardware we'll at least give it our best shot to get it working.  If
you figure out how to get it working, we'll do what we can to roll it
into the core (mod a little p5p squabbling).


> The one time I did have an issue with a Java package I had
> an engineer issue a patch within the day...and he was awakened at 4am.

Did Sun do this out of the goodness of their heart or did you have
commercial support?

Given that Sun charges $200 per incident for a two day response time
($1600 for four hour reponse) this is not something most people can
afford.  Expensive, commercial support, while it is nice for those who
can afford it, is not a general solution.

 
> *>But yes, module installation can be made easier.  We're working on it.
> 
> No, module installation isn't hard and wasn't what I was driving at.
> Enterprise wide deployment. Make it easy to install and deploy perl across
> 5k boxes in a farm and you'll have a winner. :)

With Debian I just make dpkgs (or use the Debian ones), stick them
into a local repository and sync normally from there.  Most OS's have
a similar packaging system.  Otherwise, you can use CPAN::Site to set
up a local CPAN repository which overlays your own.  Or you can set up
your own local CPAN mirror of approved modules.  After that its all
cron jobs.

Making it easier to do those last two is a good way to go.  That an
Ingy's NAPC idea.  Like I said, we're working on it.


-- 

Michael G. Schwern   <[email protected]>    http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
Perl6 Quality Assurance     <[email protected]>	     Kwalitee Is Job One
Only mindless violence can raise my spirits now!