multiple Perl installations?

[Damian]

I was wondering if it's possible to have multiple Perl installations? I
currently run 5.6.1 on my Linux system, and I want to muck around with
5.8, but keep it "on the side". I remember there was once a thread on
this a few months ago but couldn't find it on google groups for the life
of me.


Basically, I want to leave 5.6.1 as my "main" or "default" Perl, so if I
go

#!/usr/bin/perl

That gives me 5.6.1,

and if I go

#!/usr/bin/perl-5.8

(or what is the newest version?)

This would make it very easy to test new/update aspects of Perl and
compare and check my 5.6.1-written scripts.

Thank you.

(And if you're wondering "why the hell don't you just go with 5.8 for
your main Perl?!" its because I have this Linux system setup to mimic
the setup on our company's www server, which is hosted by Verio and thus
I have no access to upgrade their Perl from 5.6.1 to 5.8.)

 

[ko]

Damian wrote:

[snip]

Basically, I want to leave 5.6.1 as my "main" or "default" Perl, so if I
go

#!/usr/bin/perl

That gives me 5.6.1,

and if I go

#!/usr/bin/perl-5.8

(or what is the newest version?)

[snip]

http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.8.0/INSTALL.html#Maintaining-completely-separate-versions

And create a symlink to where the other version of Perl is located after
the installation. It would also be a good idea to at least quickly scan
the whole document.

HTH-keith

 

[Chris]

(And if you're wondering "why the hell don't you just go with 5.8 for
your main Perl?!" its because I have this Linux system setup to mimic
the setup on our company's www server, which is hosted by Verio and thus
I have no access to upgrade their Perl from 5.6.1 to 5.8.)

That may or may not be true depending on how much drive space you are
allowed on your host machine and (somewhat) whether you have shell
access to your account. I'm not familiar with Verio, but it is
sometimes the case that you can install and run your own executables on
an outsourced web hosting machine. (Should also check your user agreement.)

Just thought I'd mention all this as an aside. I once installed Ruby
for local usage while hosting at a big name hosting facility in Atlanta
(name withheld here, but many could probably guess it.)

And writing a secure web form that takes a command and executes it on a
host is fairly easy to do (in case they say you don't have true shell
access -- if you have access to perl, you essentially have shell access...)

Chris

 

[Damian]

That may or may not be true depending on how much drive space you are
allowed on your host machine and (somewhat) whether you have shell
access to your account. I'm not familiar with Verio, but it is
sometimes the case that you can install and run your own executables on
an outsourced web hosting machine. (Should also check your user agreement.)

Just thought I'd mention all this as an aside. I once installed Ruby
for local usage while hosting at a big name hosting facility in Atlanta
(name withheld here, but many could probably guess it.)

And writing a secure web form that takes a command and executes it on a
host is fairly easy to do (in case they say you don't have true shell
access -- if you have access to perl, you essentially have shell

access...)

Sorry for the confusion, I'm only doing this dual Perl thing on my test
bed Linux box, not the "live" server. The "live" server only has 5.6.1,
and the Linux "test" box is setup to mimic it's setup as far as
directory names and Perl/Apache/Sendmail (etc) versions go.

My oriignal purpose for asking was so I could install 5.8.2 (it's
currently in the process of "make"ing, all I had to do was install it
with a prefix (in my case "perl5.8.2") and still have 5.6.1 as the
"main" perl on ther so I could still write scripts on my "test" machine
and easily upload scripts that are ready ot go live ot the "live"
server, and still be able to test out 5.8.2 stuff without disturbing
that balance.

Hope that clears things up ;p

Long story short: 5.8.2 is right now "make"ing with it's own prefix to
keep it seperate and 5.6.1 remains dominant as /usr/bin/perl.

 

[Chris]

access...)

Sorry for the confusion, I'm only doing this dual Perl thing on my test
bed Linux box, not the "live" server. The "live" server only has 5.6.1,
and the Linux "test" box is setup to mimic it's setup as far as
directory names and Perl/Apache/Sendmail (etc) versions go.

My oriignal purpose for asking was so I could install 5.8.2 (it's
currently in the process of "make"ing, all I had to do was install it
with a prefix (in my case "perl5.8.2") and still have 5.6.1 as the
"main" perl on ther so I could still write scripts on my "test" machine
and easily upload scripts that are ready ot go live ot the "live"
server, and still be able to test out 5.8.2 stuff without disturbing
that balance.

Hope that clears things up ;p

I think I had in mind what you meant. I was merely suggesting that on
your main server, you may not be as "stuck" at 5.6.1 as you think. You
may, if you want and other technical factors are favorable, be able to
install a local copy of Perl 5.8.2 on your main server.

It's not a big deal.

Chris

 

[Damian]

I think I had in mind what you meant. I was merely suggesting that on
your main server, you may not be as "stuck" at 5.6.1 as you think.
You may, if you want and other technical factors are favorable, be
able to install a local copy of Perl 5.8.2 on your main server.

It's not a big deal.

That may be, but the problem is they dont even offer telnet/ssh (shell)
access. I have written a small perl console script I cna use throguh a
web browser (cgi), but I don't think I have enough privs to install
anythign like that. I could ftp it to the server but only within the www
tree.

Thanks for the suggestion anyways.