noob asks: differences Activestate 5.8.x vs 5.6.x. pros vs cons of each?

[noob]

For a Windows ME system, is there a reason not to use v5.8.8 and use
5.6.1 instead? Also for Win9x or WinXP.

 

[jl_post]

For a Windows ME system, is there a reason not to use v5.8.8 and use
5.6.1 instead? Also for Win9x or WinXP.

I would always recommend the latest and greatest, unless the're a
very good reason not to use it.

So far, the only advantage I've found to using the 5.6.1 version is
that some modules are available in ActiveState's 5.6 ppm that are not
available yet in the 5.8 ppm repository.

However, this is fairly rare, and the more time passes, the more the
5.8 repositories will get updated, making such an issue less and less
likely. (And presumably making the opposite scenario (where a module
is available in 5.8 but not in 5.6) more likely.)

So if it's between 5.6.1 and 5.8.8, my advice is to use 5.8.8.

-- Jean-Luc

 

[Phil]

There is a bug in the memory handling of ActivePerl 5.8.x which
may cause EXTREME slowdowns when handling large blocks of memory.
One of my scripts was around 100x slower running on 5.8.x as
compared to the speed on 5.6.x. Other people have experienced
this problem as well.

 

[Sisyphus]

There is a bug in the memory handling of ActivePerl 5.8.x which
may cause EXTREME slowdowns when handling large blocks of memory.
One of my scripts was around 100x slower running on 5.8.x as
compared to the speed on 5.6.x. Other people have experienced
this problem as well.

Sounds interesting .... can you post a simple demo (or provide more info ...
eg a relevant link) ?

Cheers,
Rob

 

[noob]

So except for a possible mem problem mentioned here, there are no real
differences? Meaning differences in capabilities or in module
installation. I have 5.6.1.638 which is updated from a several years
old installation, and find that very little of the CPAN stuff will
load, not even the latest CPAN itself.

If it is the same with 5.8.whatever_is_current, then I guess I'm
stuck.

 

[Peter J. Holzer]

So except for a possible mem problem mentioned here, there are no real
differences?

Who said that? There are lots of differences. People said there are few
reasons to stay with 5.6. Most perl scripts written for 5.6 (or 5.5)
will still work with 5.8, but the converse isn't necessarily true.

Meaning differences in capabilities or in module
installation. I have 5.6.1.638 which is updated from a several years
old installation, and find that very little of the CPAN stuff will
load, not even the latest CPAN itself.

Which is an excellent reason to upgrade to 5.8.x. Very few people will
still test their modules with 5.6.x.

However, on Windows you are probably better off using PPM instead of
CPAN. Many CPAN modules need a C-compiler.

hp

 

[noob]

Which is an excellent reason to upgrade to 5.8.x. Very few people will
still test their modules with 5.6.x.

However, on Windows you are probably better off using PPM instead of
CPAN. Many CPAN modules need a C-compiler.

Thanx, I plan to update if I hear no serious reasons not to. If nmake
won't work, I'm reluctant to load a C-compiler just for a couple small
projects, and they need to be portable anyway. Getting a user
elsewhere to load & build that much isn't doable.

Is the reason that so few modules are available on PPM that they can't
be made to work on Windows, or just extreme lag-time?