uninstall/install/upgrade?

H

heitkamp

I've googled around for answers on this subject but have not found
any that actually answers my questions to my statisfaction.

I have several successive versions of perl installed on my system,
specifically 5.6.1, 5.8.0, and 5.8.2. I use the configure/Configure
scripts to install perl. I have not to this point used rpm or dpkg
to install perl -a long story that I don't want to get into. In any
event, I see that 5.8.3 is out and I want to keep up with the latest
version.

To uninstall my old versions of perl is it sufficient to blow away
the old /usr/lib/perl5/5.x.y directory or is this going to break a lot
of things? Does the new version of perl, when installed, know or care
about these old directories. Does it search for installed modules in
these directories. If it does, can new versions actually run all or
most of the old modules. Note that though I understand it may be a
lot of work, I am not adverse to reinstalling modules. I have a
good dsl connection and I have used MCPAN.

The main things I'm worried about is programs finding old modules
instead of newer versions, also if the old modules are just taking
up disk space, then getting rid if them would seem to be appropriate
anyway.

I suppose one may want to keep the last stable major version around
for compatibility reasons, say for example 5.6.1. Is this true?
If there are identically named modules in the old version and the
new version, how do I know which one gets run?

Lastly, out of curiosity, why has no module uninstaller or perl
uninstaller been included natively in perl? When the modules are
listed in MCPAN what modules is it showing? Is it just the modules
from the last installed version?

Any thoughts welcome.


--

Fred

Error Loading Explorer.exe
You must reinstall Windows.
 
B

Ben Morrow

To uninstall my old versions of perl is it sufficient to blow away
the old /usr/lib/perl5/5.x.y directory

Yes. You may also want to check the binaries and symlinks in /usr/bin.
or is this going to break a lot
of things? Does the new version of perl, when installed, know or care
about these old directories. Does it search for installed modules in
these directories.

When you Configure it, you get to choose where it looks. By default it
will look in old perls' site_perl directories, but not in the core
stuff.
If it does, can new versions actually run all or most of the old
modules.

5.6 -> 5.8 broke binary compatibility. Perl knows this, though, so as
long as all your .sos are properly in site_perl/5.6.1/i686-linux/ (or
whatever) you won't have any problems.
Note that though I understand it may be a lot of work, I am not
adverse to reinstalling modules. I have a good dsl connection and I
have used MCPAN.

CPAN.pm. The M is simply the switch: perl -M CPAN.

You may wish to investigate the CPAN.pm 'autobundle' command, which will
let you automatically reinstall all modules under a newer perl.
The main things I'm worried about is programs finding old modules
instead of newer versions, also if the old modules are just taking
up disk space, then getting rid if them would seem to be appropriate
anyway.

Check the default @INC at installation time; in general, perl will
search newer places before older places.
I suppose one may want to keep the last stable major version around
for compatibility reasons, say for example 5.6.1. Is this true?

Well, maybe... 5.8 has been out and labelled 'stable' for quite a while
now, though.
If there are identically named modules in the old version and the
new version, how do I know which one gets run?

perl5.8.3 -MA::Module -le'print $INC{"A/Module.pm"}'
Lastly, out of curiosity, why has no module uninstaller or perl
uninstaller been included natively in perl?

Err... I'm pretty sure that both the perl source distro and MakeMaker
makefiles support 'make uninstall': this means you have to have the
source tree around, of course. Also, CPANPLUS supports uninstall.

Ben
 

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