On Sun, May 09, 1999 at 08:14:24PM -0700, Jim Lynch wrote:
> Mike Stone said:
> > Perl is just another app.
>
> For most distributions, this is true. Proof: you can run those dists without
> perl.
>
> For debian, however, Mike's statement is not valid. Proof: try to release
> debian without perl in any form. You're gonna find that perl happens to have
> been made essential to debian, not due to any intrinsic quality, but because
> some developers have chosen to use perl and perl scripts in maintainer
> scripts.
>
> This means that upgrading perl (whenever it is done) will need the same degree
> of care applied as for dpkg, dselect, boot-floppies, debian-cd and all other
> essential parts of debian infrastructure, and -not- that of "just another
> app".
You forget to mention some important points -- those new features in perl
5.005 are both underdeveloped and buggy. In the same way, debian does not
depend on them at all....
However I agree they are useful. But, getting them into potato
should carry the same importance as some popular python module...
--
..Aaron Van Couwenberghe... [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Berlin: http://www.berlin-consortium.org
Debian GNU/Linux: http://www.debian.org
"...Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing..."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
