Your examples nearly conviced me, but...
What if your module depends on version 2.102 of Data::Dumper? How many
users will come and ask us where to find 2.102?
Also consider the effect of a module that's in the core and not
maintained on CPAN anymore. After a while, somebody will complain that
CPAN is horribly outdated. Then either the author will delete the
outdated version (complicating the indexer's logic) or we will need to
adjust the indexer for that single module some other way.
I don't think your proposal will work very well. And I think we should
take every opportunity to encourage users to upgrade, otherwise they
are hosed anyway.
--
andreas
>>>>> On Wed, 5 Sep 2001 20:04:48 -0400, Michael G Schwern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
> The CPAN package index (ie. 02packages.details.txt.gz) currently list
> many modules as being inside perl distributions. For example:
> Data::Dumper 2.102 G/GS/GSAR/perl-5.6.1.tar.gz
> as a result, the CPAN shell tries to download perl for you when you
> ask 'install Data::Dumper'. Even worse, it leaves you not knowing
> that there is an independent tarball version of it.
> I submit that the CPAN index should prefer the independent tarball
> version of a module over the perl distribution *even if it is of an
> older version*.
> For example, Data::Dumper would read:
> Data::Dumper 2.101 G/GS/GSAR/Data-Dumper-2.101.tar.gz
> Ok, why? Consider the following scenarios.
> 5.6.1 user, which has version 2.102, types "install Data::Dumper".
> Currently they get "Data::Dumper is up to date" and under the new
> scheme they'll get the same thing. So that's good.
> 5.005_03 user, which has 2.101, types "install Data::Dumper".
> Currently, CPAN tries to install perl 5.6.1 for them! Well
> that's not very helpful.
> Under the new scheme, they're told Data::Dumper is up to date. Which
> while not technically true, it's as up-to-date as they can get without
> updating Perl. And they don't have to stop CPAN from trying to
> install perl.
> 5.004_05 user, which didn't come with Data::Dumper at all.
> Currently, CPAN tries to install 5.6.1 for them! Again, not useful.
> Under the new scheme, Data::Dumper 2.101 is installed for them. Which
> is useful! They've got Data::Dumper, which is what they set out to
> do.
> Digging down even deeper is the 5.003_07 user.
> Currently, it tries to upgrade perl.
> Under the new scheme, it grabs Data::Dumper 2.101, but the tests fail.
> Which is fine.
> Consider even further this. I release a module which has a PREREQ_PM
> on Data::Dumper. It otherwise works fine on a stock 5.004_05
> installation. 5.004_05 user downloads my module from CPAN.
> Currently, CPAN tries to install perl 5.6.1 for them. Not helpful,
> and it probably means the module doesn't get installed.
> Under the new scheme, Data::Dumper 2.101 is installed as the prereq
> and the new module gets installed smoothly.
> --
> Michael G. Schwern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
> Perl6 Quality Assurance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kwalitee Is Job One
> <GuRuThuG> make a channel called #Perl, and infest it with joking and
> fun.... it doesnt make alot of sense.
