[Xmltv-devel] Minimum supported Perl version?

[Nick Morrott]

With another release of XMLTV likely to be made in the next few days,
I was wondering if we might revisit the subject of the minimum version
of Perl any grabber distributed as part of XMLTV must support?
Currently the Makefile indicates a Perl version > 5.6.0.

3 years ago Robert suggested that it was too early to move to 5.10.0,
and I know corporates who still require 5.8.x. The tv_grab_fi scripts
include 5.8.x as a requirement.

In terms of significant Perl releases, Perl 5.10.0 was released in
December 2007, and Perl 5.12.0 was released in April 2010.

Is it time to bump the minimum supported Perl version to something a
little more modern and featureful to benefit developers?

Thoughts?

Cheers,
Nick

[h***@gmail.com]

Post by Nick Morrott
With another release of XMLTV likely to be made in the next few days,
I was wondering if we might revisit the subject of the minimum version
of Perl any grabber distributed as part of XMLTV must support?
Currently the Makefile indicates a Perl version > 5.6.0.
[...]
Thoughts?

The biggest problem will likely be for people running on shared web hosts. Many (if not most) of these web hosts are 'stuck' on 5.8.8 and have no intention of upgrading. (And there are some big names in there: 1&1, Fasthosts, etc.)

I suggest we could move from 5.6.0 to 5.8.8, but I don't think we can go any further. :(

[Robert Eden]

Post by h***@gmail.com

Post by Nick Morrott
With another release of XMLTV likely to be made in the next few days,
I was wondering if we might revisit the subject of the minimum version
of Perl any grabber distributed as part of XMLTV must support?
Currently the Makefile indicates a Perl version > 5.6.0.
[...]
Thoughts?

The biggest problem will likely be for people running on shared web hosts. Many (if not most) of these web hosts are 'stuck' on 5.8.8 and have no intention of upgrading. (And there are some big names in there: 1&1, Fasthosts, etc.)
I suggest we could move from 5.6.0 to 5.8.8, but I don't think we can go any further. :(

How many people use XMLTV tools on a web host? I wouldn't expect that many. They can always stick with an older version of XMLTV. The main
feature I think we gain from new releases is module compatibility.

I'd say the biggest problem is me. :) More specifically the Windows EXE edition... which is based on a US$100+ perl packager from the old release.
There are newer versions available, I can look into upgrading. Probably get Schedules Direct to pay for it.

I don't think we should hold off this release, but I can work to get a newer version for the next release.

Robert

[h***@gmail.com]

Post by Robert Eden

Post by h***@gmail.com
The biggest problem will likely be for people running on shared web hosts.

How many people use XMLTV tools on a web host?

Err... me :-)

Also most VPS' come with 5.8.8 pre-loaded so those people will have to upgrade their Perl install if we go higher. Might cause a few support questions.

Geoff