| Subject: | first_release behavior undefined, confusing |
The behavior of first_release is undefined. What constitutes the
"first" release? Is it by date or by version? I figured it would be by
version, turns out its by date. This bit me in the ass as I often use
"corelist My::Module" to determine when it was put into the core so I
can set INSTALLDIRS appropriately. This bit me in the ass as
Test-Simple is in 5.6.2 and 5.7.3 but as 5.7.3 was released before 5.6.2
then corelist reports 5.7.3. The result is ticket 25163.
I think sorting by version is more useful, its the order most people
think of. A progression of newer technologies. Most folks are unaware
that 5.7.3 was released after 5.6.2.
The versions which sort differently by date and by release are:
5.4.5
5.9.0
5.6.2
5.5.4
5.9.1
5.9.2
5.9.3
At the very least it should be documented. Adding a first_version()
method would neatly solve the problem though then the question of which
to use for "corelist" arises.