Bug #71359 for mod_perl: "cpan mod_perl" gives a surprising and misleading result

Fri Sep 30 07:10:32 2011 zefram [...] fysh.org - Ticket created

Subject:	CvGV as lvalue
Date:	Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:10:20 +0100
To:	bug-mod_perl [...] rt.cpan.org
From:	Zefram <zefram [...] fysh.org>

On perl 5.14, Symbol.xs in mod_perl-1.31 fails to compile, because it uses CvGV(cv) as an lvalue. It needs to change to use CvGV_set(), with a backup definition of it for use on older perls. -zefram

Fri Sep 30 09:05:23 2011 zefram [...] fysh.org - Correspondence added

Subject:	Re: [rt.cpan.org #71359] CvGV as lvalue
Date:	Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:05:02 +0100
To:	bug-mod_perl [...] rt.cpan.org
From:	Zefram <zefram [...] fysh.org>

Ah, crap: I see I was using a totally out-of-date mod_perl distro. I was trying to "cpan mod_perl", and it picked up the old version. "cpan APR" gets a new version that builds just fine. The CPAN index has an entry for mod_perl *as a module* which points at the old mod_perl distro. So I guess you can reinterpret this bug report as '"cpan mod_perl" gives a surprising and misleading result'. You could perhaps fix by removing the old distro from CPAN, or by reinstating the mod_perl module in a new distro. -zefram

Tue Mar 12 10:02:54 2013 shay [...] cpan.org - Subject changed from 'CvGV as lvalue' to '"cpan mod_perl" gives a surprising and misleading result'

Tue Mar 12 10:13:53 2013 shay [...] cpan.org - Correspondence added

RT-Send-CC:

dev [...] perl.apache.org

On Fri Sep 30 09:05:23 2011, zefram@fysh.org wrote: Show quoted text

> Ah, crap: I see I was using a totally out-of-date mod_perl distro. I was > trying to "cpan mod_perl", and it picked up the old version. "cpan APR" > gets a new version that builds just fine. The CPAN index has an entry > for mod_perl *as a module* which points at the old mod_perl distro. > > So I guess you can reinterpret this bug report as '"cpan mod_perl" gives > a surprising and misleading result'. You could perhaps fix by removing > the old distro from CPAN, or by reinstating the mod_perl module in a > new distro. > > -zefram

Thanks for the suggestion. It is still the case that "cpan mod_perl" gets mod_perl-1.x. However, you can use "cpan mod_perl2" to get mod_perl-2.x. Do we want to change that or not? I can see that most people using mod_perl right now are using mod_perl-2.x, but what about when mod_perl 3 for Apache 3 is released? That surely won't be very compatible with mod_perl 2 / Apache 2, and not everyone will want "cpan mod_perl" to suddenly start getting mod_perl-3.x because not everyone will upgrade straight away. If we make "cpan mod_perl" fetch mod_perl-2.x now, on the basis that that's what most people mean right now, then at what point would we switch it to fetch mod_perl-3.x instead? It won't be easy to judge when "most people" want 3.x rather than 2.x... Unless we can answer that then maybe it is best left alone, although I agree it can be a little surprising!

Tue Mar 12 10:13:54 2013 The RT System itself - Status changed from 'new' to 'open'

Tue Dec 10 06:13:50 2013 MRF [...] cpan.org - Correspondence added

On Tue Mar 12 10:13:53 2013, SHAY wrote: Show quoted text

> On Fri Sep 30 09:05:23 2011, zefram@fysh.org wrote:

> > Ah, crap: I see I was using a totally out-of-date mod_perl distro. I was > > trying to "cpan mod_perl", and it picked up the old version. "cpan APR" > > gets a new version that builds just fine. The CPAN index has an entry > > for mod_perl *as a module* which points at the old mod_perl distro. > > > > So I guess you can reinterpret this bug report as '"cpan mod_perl" gives > > a surprising and misleading result'. You could perhaps fix by removing > > the old distro from CPAN, or by reinstating the mod_perl module in a > > new distro. > > > > -zefram

> > > Thanks for the suggestion. It is still the case that "cpan mod_perl" > gets mod_perl-1.x. > > However, you can use "cpan mod_perl2" to get mod_perl-2.x. Do we want to > change that or not? > > I can see that most people using mod_perl right now are using > mod_perl-2.x, but what about when mod_perl 3 for Apache 3 is released? > That surely won't be very compatible with mod_perl 2 / Apache 2, and not > everyone will want "cpan mod_perl" to suddenly start getting > mod_perl-3.x because not everyone will upgrade straight away. > > If we make "cpan mod_perl" fetch mod_perl-2.x now, on the basis that > that's what most people mean right now, then at what point would we > switch it to fetch mod_perl-3.x instead? It won't be easy to judge when > "most people" want 3.x rather than 2.x... > > Unless we can answer that then maybe it is best left alone, although I > agree it can be a little surprising!

Should "cpan mod_perl" not behave like "cpan $module" which will usually install whatever is the latest version? It seems that this should behave in a similar way and install the latest version of mod_perl and its modules. Thus when mod_perl 3/Apache 3 are available then it will also install that version. If people want a different version then this can be specified directly. The alternative is to specify them as completely seperate distributions called mod_perl1, mod_perl2 ect which seems to be the way that installation is currently handled.