Bug#218759: [Popcon-developers] Bug#218759: v-string in use/require non-portable at /usr/sbin/popularity-contest line 26

[Colin Watson]

On Tue, Nov 18, 2003 at 03:31:22PM +0100, Bill Allombert wrote:
> Second, I am a bit worried about this bug report because:
> 
> 1) popcon should not cause the admin to receive emails weekly for no
> reason.
> 
> 2) There is little point at being `compatible' with pre-woody versions
>    of perl, especially if `compatible' mean that perl will abort
>    earlier.
>  
> 3) This warning depend on the version of perl installed, apparently.
> 
> All in all, that mean I cannot trust `perl -w' to keep quiet, at least
> for some version of perl. So, to avoid problem #1, I will probably
> just remove the `-w' flag from perl invocation.

This sounds so deeply unwise. Isn't it better to fix warnings when they
arise? While Perl sometimes does add new warnings, they're typically for
code that was already dubious and should be fixed or clarified. One
warning that turns out to have been a mistake is not a reason to turn
off warnings altogether.

> Apparently the warning was added in perl 8.0 and removed in 8.1 so
> I suppoose it has bothered too many people.

No, it was because Larry Wall's design called for 'use 1.2.3' and 'use
Module 1.2.3' to be the standard form and to work without warnings.

> So unless you have a better idea, I will proceed with removing the
> `-w' flag from perl invocation.

Although it's a little annoying for testing users in the meantime, I
think you should simply wait for perl 5.8.2 to reach testing and then
close these bugs. I would far prefer it if -w were on by default, as in
the long run it produces better code. I believe this will be in the case
in perl6.

Cheers,

-- 
Colin Watson                                  [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]