[Bioperl-l] "progress": useful changes vs. "shiny new thingie"

[George Hartzell]

Sendu Bala writes:
 > [...]
 > The only real change for most users is that they now need Module::Build 
 > installed.

Module::Build can be a real pain-in-the_%$* if you're used to
installing perl modules in a specialized place using something like
this:

  perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~/perl-stuff

Granted, MakeMaker's handling of that has been inconsistent across
platforms over the years, but on a single system at least it's
manageable.

If/when bioperl swaps over to a Module::Build based system, PLEASE
make a big&loud reference to the "Installing in the same location as
ExtUtils::MakeMaker" section of the Module::Build::Cookbook so that
folks have a fighting chance of avoiding unpleasant surprises.

That section says, in part:

  With the introduction of "--prefix" in Module::Build 0.28 and
  "INSTALL_BASE" in ExtUtils::MakeMaker 6.31 its [sic] easy to get
  them both to install in the same locations.

  First, ensure you have at least version 0.28 of Module::Build
  installed and 6.31 of ExtUtils::MakeMaker.  Prior versions have
  differeing installation behaviours.

People may need to upgrade their installations [at least the
ExtUtils::MakeMaker and Module::Build bits], but at least they'll see
the train barreling down at them.

g.