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Currently I have Perl 5.8.8. Can I update to Perl 6? I am using Red Hat Linux 5 OS. Is it possible to upgrade Perl on Red Hat Linux 5 or any other OS? If yes, how can I do that?

Peter Mortensen
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Vicky
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2 Answers2

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I'll try to articulate an answer that addresses all your requests, HTH:

  • I wouldn't touch system Perl, because other system software might depend on a particular version. If you need a different version of Perl 5 for development, it's arguably better to install it in a controlled, isolated environment

  • To do so you can use tools like Perlbrew: with Perlbrew you can install distinct versions of Perl 5, and you'll be able to switch back and forth according to your development needs

  • You say you want to "update to Perl 6". Perhaps you noticed I wrote Perl 5 in the previous paragraphs. Perl 6 is not just a new version of Perl, but a profound evolution of the language: it stems from the same core principles, but it is quite different from its older sibling. Code written in Perl 5 won't run in Perl 6, for example

To sum up:

  • You can have both Perl 5 and Perl 6 on your system, but they are distinct languages
  • You can have multiple versions of Perl 5 using Perlbrew
  • I would suggest not to tamper with the version of Perl distributed with the OS
larsen
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  • Thanks larsen , the reson I am looking for a differenct version of Perl is that I want to work with Excel file in Perl (create , read and write ) but my system Perl that is v5.8.8 does not seem to have any module for that , Would you be able to tell since which module Perl5 included utility for Excel files? – Vicky Jul 24 '17 at 15:25
  • As far as I know, Perl 5 distribution never included among the core modules a library parse/write Excel files. There are plenty on CPAN, tho': my personal favourite for writing Excel files (should I say I'm lucky that I seldom have to parse them?) is [Excel::Writer::XLSX](https://metacpan.org/pod/Excel::Writer::XLSX) – larsen Jul 24 '17 at 15:32
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    @Vicky There are [224 matches of 'excel'](https://metacpan.org/search?size=500&q=excel) among the 30,000+ free packages (170,000+ modules) on CPAN. One or more of these should do what you want to do. Use cpantesters to see whether a particular module that looks good "on paper" is likely to actually work out for you in practice. For example, I see 6 passes out of 6 for [Excel::Writer::XLSX tests on 5.8.8 in today's cpantester results](http://www.cpantesters.org/distro/E/Excel-Writer-XLSX.html). – raiph Jul 24 '17 at 19:10
  • @Vivky It's a good idea to tell people what you want to accomplish rather than how you are trying to do it. :) – brian d foy Jul 24 '17 at 21:17
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Perl 5 and Perl 6 are really different languages that share a name. Installing Perl 6 will not overwrite your Perl 5. I'm guessing that you don't want Perl 6 and instead want the latest version of Perl 5 (v5.26 was just released). You might consider updating everything to something recently released, including your OS ;)

If you're curious what your package manager is going to install, you can see the list. Perhaps How to list the contents of a package using YUM? is interesting for you.

Aside from the system's installed Perl 5, you can download, compile, and install other versions of Perl5 to any location you like. I have all the perls installed, for example, and the system perl is still there.

brian d foy
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