how to get perl5.18 installed

[bridget_wu@…]

I installed the mac port MacPorts-2.3.4-10.11-ElCapitan.pkg on my mac which has El Capitan. It seems it only has perl version perl5.22 under /opt/local/bin/ installed. But our apps are looking for perl5.18 specifically. Is there a way that I can get perl5.18 installed.

[dbevans (David B. Evans)]

sudo port install perl5 +perl5_18

will install what you want and make it the default perl.

[bridget_wu@…]

This doesn't seems working. Here is what I have:

$ sudo port install perl5 +perl5_18 ---> Computing dependencies for perl5 ---> Cleaning perl5 ---> Scanning binaries for linking errors ---> No broken files found.

$ ls -l /opt/local/bin/perl* lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 8 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perl -> perl5.22 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 8 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perl5 -> perl5.22 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 13728 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perl5.22 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 8 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perl5.22.1 -> perl5.22 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 12 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perlbug -> perlbug-5.22 -rwxr-xr-x 2 root admin 45375 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perlbug-5.22 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 12 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perldoc -> perldoc-5.22 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 244 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perldoc-5.22 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 12 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perlivp -> perlivp-5.22 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 10802 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perlivp-5.22 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 15 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perlthanks -> perlthanks-5.22 -rwxr-xr-x 2 root admin 45375 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perlthanks-5.22

I still don't have perl5.18

[dbevans (David B. Evans)]

Replying to bridget_wu@…:

This doesn't seems working. Here is what I have:

(When copying terminal or log lines use WikiFormatting like this)

$ sudo port install perl5 +perl5_18
 --->  Computing dependencies for perl5
 --->  Cleaning perl5
 --->  Scanning binaries for linking errors
 --->  No broken files found.
$ ls -l /opt/local/bin/perl*
 lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin      8 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perl -> perl5.22
 lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin      8 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perl5 -> perl5.22
 -rwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin  13728 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perl5.22
 lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin      8 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perl5.22.1 -> perl5.22
 lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin     12 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perlbug -> perlbug-5.22
 -rwxr-xr-x  2 root  admin  45375 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perlbug-5.22
 lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin     12 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perldoc -> perldoc-5.22
 -rwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin    244 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perldoc-5.22
 lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin     12 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perlivp -> perlivp-5.22
 -rwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin  10802 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perlivp-5.22
 lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin     15 Feb 22 18:11 /opt/local/bin/perlthanks -> perlthanks-5.22
 -rwxr-xr-x  2 root  admin  45375 Feb 22 18:10 /opt/local/bin/perlthanks-5.22

I still don't have perl5.18

Yes, this isn't working as expected. Copying the maintainer. As a work around you can install it directly using

sudo port install perl5.18

although you will have to refer to it as

/opt/local/bin/perl5.18

[mojca (Mojca Miklavec)]

The perl5 port no longer provides a variant +perl5_18:

> port variants perl5
perl5 has the variants:
[+]perl5_22: Use MacPorts perl5.22

Maybe MacPorts should issue a warning when users request a non-existing variant?

While it would be pretty easy to add the variant back, this would break many ports that depend on Perl and potentially install some files under version-specific path.

If you need perl 5.18, just do

sudo port install perl5.18

and make sure that the program refers to perl5.18 rather than just perl. Alternatively you can set your own local repository and do a trivial modification of the perl5 port (I can help you resurrect an old version of perl5 from SVN which still has the required variants).

However there is a more important caveat. In the light of #50512, there are proposals to get rid of old and no longer maintained perl versions (or to eventually end up with support for a single Perl version anyway, see #50000). This means that many developers are in favour of completely removing perl5.18 from MacPorts.

Can you please explain your use case, or the reason why you need perl5.18 specifically (why perl5.22 doesn't work for you)? You can answer in #50512.

[mojca (Mojca Miklavec)]

The user did not reply yet. I'm closing this as invalid (in the lack of better options). I'm not sure if this was a bug report or just a question (if it was a question that was resolved, it could hopefully be called fixed).

As already explained above, perl5.18 can be installed with sudo port install perl5.18, at least for now.

We cannot easily support sudo port install perl5 +perl5_18 without breaking a lot of other ports, but users can make a trivial change in perl5 if they want to do so at their own risk.

About whether or not to keep perl5.18 around in the future: please continue the discussion at #50512 and #50000.