[ic] interchange and thread enabled Perl

[Mike Heins]

Quoting cfm@maine.com (cfm@maine.com):
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2003 at 08:50:38AM -0400, Mike Heins wrote:
> > Quoting Toni Mueller (support-ic@oeko.net):
> > > 
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > I just wanted to play with the latest interchange nightly, and got
> > > an error message from 'configure':
> > > 
> > > 	"Interchange will not work with a thread-enabled perl."
> > > 
> > > Tested with Interchange 4.9.7-200304140658 and perl 5.8.0-17 (on i386).
> > > 
> > > I guess that thread enabled Perl will become more common in the
> > > near future.
> > > 
> > It appears that Perl 5.8.0's ithread implementation is much better than
> > previous ones, which wouldn't even begin to run Interchange properly.
> > But it is not good enough to work well under all conditions. Randy
> > Moore of the core group discovered a case where vec() lost its map, and
> > I am positive there are many other little problems especially in
> > PreFork mode. Interchange pushes Perl pretty hard.
> > 
> > In fact, I wouldn't doubt that some of the locking problems people
> > are now having on Red Hat weren't due to this; I run some very
> > busy IC sites and don't see them at all.
> 
> FWIW, Debian perl (unstable) is threaded, so yes, I think it's only a
> matter of a little time before most packages distribute threaded perl:
> 

I find this to be a completely ridiculous decision on their part. *Perl*
doesn't distribute Perl with threads enabled by default. A very tiny
fraction of programs and scripts will ever use it, and until it is
completely rock-solid it makes exactly zero sense to do this.

The "if you build it they will come" argument moves me not at all; fact
is that most people can't write threaded programs nor should we expect
them to anytime soon.

Until there is zero chance of instability in the core Perl, an OS should
not distribute Perl in this state. In other words, when Perl's default
is threads enabled, I say the distribution's default should be that. Not
before.

-- 
Mike Heins
Perusion -- Expert Interchange Consulting    http://www.perusion.com/
phone +1.513.523.7621      <mike@perusion.com>

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find I have just
lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as
well. -- Diane Ackerman