Remove Marpa::XS, Marpa::HTML and Marpa::PP from CPAN

[Jeffrey Kegler]

I'm thinking of removing Marpa::XS, Marpa::HTML and Marpa::PP from
CPAN. New users should not be using them, or even looking at them.
Legacy users would still be able to get copies from backPAN.

Marpa::XS, in particular, would be very hard to work on, because it
requires Glib and uses a complex build that I last tried several
development platforms ago.

By the way, one thing I will *not* do is make new releases with
deprecatory language in them. The way CPAN is set up, I have to cut new
releases to do this, which would be a lot of effort. And the value
added for legacy users would be negative -- the CPAN infrastructure by
default upgrades them, exposing legacy users to the risk of using a
newly built release which contains nothing useful for them.

-- jeffrey

[Ron Savage]

Yep, might as well bite the bullet.

[Alex Becker]

You could start by adding a short information to the Marpa::* modules that you recommend to use Marpa::R2.
I just recently started using Marpa::R2 and it was only coincidence that I  started with the new one.

[Jeffrey Kegler]

Adding deprecatory information to the modules is something I won't do, because it means a new release and the CPAN infrastructure tends to push users into automatic upgrades.  This means that the legacy users, who are the only reason for the modules to be out there at all, would undergo the the risk of an upgrade for something who, for them, has zero added value.

Also, Marpa::XS has a complicated build, one which I last performed on a machine/setup that I no longer use for development.

-- jeffrey

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[Alex Becker]

It doesn't have to be a deprecation warning. But it would be nice to point new users directly to Marpa::R2.
Otherwise, new users learn the old stuff and then have to redo everything to learn the new stuff. That's frustrating.
Or will the modules simply not be visible on CPAN anymore (hit search for Marpa and get only results for Marpa::R2)?

[Jeffrey Kegler]

They will disappear from CPAN totally, and eventually from all mirrors and searches.  One very nice feature of CPAN is that there is a backpan mirror and *nothing* is ever deleted from it.  Which means those who really need the old versions, with a bit of effort, will be able to find them.  But they won't confuse people any more.

[Helmut Wollmersdorfer]

Am Mittwoch, 5. November 2014 18:35:00 UTC+1 schrieb Jeffrey Kegler:

Adding deprecatory information to the modules is something I won't do, because it means a new release and the CPAN infrastructure tends to push users into automatic upgrades.  This means that the legacy users, who are the only reason for the modules to be out there at all, would undergo the the risk of an upgrade for something who, for them, has zero added value.

But did you check the reverse dependencies?

There are two of them:

Plack-Middleware-Pjax-1.113400

PJAX for your Plack

 depends on Marpa-HTML 

and 

MarpaX-Simple-Rules-v0.2.6

Simple definition language for rules

depends on

Marpa-XS

 You should inform the authors of this distributions directly, that they should port or deprecate their distributions.

Also, Marpa::XS has a complicated build, one which I last performed on a machine/setup that I no longer use for development.

Deprecation would be the usual way.

Maybe you could upload a new dummy release with a minimal doc including the deprecation.

Helmut Wollmersdorfer

 

[Jeffrey Kegler]

@Helmut: thanks, a very good point.  I've emailed both of these authors.

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