Re: pgsql: Adjust configure to insist on Perl version >= 5.8.3.

On Fri, Oct 08, 2021 at 12:03:41PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Daniel Gustafsson <daniel(at)yesql(dot)se> writes:
> > On 8 Oct 2021, at 06:24, Noah Misch <noah(at)leadboat(dot)com> wrote:
> >> That's obvious from "cpanm install IPC::Run". Surely if any other non-core
> >> module were allowed, the recipe would list it in a similar way.
>
> > The proposed changes talks about with core modules are allowed to use, I think
> > that's a different thing. The distinction between core and non-core modules
> > may not be known/clear to people who haven't used Perl in the past.
>
> Yeah, I don't really think that this recipe makes it plain that we have
> a policy. It certainly fails to explain that you're allowed to use
> additional modules if you're willing to skip the relevant tests.

True, +1 for mentioning that tests can use less-available modules if they skip
when those modules are absent. I'm only -0 for adding the other English
(unlike the -1 for the original proposal of removing the shell commands).

> >> If there's something to change, it's improving the actual recipe:
>
> > That we should do as well.
>
> You're not going to get far with "improving the recipe", because it's
> just not possible. To check this, I installed perlbrew on a Fedora 34

Your test result is evidence that "cpanm install Test::More(at)0(dot)87" is the wrong
shell command, but it's quite a leap to "just not possible". Surely there
exist other shell commands that install
http://backpan.perl.org/modules/by-authors/id/M/MS/MSCHWERN/Test-Simple-0.87_03.tar.gz.
(Perhaps none of us will care enough to identify them, but they exist.)

By the way, I suspect 93fb39e introduced a regression in the recipe. (I
haven't tested, though.) Before commit 93fb39e, "cpanm install IPC::Run"
would update Test::More. As of 5.8.3, the core version of Test::More is new
enough for IPC::Run but not new enough for PostgreSQL. I recommend adding
"cpanm install Test::More" to restore the pre-93fb39e functionality.