---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
O. STeffen BEYer <ostbey@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 4:28 AM
Subject: Re: Date::Calc 6.x and Date::Pcalc 6.x
To: Jonathan Yu <
jawnsy@cpan.org>
Hi Jonathan,
and hi to everybody else who might also be concerned:
Hi Steffen:
I was upgrading the package for Date::Calc available in Debian
(libdate-calc-perl) recently and came across the following message in
your CHANGES.txt:
+ United "Date::Calc" and "Date::Pcalc" into a single distribution
Similarly, there is an identical note in the CHANGES.txt for Pcalc as well.
What confuses me about this is that the packages still look to be
separate upstream, and my inference from your changelog entry was that
the packages should be merged (ie, Date::Calc also contains
date::Pcalc), which is not currently the case.
Would you mind elaborating on this further?
Thanks for releasing your work to the CPAN.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Answer:
Date::Calc 6.0: Just Date::Calc as it always used to be (C library plus XS wrapper plus PM modules), only with some updates (language is not a global anymore, new "normalized" mode)
Date::Pcalc 6.0: Just Date::Pcalc as it always used to be (pure-Perl version), complete rewrite based on Date::Calc 6.0
Date::Calc 6.1: contains Date::Calc 6.0 AND Date::Pcalc 6.0. Depending on availability of a C compiler and user choice, will install either of the two, INTO THE "Date::Calc" NAMESPACE.
Date::Pcalc 6.1: contains Date::Calc 6.0 AND Date::Pcalc 6.0. Depending
on availability of a C compiler and user choice, will install either of
the two, INTO THE "Date::Pcalc" NAMESPACE.
(This allows to upgrade existing Date::Pcalc installations to a faster C/XS version without any changes to existing code)
So Date::Calc 6.1 and Date::Pcalc 6.1 are indeed "merged" - they're just two slightly differently flavoured embodiments of the same "merge"
Installing both allows to test e.g. on a machine with C compiler the code that is being developed for a machine without.
It is also meant to give users more choice as to which upgrade path they prefer.
Date::Calc 6.2 is essentially the same as Date::Calc 6.1, but without the C/XS part (it will now always install a pure-Perl version, Date::Calc::PP), the C/XS part has been "outsourced" in Date::Calc::XS 6.2
Date::Calc 6.2 is now a wrapper which tries to load Date::Calc::XS 6.2, if available, and failing that, defaults to Date::Calc::PP.
Does that make it clearer?
Sorry for the confusion!
Best regards,
Steffen