Re: Bug#653133: ITP: libmath-random-mt-perl-perl -- Pure-Perl Mersenne-Twister module to generate random numbers

[Florent Angly <florent.angly@gmail.com>]

On 03/01/12 21:58, Ansgar Burchardt wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 12/24/2011 12:32 PM, Florent Angly wrote:
> > * Package name    : libmath-random-mt-perl-perl
> > This module implements the same pseudorandom number generator found 
> > in Math::Random::MT
> > (libmath-random-mt-perl Debian package), which is implemented in C/XS.
>
> What would be the use of the pure-perl version in Debian? The XS 
> implementation is available on all architectures (except hurd-i386 
> where the package failed to build).
>
> Regards,
> Ansgar

Hi Ansgar,

Good question! I see three advantages of the Pure-perl approach:
1/ It should work on all platforms, including the hurd-i386, where the 
C/XS approach does not work
2/ Some Perl developers prefer to not rely on Perl modules that use C/XS 
because this allows them to more easily make and deploy tarballs that 
contain all dependencies
3/ There is at least one method in the pure Perl version that the C/XS 
approach does not have
4/ I have interacted with the developer of the pure Perl module but have 
had no such luck with the developer of the C/XS version. The pure Perl 
version may hence be easier to maintain in Debian in the future.
Regards,

Florent