Ship ruby1.9[.1/3] as default Ruby in Wheezy
The last release on the Ruby 1.8 series, 1.8.7, is scheduled for LTS
starting June, and total EOL June 2013:
http://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/4996
The Ruby 1.9 series brings massive speed improvements over the 1.8
series due to the new YARV/KRI bytecode interpreter.
In addition to the massive speed improvements, new event-based libraries
take advantage of new Ruby 1.9 features such as light weight threads
(fibers), and are therefore 1.9 exclusive.
That said, a not unsubstantial amount of 1.8 software does not run on
1.9.
We have had the 1.9 series, and the 1.9.1 (through present 1.9.3) API,
in Debian since before squeeze.
What I would like for Wheezy would be:
1. Change the default ruby interpreter in Wheezy to 1.9.3. [1]
2. Drop the ruby1.8 option after the release of Wheezy
I think 1.8-only programs are O.K. for wheezy, but if they can't be
ported to 1.9 should be dropped for wheezy+1 due to lack of ability to
support the old interpreter.
Also, we should consider how capable we will at doing security fixes
past upstream EOL of Ruby 1.8[.7]
Thoughts? Needs? Comments?
--
-Shawn Landden
[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-ruby/2012/05/msg00046.html
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