One Step Closer to 6: ActiveState Perl 5.12

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It isn't quite Perl version 6 but it's well on its way. Between now and Monday, ActiveState will release version 5.12 of its cross platform, easily installed ActivePerl. Version 5.12 offers more than simple bug fixes; it's a major release that some developers look toward with great anticipation.

The major improvements included in this release are:

• Perl’s time functions work beyond the year 2038: With previous versions of Perl for 32-bit Unix systems, it could only represent dates up to the year 2038, after which it wraps around back to 1970.
It is especially important for financial services organizations that
use Perl for applications such as mortgage and insurance contracts
that run for 30 years or longer. This has been updated within the
internal functions of 32-bit Perl 5.12

• Improved Unicode support: Perl now supports all Unicode properties for developers doing globalization work in multiple languages. It includes all the synonyms, loose spelling rules for property names and values, and other areas that have been brought in sync with the corresponding Unicode specification.

• Support for pluggable keywords: Extension modules can now cleanly hook into the Perl parser to define new kinds of keyword-headed expressions and compound statements. The syntax following the keyword is defined entirely by the extension. This feature facilitates the development of domain specific languages (DSLs) within Perl by allowing a completely non-Perl sub-language to be parsed inline, with the correct ops cleanly generated. This feature is experimental and may be removed.

ActiveState offers three ActivePerl Editions: Community, Business and Enterprise. ActiveState is releasing ActivePerl 5.12 for both its Community and Business editions. The ActivePerl Enterprise Edition will be available within the next six months. Their Perl distribution is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX.

The Community Edition is available free for any platform. If you don't like the current edition (5.10) or can't wait for 5.12, older versions are also available (5.8 and older).

Dani AI

Generated

A short, practical upgrade checklist and gotchas for teams moving apps to ActivePerl 5.12 — focused on compatibility, testing, and module handling rather than the release feature list posted by . Start by reading the official Perl 5.12 perldelta so any deprecations or subtle behavior changes are known before you touch production. (perldoc.perl.org)

Quick commands to run now (captures version/build info, and a list of installed modules to triage):

perl -v
perl -V
perl -MExtUtils::Installed -e 'print join("\n", ExtUtils::Installed->new->modules)'
prove -l t/    # run your test-suite (or use your CI)

Use the installed-module list to identify candidates that include C/XS code; those are the highest-risk items to rebuild or replace. (perldoc.perl.org)

Important caution: any modules with compiled components (XS/DynaLoader-backed extensions) commonly need rebuilding when the Perl interpreter or its compile-time options change (threads, 64-bit/ABI differences, etc.). Platform packagers routinely require reinstalling everything that depends on Perl after a version change — plan for that work and test it in staging first. (forum.lissyara.su)

If you rely on prebuilt binaries on Windows, note that ActivePerl historically supplied the Perl Package Manager (PPM) for installing precompiled packages; verify PPM repository coverage for your required modules or be prepared to build from CPAN. PPM was later phased out in newer ActivePerl lines, so plan for long-term module management accordingly. (en.wikipedia.org)

Practical rollout tips: do the upgrade in a non-production clone (container, VM, or staging), run the full test-suite under the new interpreter, rebuild or install all XS modules there, and automate the process in CI so you can safely roll forward or back.

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