SPUG: CPAN links without version or author

[Michael R. Wolf]

> I'm not sure what you mean.  Grab from where?  

Maybe this is clearer.  Take a look at the text version of the first result
for searching for Perl::Critic.

  Perl::Critic
  Critique Perl source code for best-practices
  Perl-Critic-0.2 - 10 Sep 2006 - Jeffrey Ryan Thalhammer

The first link "Perl::Critic" *looks* like it's independent of version, so
I'd like it to *act* that way:
  1. The href part should *not* contain version (or author) information so
that I can right-mouse->"copy link location" and get a link that will always
take me back to the *current* version of the module.
  2. If I traverse that link, I should be able to copy the address line and
achieve the same thing.

The second link, "Perl-Critic-0.2" *looks* different.  It should *act*
different.  Specifically, it *looks* like it contains version information,
so if I copy the link location or follow it, I should be able to use that
link to get me back to this version of the module.



> Is there a reason you can't form http://search.cpan.org/perldoc/Mod::Name
links for yourself?

1. A prime virtue -- laziness.
  1a. I don't want to be so diligent.  I'm human and prone to errors of
omission.
  1b. I don't always have tools that make editing the href part of an <a>
tag easy.
  1c. When I'm using HTML-based (as opposed to text-based) tools, the href
part is often hidden from me.  I don't like <a> tags whose contents isn't in
alignment with the href attribute.
  1d. It seem like the kind of repetitive book keeping that I should not
have to do. 

2. Human factors engineering.  If things look different, they should act
different.

3. I'd like to have a system that is designed to prevent link rot.  Too many
version-dependent links will age to point at obsolescent code.  I'd like to
have the system prevent this problem.