SPUG: How do *you* install multiple versions of Perl?

[Joshua ben Jore]

On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 5:27 PM, Michael R. Wolf <MichaelRWolf at att.net> wrote:
> As a follow-up to the Josh's (general, theoretical) talk last night on Perl
> 5.12, I'd like to pose a (specific, practical) question:
>  How do you install and use multiple versions of Perl on a single machine?
>
> I'm interested because, even 2 years after its introduction, Perl 5.10 is
> still not common in many environments (default OS installations, web hosting
> services, corporate IT environments, etc).  I'm guessing (based on my own
> experience) that it's often easier for folks not on the cutting edge to use
> the given version of Perl (usually 5.8) instead of stepping up to a newer
> one.
>
> Perhaps sharing how you do it would encourage others to do so.

I've always just encouraged installing it into a directory named after
the version. So:

DON'T:
    /usr
    /usr/local
    /usr/local/perl

DO:
    /usr/local/perl-5.12.0
    /opt/perl-5.12.0

Or, if you want to run things just for yourself,

    ~/bin/perl-5.12.0

You can always add the perl .../bin directory to your path.

If you're on Windows, let Strawberry Perl install itself wherever it wants.

Or maybe avoid installing Perl to any directory with spaces in it.
Unfortunately, this might mean you need administrator privileges. If
you can't avoid that, then you may find yourself upgrading core parts
of our perl infrastructure to be safe for spaces. Others have avoided
making all of that work, I think.

Josh