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Apple Apologizes For Perl Snafu
By Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2009-04-03
Not long ago, we reported that a Mac OS X security update had affected some Perl scripts in an adverse way. Now, an Apple programmer has stepped forward to say "sorry" for the problem and talk about causes and resolutions.
Edward Moy showed up on the Apple Discussions forum and wrote, "I work on perl at Apple, and would like to take the opportunity to apologize for the unforeseen problems that the 2009-001 security update has caused. As others have explained, the root cause of the problem is how perl has historically (and on all platforms) ordered its module directory search path."
Moy then continued, "This means that if you try to update a module in the system perl directory by installing it in a site-specific directory like you normally would any other perl module, the search path order would result in the old module being found first. So, the only way to do this kind of update is to directly overwrite the module in the system perl directory. The cpan command has an option (INSTALLDIRS=perl) specifically for this purpose."
Apple's working on a more elegant solution, though, and when the company comes up with one, it will be made available in an update.
It'll be interesting to see if these developments help reestablish the peace between Apple and Perl professionals. A hat tip goes to Cade Metz.
About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.
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