[MacPerl] Press article: Perl for Mac OS X

[Dominic Dunlop <domo@computer.org>]

[Cc to macperl list, to which I'm not subscribed.  This may or may not work.]

This appeared recently on Maccentral, a Macintosh news site 
(<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0007/13.macosx.shtml>):
>We're continuing to answer questions submitted by our readers 
>concerning Mac OS X? This week they are a bit on the technical side, 
>so be forewarned.
>
>Q: Are efforts being made to encourage ports of popular Unix apps 
>like MySQL (database software) and Perl (a programming language)?
>
>A:  Perl is included with the Unix layer, and MySQL has already been 
>ported (you can find info about it at Stepwise). Others are already 
>running on Mac OS X Server and should be fairly easy to port to the 
>next generation operating system. And since the Unix layer is 
>BSD-based, most popular Unix apps should port over with minimal 
>problems.
>
>"The thing to remember is that Mac OS X is basically NeXT with some 
>FreeBSD thrown in," says David Shaw, senior software developer, 
>ZapMedia.com. "Anything that can compile on these systems will 
>compile on Mac OS X with little problem. I was able to compile up 
>Python 1.5.2 with no problem. I expect that within a month of the 
>public beta shipping, you'll be able to find most any service/tool 
>with a native Mac OS X port."
>
>He says that the only problem he's encountered while porting 
>software is related to HFS Plus. Filenames in HFS Plus are case 
>sensitive, but not case distinguishable. The operating system will 
>treat "myfile.txt" as the same as "MYFILE.txt." This can be a 
>problem when there is a file named "python" and a folder named 
>"Python" in the same directory. It's not the end of the world, but 
>is annoying to seasoned UNIX users, Shaw says.
>
>"Maybe we can port some other file systems available to us after OS 
>X ships," he adds.
>
>Shaw thinks that the plans for MacPerl under Mac OS X are to treat 
>the official Unix port as the Mac OS X port, with the Mac-specific 
>items in MacPerl (access to the Toolbox/etc) available on top in 
>some form.

Are the assertions about Perl largely true?  If not, can A Qualified 
Spokesperson take it on themselves to put things right?  Thanks.

-- 
Dominic Dunlop

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