Rakudo Star: Past Present and Future

[bbkr]

Hi

Commenting on blogs.perl.org is broken (blogs-perl-org/blogs.perl.org#322) so I've created ticket to share my thoughts on the subject.

Although I have A LOT of sentiment for Rakudo Star and I appreciate effort put into it by many developers I think it should be discontinued.

At the beginning it was just complete ecosystem bundle (whooping 15 modules :P). It made sense when there were no good module managers like zef/panda and NativeCall was also not included. Nowadays it would be easier to simply bundle zef with Rakudo and focus on monthly compiler releases for various environments (Docker, *.deb, *.rpm, macOS, Windows, etc).

I really, really hate Perl 5 packaging. For example I have 120 MB Docker container and installing Perl with Core modules bloats it by... 48 MB. 2 MB are useless binaries like ptar or zipdetails. 42 MB are useless libraries like PerlIO::via::QuotedPrint or Pod::Perldoc::ToNroff. And the rest are useless manpages to them. It makes no sense in service oriented environments! This is "distribution" approach from previous decade when dial-up modems were still ruling the Earth and it was justified to provide as complete set of modules and documentation as possible to start using language without internet access. And Rakudo Star is going this obsolete way.

Of course YMMV and you may have different experience with Rakudo Star, but for me it is easier to use zef on top of compiler to get environment tailored for my needs than to install R* and waste time on debloating it by removing modules of questionable usefulness and PDFs.

[zoffixznet]

but for me it is easier to use zef on top of compiler

FWIW, in about 2 months, I'm going to start doing monthly releases of Perl6.VIP that's basically that. Compiler + zef + mass module install tool + upgrade tool. Basically a rakudobrew that's targeted for user releases instead of dev commits and is just for 1 version of perl 6 instead of many.

[zoffixznet]

For the record, OP is referring to this blog post: http://blogs.perl.org/users/steve_mynott/2017/01/rakudo-star-past-present-and-future.html

[stmuk]

I don't see any useful suggestions for Rakudo Star in the above. Competition is welcomed.

[zoffixznet]

FWIW: I'm not starting anything mentioned above. Too buzy with other stuff.