build and release 5.34

[shawnlaffan]

We should build and release a version of 5.34, if only for the sake of major version completeness.

This was the original intent of #39 but discussion has become much broader.

The risk is that it won't compile with gcc13, or the patches we are using for 5.36 will not port across. We won't know until we try, though.

[fenginsc]

Is version 5.34 ready now? What's the progress so far?

[shawnlaffan]

No progress yet. I'm busy the next few weeks so the next chance I'll have is late September.

[shawnlaffan]

Just for notes, I did have a go at building 5.34 using the same gcc as for 5.36 but hit all the same patching problems.

If we do build a 5.34 then it will likely be with the same stack used for 5.32.

I'm not sure how much it is needed, though.

[genio]

I get the desire for major version completeness, but I'm also "meh" on this one. We're currently at 5.40, so I don't see much need in a 5.34 realistically.

[ferki]

Some projects have a valid need to support older Perl versions, even if that is not the best, or perhaps even recommended decision for many other projects.

One model to follow was to be in sync with the Lancaster Consensus, which was later obsoleted and modernized by the Lyon Amendment. TL;DR is "support about 10 years old Perl", which is at 5.16/5.18 at the moment.

Wearing my maintainer hat for such a volunteer-driven project, it would be nice to have 5.34 available too. It is currently a blind spot in our automated testing with Strawberry Perl on Windows via GitHub Actions, while other releases proved to be useful to fix missed bugs we missed otherwise, and it also helps prevent introducing further ones.

I'm a long-term Linux user since 15+ years, who currently lacks access to a Windows box, and also experience to build software like Perl on Windows, though I'd be happy to see if there's something I could contribute towards making 5.34 available.

[shawnlaffan]

Once 5.40 is out I'll see if I can do a UCRT for 5.38. Then I'll have a look at 5.34.

I'm again at that stage of the year where things get busier so we'll see how optimistic that plan is.