[Python-Dev] ActiveState & fork & Perl

[Tim Peters]

[David Ascher]
> In case you haven't heard about it, ActiveState has recently signed a
> contract with Microsoft to do some work on Perl on win32.

I'm astonished at the reaction this has provoked "out there".  Here:

D:\Python>perl -v

This is perl, version 5.001

        Unofficial patchlevel 1m.

Copyright 1987-1994, Larry Wall
Win32 port Copyright (c) 1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
        Developed by hip communications inc., http://info.hip.com/info/

        Perl for Win32 Build 107
        Built Apr 16 1996 at 14:47:22
Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License or
the
GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5.0 source kit.

D:\Python>

Notice the MS copyright?  From 1995?!  Perl for Win32 has *always* been
funded by MS, even back when half of ActiveState was named "hip
communications" <0.5 wink>.  Thank Perl's dominance in CGI scripting -- MS
couldn't sell NT Server if it didn't run Perl.  MS may be vicious, but
they're not stupid <wink>.

> ...
>   fork()
> ...
> Any guesses as to whether we could hijack this work if/when it is released
> as Open Source?

It's proven impossible so far to reuse anything from the Perl source -- the
code is an incestuous nightmare.  From time to time the Perl-Porters talk
about splitting some of it into reusable libraries, but that never happens;
and the less they feel Perl's dominance is assured, the less they even talk
about it.

So I'm pessimistic (what else is new <wink>?).  I'd rather see the work put
into threads anyway.  The "Mac OS" problem will go away eventually; time to
turn the suckers on by default.

it's-not-like-millions-of-programmers-will-start-writing-thread-code-then-
    who-don't-now-ly y'rs  - tim