Base ClearCase FAQ 1.1.8: What perl should I use?

This is more of a frequently made answer than a frequently asked question, however the answer is often wrong, so let's straighten it: resist laziness—do not use Rational perl.

The temptation is easy: there is a perl installation, why not using it?

• It is not meant for that: it is tailored for the needs of ClearCase tools, and until recently actively discouraged customers from using it (e.g. by being a very old version, not built with debug enabled). Remember IBM is not committed to supporting it in any way.
• It still comes with a minimum set of modules, so you'll sooner or later get into limitations (check with egrep ^=head2 perllocal.pod in the platform sub-directory, which you get with Perl -V)
• You might think of installing modules yourself, but:
  • if you need to compile them, the compiler used to build it is not provided—you'll fail to install even ClearCase::CtCmd!
  • your changes will be washed away at the next ClearCase installation.

If you still insist, then follow perlfaq8 advice on How do I keep my own module/library directory?.

-- MarcGirod - 14 May 2008