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Re: Pre-RFC: support https out-of-the-box

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From:
Dan Book
Date:
November 23, 2021 20:46
Subject:
Re: Pre-RFC: support https out-of-the-box
Message ID:
CABMkAVUc5zYfKDQoY48nv-yu2R6=v3iwE4J5AHY+3rGg1aVi7w@mail.gmail.com
On Tue, Nov 23, 2021 at 1:19 PM Ovid via perl5-porters <
perl5-porters@perl.org> wrote:

> > On Tuesday, 23 November 2021, 18:55:55 CET, Neil Bowers <neilb@neilb.org
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > When you install Perl, although it comes with HTTP::Tiny, it doesn't
> support
> > https because HTTP::Tiny requires IO::Socket::SSL (which isn’t bundled
> with
> > Perl). This means that CPAN.pm and other tools can't make https
> mandatory,
> > as when bootstrapping a new box you'll typically install perl then run
> cpan to
> > first install Net::SSLeay and IO::Socket::SSL.
>

I agree that this is a huge problem and we should make significant effort
to try to solve it. However it's not yet clear how we could best solve it.
Bundling Net::SSLeay and IO::Socket::SSL is of course the easiest in terms
of immediate effort

An alternative is to link against SSL libs within Perl's own build process
like some other languages do, which would have the potential for greater
flexibility/portability. But it means some duplication of effort, and that
it can't be upgraded from CPAN like Net::SSLeay (important for any SSL
functionality - though it could be implemented in a blead-first dual-life
module to make this possible), and that IO::Socket::SSL (probably) would
need to be updated to make use of the new functionality. And foremost, this
would need a volunteer well versed in SSL libraries.


> I love this idea and as a standalone, I support it as is, if feasible.
> However, if we do this, can we improve the overall experience of Perl?
>
> One of the issue that I think Perl has is that we our presence is almost
> entirely in sysadmin tasks and web development. I can't comment on the
> former, but the latter also requires a few more modules to make Perl more
> natively useful. If nothing else, a fast JSON tool would be welcome (not
> the JSON::PP that is in core. That's very slow)
>
> Also, some proper native readline support would be nice for a useful
> debugger. I assume Term::ReadLine::Gnu isn't bundled because of the
> licence, but my debugger is always broken when I first use it.
>

Not sure what either of these have to do with supporting HTTPS out of the
box. Perhaps suitable for other threads?

-Dan

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