Use a recent version of Perl to write scripts for an older version

Question

When I put use v5.8; at the top of my script, this means the script will not run unless it's being interpreted by Perl 5.8 or better. My question is, is there a way to force Perl to run in "compatibility mode" for a specific version? So that if I use a (fictitious) line like use only::v5.8;, my script will not run if it uses language features that weren't present in Perl 5.8.

My use case is that I would like to be able to develop scripts for my work machine (which has an older Perl release) using my personal laptop which has a more recent one.

It would be far more reliable to simply install the older version on your work machine. perlbrew makes that easy. — ikegami
– ikegami, Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 4:23

Patrick J. S. · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-17 04:32:57Z

4

There are Perl::MinimumVersion and Perl::MinimumVersion::Fast on CPAN.

For the former there is also a command line tool.

With those modules you can check if your program needs a more recent perl version. Sadly the formatting is a little of.

perlver yourfile.pl



   -----------------------------------------  
 | file       | explicit | syntax | external |
 | ----------------------------------------- |
 | logfile.pl | v5.10.0  | v5.6.0 | n/a      |
 | ----------------------------------------- |
 | Minimum explicit version : v5.10.0                       |
 | Minimum syntax version   : v5.6.0                        |
 | Minimum version of perl  : v5.10.0                       |
   -----------------------------------------

edited Dec 17, 2014 at 4:32

answered Dec 17, 2014 at 4:26

Patrick J. S.

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