How to Upgrade to Perl 5.12.5 on Linux Machine
Upgrading Perl from source on Linux
This tutorial explains how to compile Perl 5.12 for a Linux machine. In this tutorial, CentOS 5 / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 will be used, however the procedure should be quite similar for other distributions of Linux as well.
Note: You may be tempted to do a `yum remove perl` to remove the 5.8 version that your distribution came with. Don't. I'll give an explanation why later on.
Does your vendor already have Perl 5.12?
If you can install Perl 5.12 via yum, apt, portage, or whatever your package manager is, I highly recommend you do it. It's always better to install things so that your package manager is aware of their existence rather than to go ahead and install something behind its back. If all you can get is Perl 5.8, though, you'll need to compile it yourself.Download the Perl Source
Just link to http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl/ and click the "Download" link at the top of the page. That should get you the source code to the most recent version of Perl, which is currently 5.12.5. (Stable Release) Download it, extract it somewhere, and open up a terminal.Make and Install
This is the procedure we will use to compile Perl. Log in as root for the entire process; you may wish to wait until the `make install` phase to switch to root, or do a `sudo make install`.
My system already had all the dependencies installed, so I can't give you a clear list of all the packages you'll need to be able to compile Perl. However, I know you'll need GNU Make and probably the GNU C Compiler. These can be installed quite easily on pretty much every Linux distribution using their package manager.
CLI:
yum install make yum install gcc
- Switch to root.CLI:Enter the root password and hit enter.
su -
- Change to the directory you extracted Perl to. I extracted mine to my root user's Desktop directory.CLI:
cd /root/Desktop/perl-5.12.5
- Configure the installation. This phase will make sure all the dependencies are installed and guess some default options. It's usually pretty good at guessing.CLI:The -Dusethreads option is to compile the interpreter to support threads (which I recommend; there's no reason I can see why you SHOULDN'T compile with threads).
sh Configure -de -Dusethreads
- Run the standard make, make test, and make install commands. Note that `make install` must be executed as root, so if you're playing it safe and keeping root out of this until `make install`, you'll need to `sudo make install` instead (or switch to root, `cd` back to the source directory, and then do `make install`CLI:
make make test make install
Post Configuration
By the time Perl 5.12 finished installing, I now have two different versions of Perl installed: the previous 5.8 version and my new 5.12. Like I said before, you may be tempted to try and remove version 5.8, but don't. I've still yet to get to the reason why.
On my system, /usr/local/bin/perl was version 5.12, but /usr/bin/perl was still the old 5.8 version. For general use, this was okay, because the new version of Perl showed up earlier in my $PATH statement, so that the `perl` command at the terminal executed the newer version. However, all of my CGI scripts on my web server were using /usr/bin/perl, the old version.
Code:
So this was a simple fix: just symlink the old binary to the new binary.#!/usr/bin/perl -w
CLI:
What we did was we renamed the old perl to be "perl58" (so if you absolutely need it in the future, you can rename it back). Then we made a symbolic link to the new perl binary so that the location of the old binary still pointed to it.su - enter root's password mv /usr/bin/perl /usr/bin/perl58 ln -s /usr/local/bin/perl /usr/bin/perl
Note, however, that Perl 5.8 and 5.12 have their own module paths, so if you installed any modules for Perl 5.8, you'll have to reinstall them for 5.12.
Why Not Remove Perl 5.8
Well, for a visual explanation, this is what `yum` wanted to remove when I did a simple `yum remove perl` command:
CLI:
Basically, there are just too many packages in Linux that rely on Perl, and to remove Perl, you have to remove all of these packages. Some of the major ones in that list include the entire GNOME desktop environment, the entire OpenOffice suite, and the entire X Window Server itself. So, it's a lot easier to just keep the two versions of Perl side by side.============================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================= Removing: perl i386 4:5.8.8-10.el5_0.2 installed 28 M Removing for dependencies: ImageMagick i386 6.2.8.0-3.el5.4 installed 11 M NetworkManager i386 1:0.6.4-6.el5 installed 1.2 M NetworkManager-gnome i386 1:0.6.4-6.el5 installed 393 k a2ps i386 4.13b-57.1.el5 installed 3.1 M alacarte noarch 0.10.0-1.fc6 installed 604 k antlr i386 2.7.6-4jpp.2 installed 2.5 M aspell i386 12:0.60.3-7.1 installed 2.7 M aspell-en i386 50:6.0-2.1 installed 3.4 M at-spi i386 1.7.11-2.fc6 installed 894 k bsf i386 2.3.0-11jpp.1 installed 810 k bsh i386 1.3.0-9jpp.1 installed 1.2 M chkfontpath i386 1.10.1-1.1 installed 13 k conman i386 0.1.9.2-8.el5 installed 284 k control-center i386 1:2.16.0-14.el5 installed 8.1 M desktop-printing i386 0.19-20.el5 installed 259 k docbook-dtds noarch 1.0-30.1 installed 3.6 M eel2 i386 2.16.1-1.el5 installed 1.1 M ekiga i386 2.0.2-7.0.2 installed 11 M enscript i386 1.6.4-4.1.el5 installed 1.7 M eog i386 2.16.0.1-6.el5 installed 1.8 M evince i386 0.6.0-8.el5 installed 2.7 M evolution i386 2.8.0-40.el5 installed 35 M evolution-connector i386 2.8.0-3.fc6 installed 2.5 M evolution-data-server i386 1.8.0-25.el5 installed 9.9 M evolution-webcal i386 2.7.1-6 installed 265 k fbset i386 2.1-22 installed 57 k festival i386 1.95-5.2.1 installed 49 M file-roller i386 2.16.0-2.fc6 installed 3.5 M firstboot noarch 1.4.27.3-1.el5.centos installed 974 k foomatic i386 3.0.2-38.1.el5 installed 35 M gcalctool i386 5.8.25-1.el5 installed 4.1 M gconf-editor i386 2.16.0-3.el5 installed 852 k gdm i386 1:2.16.0-31.0.1.el5.centos installed 10 M gedit i386 1:2.16.0-5.el5 installed 17 M ghostscript i386 8.15.2-9.1.el5 installed 18 M ghostscript-fonts noarch 5.50-13.1.1 installed 1.4 M gimp i386 2:2.2.13-2.0.7.el5 installed 25 M gimp-data-extras noarch 2.0.1-1.1.1 installed 7.6 M gimp-help noarch 2-0.1.0.10.1.1 installed 64 M gimp-print i386 4.2.7-22 installed 4.1 M gimp-print-plugin i386 4.2.7-22 installed 95 k gimp-print-utils i386 4.2.7-22 installed 35 k gjdoc i386 0.7.7-12.el5 installed 1.7 M gnome-applets i386 1:2.16.0.1-19.el5 installed 31 M gnome-desktop i386 2.16.0-1.el5.centos.1 installed 1.9 M gnome-games i386 1:2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 19 M gnome-mag i386 0.13.1-1.fc6 installed 247 k gnome-media i386 2.16.1-3.el5 installed 5.2 M gnome-mount i386 0.5-3.el5 installed 228 k gnome-netstatus i386 2.12.0-5.el5 installed 972 k gnome-panel i386 2.16.1-6.el5 installed 10 M gnome-pilot i386 2.0.13-16 installed 1.7 M gnome-power-manager i386 2.16.0-8.el5 installed 6.1 M gnome-python2 i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 588 k gnome-python2-applet i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 16 k gnome-python2-bonobo i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 167 k gnome-python2-canvas i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 45 k gnome-python2-desktop i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 234 k gnome-python2-extras i386 2.14.2-4.fc6 installed 62 k gnome-python2-gconf i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 71 k gnome-python2-gnomeprint i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 427 k gnome-python2-gnomevfs i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 163 k gnome-python2-gtksourceview i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 347 k gnome-python2-libegg i386 2.14.2-4.fc6 installed 113 k gnome-screensaver i386 2.16.1-5.el5 installed 3.3 M gnome-session i386 2.16.0-6.el5.centos installed 1.3 M gnome-speech i386 0.4.5-1.fc6 installed 72 k gnome-spell i386 1.0.7-3.1 installed 258 k gnome-system-monitor i386 2.16.0-3.el5 installed 2.9 M gnome-terminal i386 2.16.0-3.el5 installed 8.4 M gnome-user-docs noarch 2.16.0-2.fc6 installed 11 M gnome-utils i386 1:2.16.0-3.el5 installed 8.5 M gnome-vfs2 i386 2.16.2-4.el5 installed 4.7 M gnome-vfs2-smb i386 2.16.2-4.el5 installed 28 k gnome-volume-manager i386 2.15.0-4.el5 installed 1.9 M gnomeicu i386 1:0.99.14-1.el5.rf installed 4.6 M gok i386 1.2.0-2.el5 installed 9.2 M gstreamer i386 0.10.9-3.el5 installed 1.4 M gstreamer-plugins-bad i386 0.10.3-6.el5.rf installed 2.5 M gstreamer-plugins-base i386 0.10.9-6.el5 installed 1.4 M gstreamer-plugins-good i386 0.10.4-4.el5 installed 1.4 M gstreamer-plugins-ugly i386 0.10.5-2.el5.rf installed 1.4 M gthumb i386 2.7.8-5.el5 installed 5.6 M gtkhtml2 i386 2.11.0-3 installed 431 k gtkhtml3 i386 3.12.0-1.fc6 installed 2.8 M gtksourceview i386 1.8.0-1.fc6 installed 1.6 M gtkspell i386 2.0.11-2.1 installed 55 k gucharmap i386 1.8.0-1.fc6 installed 5.8 M hal-cups-utils i386 0.6.2-5 installed 57 k hal-gnome i386 0.5.8.1-25.el5_1.1 installed 183 k hsqldb i386 1:1.8.0.4-3jpp.4 installed 3.8 M im-chooser i386 0.3.3-6.el5 installed 188 k isdn4k-utils i386 3.2-50.1 installed 9.3 M java-1.4.2-gcj-compat i386 1.4.2.0-40jpp.112 installed 441 jpackage-utils noarch 1.7.3-1jpp.2.el5 installed 163 k krb5-auth-dialog i386 0.7-1 installed 52 k lftp i386 3.6.1-1.el5.rf installed 4.5 M libbonobo i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 1.7 M libbonoboui i386 2.16.0-1.fc6 installed 1.2 M libgail-gnome i386 1.1.3-1.2.1 installed 60 k libgnome i386 2.16.0-6.el5 installed 3.3 M libgnomeprint22 i386 2.12.1-9.el5 installed 1.3 M libgnomeprintui22 i386 2.12.1-6 installed 1.0 M libgnomeui i386 2.16.0-5.el5 installed 3.1 M libgsf i386 1.14.1-6.1 installed 258 k libpurple i386 2.3.1-0.el5 installed 20 M librsvg2 i386 2.16.1-1.el5 installed 425 k libwpd i386 0.8.7-3.el5 installed 535 k licq i386 1.3.0-1 installed 4.7 M linuxwacom i386 0.7.4.3-2.el5 installed 402 k logwatch noarch 7.3-5 installed 985 k mkbootdisk i386 1.5.3-2.1 installed 7.2 k msttcorefonts noarch 2.0-1 installed 5.5 M nautilus i386 2.16.2-6.el5 installed 12 M nautilus-cd-burner i386 2.16.0-7.el5 installed 1.7 M nautilus-extensions i386 2.16.2-6.el5 installed 31 k nautilus-open-terminal i386 0.6-6.el5 installed 57 k nautilus-sendto i386 0.7-5.fc6 installed 172 k netpbm-progs i386 10.35-6.fc6 installed 4.1 M numactl i386 0.9.8-2.el5 installed 87 k openarena i386 0.7.1-3.fc8 installed 1.6 M openarena-data i386 0.7.1-3.fc8 installed 260 M opengl-games-utils noarch 0.1-4.fc8 installed 2.4 k openoffice.org-calc i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 19 M openoffice.org-core i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 221 M openoffice.org-draw i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 2.6 M openoffice.org-graphicfilter i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 425 k openoffice.org-impress i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 4.2 M openoffice.org-math i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 3.2 M openoffice.org-writer i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 6.7 M openoffice.org-xsltfilter i386 1:2.0.4-5.4.24 installed 212 k orca i386 1.0.0-5.el5 installed 3.4 M perl-Archive-Tar noarch 1.36-1.el5.rf installed 112 k perl-Compress-Raw-Zlib i386 2.008-1.el5.rf installed 371 k perl-Compress-Zlib noarch 2.008-1.el5.rf installed 71 k perl-Crypt-PasswdMD5 noarch 1.3-2.el5 installed 12 k perl-Digest-HMAC noarch 1.01-15 installed 11 k perl-Digest-SHA1 i386 2.11-1.2.1 installed 97 k perl-GD i386 2.35-2.el5 installed 450 k perl-GD-Barcode noarch 1.15-1.2.el5.rf installed 10 M perl-GD-Convert noarch 2.13-1.el5.rf installed 24 k perl-GD-Dashboard noarch 0.04-1.2.el5.rf installed 26 k perl-GD-Graph noarch 1.43-1.2.el5.rf installed 231 k perl-GD-Graph3d noarch 0.63-2.2.el5.rf installed 72 k perl-GD-SIRDS noarch 0.02-1.2.el5.rf installed 11 k perl-GD-SVG noarch 0.28-1.el5.rf installed 90 k perl-GD-Text-Util noarch 0.86-1.2.el5.rf installed 77 k perl-Glib i386 1.162-1.el5.rf installed 1.5 M perl-Gtk2 i386 1.162-1.el5.rf installed 12 M perl-HTML-Parser i386 3.56-1.el5.rf installed 288 k perl-HTML-Tagset noarch 3.10-2.1.1 installed 19 k perl-IO-Compress-Base noarch 2.008-1.el5.rf installed 138 k perl-IO-Compress-Zlib noarch 2.008-1.el5.rf installed 368 k perl-IO-Socket-INET6 noarch 2.51-2.fc6 installed 22 k perl-IO-Socket-SSL noarch 1.12-1.el5.rf installed 102 k perl-IO-Zlib noarch 1.08-1.el5.rf installed 25 k perl-Net-DNS i386 0.61-1.el5.rf installed 567 k perl-Net-IP noarch 1.25-2.fc6 installed 81 k perl-Net-SSLeay i386 1.32-1.el5.rf installed 829 k perl-SVG noarch 2.36-1.el5.rf installed 202 k perl-Socket6 i386 0.19-3.fc6 installed 45 k perl-String-CRC32 i386 1.4-2.fc6 installed 12 k perl-URI noarch 1.35-3 installed 246 k perl-libwww-perl noarch 5.805-1.1.1 installed 807 k pidgin i386 2.3.1-0.el5 installed 2.3 M pirut noarch 1.2.10-1.el5.centos.1 installed 969 k planner i386 0.14-3 installed 5.8 M playground i686 0.3-2.FC4.CLUB installed 97 k playground-xmms i686 0.3-2.FC4.CLUB installed 11 k psutils i386 1.17-26.1 installed 203 k rhpxl i386 0.41.1-1.el5 installed 369 k rhythmbox i386 0.9.5-8.el5 installed 6.3 M rpm-build i386 4.4.2-47.el5 installed 2.0 M rsync i386 2.6.9-1.el5.rf installed 594 k sabayon-apply i386 2.12.4-5.el5 installed 1.6 M samba-client i386 3.0.25b-1.el5_1.4 installed 12 M scrollkeeper i386 0.3.14-9.el5 installed 1.5 M slrn i386 0.9.8.1pl1-1.2.2 installed 2.1 M sound-juicer i386 2.16.0-3.el5 installed 2.4 M spamassassin i386 3.2.3-1.el5.rf installed 2.8 M stunnel i386 4.15-2 installed 220 k synaptics i386 0.14.4-8.fc6 installed 110 k syslinux i386 3.53-1.el5.rf installed 1.7 M system-config-date noarch 1.8.12-1.el5 installed 3.5 M system-config-display noarch 1.0.48-2.el5 installed 786 k system-config-keyboard noarch 1.2.11-1.el5 installed 193 k system-config-network noarch 1.3.99-2.el5 installed 2.1 M system-config-printer i386 0.7.32.5-1.el5 installed 645 k system-config-printer-libs i386 0.7.32.5-1.el5 installed 812 k tomcat5-jsp-2.0-api i386 5.5.23-0jpp.3.0.2.el5 installed 163 k tomcat5-servlet-2.4-api i386 5.5.23-0jpp.3.0.2.el5 installed 250 k totem i386 2.16.7-1.el5 installed 5.0 M urw-fonts noarch 2.3-6.1.1 installed 5.7 M vim-enhanced i386 2:7.0.109-3.el5.3 installed 2.6 M vino i386 2.13.5-6.el5 installed 1.1 M vnc-server i386 4.1.2-9.el5 installed 2.5 M wine i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 0.0 wine-capi i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 97 k wine-cms i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 192 k wine-core i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 98 M wine-esd i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 151 k wine-jack i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 89 k wine-ldap i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 802 k wine-nas i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 87 k wine-twain i386 0.9.50-1.el5.rf installed 108 k wpa_supplicant i386 1:0.4.8-10.1.fc6 installed 540 k xalan-j2 i386 2.7.0-6jpp.1 installed 10 M xchat i386 1:2.6.6-8.el5 installed 3.3 M xerces-j2 i386 2.7.1-7jpp.2 installed 6.9 M xml-commons i386 1.3.02-0.b2.7jpp.10 installed 30 k xml-commons-apis i386 1.3.02-0.b2.7jpp.10 installed 878 k xml-commons-resolver i386 1.1-1jpp.12 installed 343 k xorg-x11-drivers i386 7.1-4.1.el5 installed 0.0 xorg-x11-drv-acecad i386 1.1.0-2.1 installed 11 k xorg-x11-drv-aiptek i386 1.0.1-2 installed 27 k xorg-x11-drv-apm i386 1.1.1-2.1 installed 142 k xorg-x11-drv-ark i386 0.6.0-2.1 installed 18 k xorg-x11-drv-ast i386 0.81.0-3 installed 42 k xorg-x11-drv-ati i386 6.6.3-3.2.el5 installed 776 k xorg-x11-drv-calcomp i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 14 k xorg-x11-drv-chips i386 1.1.1-2.1 installed 151 k xorg-x11-drv-cirrus i386 1.1.0-2.fc6 installed 76 k xorg-x11-drv-citron i386 2.2.0-1.1 installed 51 k xorg-x11-drv-cyrix i386 1.1.0-4 installed 28 k xorg-x11-drv-digitaledge i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 14 k xorg-x11-drv-dmc i386 1.1.0-2 installed 12 k xorg-x11-drv-dummy i386 0.2.0-2.1 installed 14 k xorg-x11-drv-dynapro i386 1.1.0-2 installed 11 k xorg-x11-drv-elo2300 i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 12 k xorg-x11-drv-elographics i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 16 k xorg-x11-drv-evdev i386 1:1.0.0.5-3.el5 installed 12 k xorg-x11-drv-fbdev i386 0.3.0-2 installed 20 k xorg-x11-drv-fpit i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 12 k xorg-x11-drv-glint i386 1.1.1-4.1 installed 286 k xorg-x11-drv-hyperpen i386 1.1.0-2 installed 17 k xorg-x11-drv-i128 i386 1.2.0-4 installed 60 k xorg-x11-drv-i740 i386 1.1.0-2.1 installed 45 k xorg-x11-drv-i810 i386 1.6.5-9.6.el5 installed 598 k xorg-x11-drv-jamstudio i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 8.6 k xorg-x11-drv-joystick i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 7.1 k xorg-x11-drv-keyboard i386 1.1.0-3 installed 27 k xorg-x11-drv-magellan i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 11 k xorg-x11-drv-magictouch i386 1.0.0.5-2.1 installed 2.8 k xorg-x11-drv-mga i386 1.4.2-6.el5 installed 161 k xorg-x11-drv-microtouch i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 16 k xorg-x11-drv-mouse i386 1.1.1-1.1 installed 48 k xorg-x11-drv-mutouch i386 1.1.0-2 installed 17 k xorg-x11-drv-neomagic i386 1.1.1-2.1 installed 75 k xorg-x11-drv-nsc i386 2.8.1-2.1 installed 322 k xorg-x11-drv-nv i386 2.1.2-1.el5 installed 237 k xorg-x11-drv-palmax i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 14 k xorg-x11-drv-penmount i386 1.1.0-2.1 installed 12 k xorg-x11-drv-rendition i386 4.1.0-3.1 installed 105 k xorg-x11-drv-s3 i386 0.4.1-2.1 installed 57 k xorg-x11-drv-s3virge i386 1.9.1-2.1 installed 80 k xorg-x11-drv-savage i386 2.1.1-5.fc6 installed 141 k xorg-x11-drv-siliconmotion i386 1.4.1-2.1 installed 88 k xorg-x11-drv-sis i386 0.9.1-7 installed 598 k xorg-x11-drv-sisusb i386 0.8.1-4.1 installed 77 k xorg-x11-drv-spaceorb i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 10 k xorg-x11-drv-summa i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 17 k xorg-x11-drv-tdfx i386 1.2.1-3.1 installed 69 k xorg-x11-drv-tek4957 i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 12 k xorg-x11-drv-trident i386 1.2.1-3.fc6 installed 163 k xorg-x11-drv-tseng i386 1.1.0-3.1 installed 52 k xorg-x11-drv-ur98 i386 1.1.0-1.1 installed 14 k xorg-x11-drv-v4l i386 0.1.1-4 installed 15 k xorg-x11-drv-vesa i386 1.3.0-8.1.el5 installed 25 k xorg-x11-drv-vga i386 4.1.0-2.1 installed 21 k xorg-x11-drv-via i386 0.2.1-9 installed 354 k xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse i386 12.4.0-2.1 installed 18 k xorg-x11-drv-vmware i386 10.13.0-2.1 installed 40 k xorg-x11-drv-void i386 1.1.0-3.1 installed 7.3 k xorg-x11-drv-voodoo i386 1.1.0-3.1 installed 28 k xorg-x11-font-utils i386 1:7.1-2 installed 265 k xorg-x11-fonts-100dpi noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 3.3 M xorg-x11-fonts-75dpi noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 2.9 M xorg-x11-fonts-ISO8859-1-100dpi noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 1.0 M xorg-x11-fonts-ISO8859-1-75dpi noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 899 k xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 2.7 M xorg-x11-fonts-base noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 4.2 M xorg-x11-fonts-misc noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 2.6 M xorg-x11-fonts-truetype noarch 7.1-2.1.el5 installed 888 k xorg-x11-server-Xnest i386 1.1.1-48.26.el5 installed 3.7 M xorg-x11-server-Xorg i386 1.1.1-48.26.el5 installed 8.2 M xorg-x11-xfs i386 1:1.0.2-4 installed 111 k xsane-gimp i386 0.991-4.el5 installed 617 k zenity i386 2.16.0-2.el5 installed 2.0 M Transaction Summary ============================================================================= Install 0 Package(s) Update 0 Package(s) Remove 289 Package(s)
To prevent yum from modifying your installation of Perl, edit the file /etc/yum.conf with your favorite text editor and add the line:
/etc/yum.conf:
That way, yum won't be tempted to update what it believes is your current version of Perl (which, on Red Hat Enterprise systems, yum isn't likely to upgrade to Perl 5.12 of its own free will anytime soon, so you'd be more likely to get a new stable release of 5.8, which would undermine your efforts to upgrade to 5.12).exclude=perl
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