The Path to Raku, revisited

[2colours]

Hi all,

this issue is inspired by the abundance of content that still refers to Perl6 some way - mostly in the file extensions but sometimes in domain names as well, or worst case, still referring to the language as "Perl 6". (Mind you: I'm not taking a stance on the renaming itself since it's history anyway; I start with the presumption that the language should be consistently represented by its name, which is "Raku".)

When I tried to find out if there are already issues for the current situation, I found some issues and pointers around the time the renaming actually happened.

The Path to Raku document targeted these issues - but "It does not pretend to be complete in scope or in time", and I think it's time to revisit it and update the considerations,

At the time of writing the document, 6.e seemed realistic in 2020. As things stand currently, it's not sure it can be finished in 2023. Since extensions and name-related code don't depend on the development of 6.e, I think the deprecation policies should get stricter. Years of actual development and publishing have passed, people really shouldn't be using extensions that were "sentenced to death" 3 years ago. This goes for Rakudo as well, preferably - but I think it's easier to pardon Rakudo than simple modules that could be adopted easily.

I think this is mainly a community decision, not a measure to implement. Also, this is probably something really easy to change. I can go around and ask people "don't Perl that much in 2022, please" but that's sort of an annoying, "bad cop" move. I hope we can reach a clear and up-to-date stance on our current position in the renaming process, and then I'd expect this to go almost automatically.

PS: I can already recall deprecation warnings for using $*PERL or some similar dynamic variable so certain measures do have been implemented by now. It would be good to know how it is currently, and update that "roadmap" as well.

[2colours]

I also noticed that there is a "perl6book" site, created by @moritz . I don't think this is "official" stuff in the strictest sense but the domain itself sounds like it could be an outdated official site, and I'm not sure if I like the impression it makes. If it could be hosted in a more "Raku-ish" context, I think it could be much nicer and feel less like legacy left behind.

[moritz]

If it's outdated, or somebody wants to contribute a different wording or style, feel free, the content is on https://github.com/moritz/perl6book-web

If you prefer to have that information elsewhere, I'm happy to replace that site by a redirect with more up-to-date information.

[2colours]

@moritz I created an issue to address the status of published learning materials beyond the particular site - you are invited to share your thoughts about it. In my view, the eventual site should be based around the content abstracted away, redesigned (possibly in the style of an already existing Raku-related site but I think a straightforward Bootstrap theme is also a step forward), and secured at a place that plays well with the rename in 2019 - possibly but not necessarily a raku.org subdomain.