Re: Please do not deprecate perl-mode in favour of cperl-mode

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2023 16:36:10 +1000
> From:  "Paul W. Rankin" via "Emacs development discussions." <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
> 
> I am writing in response to a mention I saw today on Mastodon, which 
> appears supported by the EtherPad, that there is plan to deprecate Perl 
> Mode in favour of C Perl Mode in Emacs.
> 
> If this is true can I please urge a reconsideration?
> 
> C Perl Mode has several quirks that make it behave unlike a normal Emacs 
> Major mode, including:
> 
> - unorthodox code indentation
> - behaviour of TAB on region does not perform indent-region
> - use of specific faces instead of font-lock-* faces

What if CPerl mode would optionally support the above as well?  Would
it be acceptable then for you to switch?

> I don't wish to dampen the enthusiasm of the originator of this Perl->C 
> Perl idea, but I would implore you to please first address C Perl Mode's 
> shortcoming as a 1:1 replacement for Perl Mode before the 
> baby/bathwater? C Perl Mode should at least work as well as Perl Mode 
> before deprecation is considered.

Deprecation doesn't mean removal.  Even obsolete packages are still
available, and some of them will not be removed.  So if you insist on
using Perl mode, you will be able to do so for the years to come, even
if we deprecate and obsolete it.