I've started revitalizing the Perl Power Tools. I love this project, also known as the Unix Reconstruction Project, but there's been a some bit rot and I think we can make it easier to find. Googling "PPT" means so many other things, including PowerPoint. I've always had a hard time finding it, and I know it's there! Many of the links to it are dead or buried, and when I talk about it (such as in my Stackoverflow post about paste or my lightning talk at the Swiss Perl Workshop).





Some of these programs date back to the 1990s and I've discovered weird syntax things that Perl 5.22 won't support. Did you know that you could %hash->{$key} with a normal hash? Not after v5.20 you can't! Also gone is defined( @array ) .

Dana Jacobson already fixed a bug in the factor program, which now has tests.

Some of the programs needed modules for CPAN, but the distribution declared no dependencies. Where we can, I'd like to see some of those dependencies reduced with something like App::FatPacker.

Some programs shell out to other things. We need to be a bit careful there to ensure the right things happen. I'll have to make a decision about a least version of Perl, perhaps one that includes the three argument open.

I'd like to make the docs across all programs consistent.

There is plenty to do. I don't care so much about changing style or reimplementing everything. I want it usable by normal people. It has to install with the least hassle and do what it actually advertises.