Hi all,
we're currently considering to change the default interpreter executable for perl extensions on Windows from "perl.exe" to "wperl.exe", see [1].
In case any developers/users of perl extensions on Windows are reading this, please let us know if this is a change you'd welcome or if this has the potential to break your extension / current setup.
For everybody unaware of the difference between perl and wperl: On Windows there's a fundamental distinction between console applications and "GUI" applications. The former are always attached to a console window and will start one if necessary (i.e. you'd see a console window pop up while running the extension), which is also the case for "perl.exe". "wperl.exe" on the other hand is compiled as a "GUI" application and doesn't require a console. The downside is that "wperl" only exists on Windows (there's no such distinction on other OSs) and might not even be available in some perl distributions.
In any case the interpreter executable can always be customized as described in the Wiki article [2], so you'll always be able to set the interpreter of your choice. This also allows you to test this change ahead of time and give feedback.
Cheers, Patrick
[1] https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/46 [2] http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Extension_Interpreters