Re: [PATCH] get_maintainer: lazy load JSON::PP only when --json is used

[Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2026 at 10:44:03PM +0100, Oleg Nesterov wrote:
>On 10/30, Joe Perches wrote:
>> Dunno.  Depending on the current failure output
>> maybe adding something like the below is better:
>>
>> use Module::Load::Conditional qw(check_install);
>>
>> if (!check_install(module => 'JSON:PP')) {
>>     die "$P: --json not available - missing perl module JSON:PP\n";
>> }
>
>But why? Why make get_maintainer.pl depend on yet another module?
>FYI, on my Fedora 44
>
>	$ perl -we 'use Module::Load::Conditional qw(check_install);'
>	Can't locate Module/Load/Conditional.pm in @INC (you may need to install the Module::Load::Conditional module) (@INC entries checked: /usr/local/lib64/perl5/5.42 /usr/local/share/perl5/5.42 /usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib64/perl5 /usr/share/perl5) at -e line 1.
>	BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at -e line 1.
>
>And for what ???
>
>If we want to "improve" the errmsg, we can use "eval { require JSON::PP; }; die ... if $@"
>but this looks absolutely pointless to me.
>
>
>Let me repeat. If JSON::PP is not installed, then get_maintainer.pl
>with --json:
>
>	fails the same way before or after this patch, I see nothing to improve.
>
>without --json:
>
>	fails before this patch, works after this patch
>
>
>Sorry, I really can't understand your concerns.

I think that Oleg's change makes sense. The only reason I originally relied on
JSON::PP was because I was under the impression that it falls under the "pure
perl code" guidelines and gets autoinstalled with perl.

-- 
Thanks,
Sasha