No new Perl code is being developed, so these tools are just taking up time and making migrations to newer platforms harder. There are only a few Perl tests remaining with full coverage so the coverage tool does not warn of loss of coverage in most cases.
Remove both tools and associated libraries.
Maintaining the storage layer/drivers in two languages is burdensome. Since the integration tests require the Perl storage layer/drivers we'll need them even after the core code is migrated to C. Create an interface layer so the Perl code can be removed and new storage drivers/features introduced without adding Perl equivalents.
The goal is to move the integration tests to C so this interface will eventually be removed. That being the case, the interface was designed for maximum compatibility to ease the transition. The result looks a bit hacky but we'll improve it as needed until it can be retired.
* More optimized container suite that greatly improves build time.
* Added static Debian packages for Devel::Cover to reduce build time.
* Add deprecated state for containers. Deprecated containers may only be used to build packages.
* Remove Debian 8 from CI because it does not provide additional coverage over Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04.
Refactor storage layer to allow for new repository filesystems using drivers. (Reviewed by Cynthia Shang.)
Refactor IO layer to allow for new compression formats, checksum types, and other capabilities using filters. (Reviewed by Cynthia Shang.)