Perl Version

Perl supports a lot more operating system platforms. Always use the latest perl version on your system. Currently latest perl version is 5.24.0.

If you have perl version older than 5.8.3, then CPAN latest version modules may not support your perl.

Perl Version Scheme

The following policy is used after the release of perl 5.6.

The maintenance branches which are ready for production use are even numbers (5.8, 5.10, 5.12, 5.14, etc).
The sub branches of maintenance releases (like 5.8.1, 5.8.2, 5.13.1, etc) are just for bug fixes.
The development branches are odd numbers (5.9, 5.11, 5.13, 5.15, etc).

The versions before 5.20 are no longer supported.

Operating System	Binaries	Sources
Unix/Linux	Perl may be already installed in a Unix system. Check it using perl -v command. Install latest perl version from ActiveState perl site.	Have a look at App::perlbrew to compile and manage perl from source. From perl source code, you can find more information about current perl releases.
Windows	Perl is not installed on windows by default.ActiveState perl site offers both free and commercially supported version. Strawberry perl is open-source perl for windows which is same as others and include CPAN modules rather than binary packages. DWIM perl for windows is open source perl for windows based on Strawberry perl. It includes as much as CPAN modules as possible. It comes with Padre, the Perl IDE.	Have a look at App::perlbrew to compile and manage perl from source.From perl source code, you can find more information about current perl releases.
Mac OS X	It already has perl installed. To find the version run perl -v command.Latest version of perl can get from ActiveState perl site.	Have a look at App::perlbrew to compile and manage perl from source.From perl source code, you can find more information about current perl releases.