“No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away,” (Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett)
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Shadowcat co-founder, Matt S. Trout. Matt started Shadowcat Systems with Mark Keating in 2005 after a few years of each of them working for other people’s profit. In recent years Matt had taken a sabbatical from work and from his online community projects due to a battle with health. Matt was just 42 years old.
Sadly he was unable to return to the work that was his passion in life though he kept a strong interest in the modern world and was excited for how we might evolve the systems we all work with each day.
There are no further details to share at this time but you can drop a message to us via the usual channels.
This makes me sad. I had many good times with Matt, and some less than awesome times, but at moments like this, the good times bring a smile to my face. It makes me sad I will no longer be able to look forwardto any more good times.
It had been quite a few years since I last spoke with Matt. I’m saddened to hear of his passing and had hoped we’d cross paths again. He was a complicated individual, and polarizing, but I appreciated his candor even if it was calling me fat 🤣. His contributions to Perl/FOSS helped shape technology for so many people. He’ll be missed.
My first encounter with the Perl community, was connecting online with mst. I was going to be attending YAPC for the first time (Madison 2012), and was anxious about it. Matt was encouraging and welcoming…and when he found me in Madison, yanked me off my feet in the biggest hug I’ve ever had.
Rough around the edges? Absolutely, moreso than most of us. Infuriating, at times? Sure, for some folks–including me, occasionally. But Matt had a huge, huge heart for Perl and the community…I’ll miss him.
Too young to leave, but even in the short time allotted to him he left his mark as few have been able to do. Thank you mst, you made our travels in Perl so much more interesting.
Knowing Matt is knowing you cannot summarize him in a single comment. He was a pivotal figure in every sense of the word.
He was as much a mad hatter as he was maddening to work with, and he’ll be missed in ways that can’t even be articulated yet, because Matt was not one to be easily put into words.
Matt was an extraordinary talent: from being a child maths prodigy to a developer, maintainer and advisor on some of the most essential parts of what took the Perl development environment to the modern language it is today (and no, this is not the thread for you to argue with that assessment of Perl, so please don’t).
I owe Matt most of the last twenty years of my career: a couple of chance laments on the state of a codebase on my part led to (in his own inimitable way) some pointers from him to the way forward in Perl. That’s typical Matt – I often suspected that part of his means of determining whether people were worth his time and effort was to drop them crumbs and let them figure things out for themselves. Indeed, I suspect there are a lot of Perl projects out there that are the result of Matt planting some seeds and stepping back…
He was something of a controversial figure in the Perl community – I think some folk didn’t always ‘get’ him, and equally I think sometimes he didn’t necessarily do himself any favours. That said? I considered him a friend, if not that close, and had and will always have a heck of a lot of respect and awe for his talent and ability. His lightning talks at the London Perl Workshop were legendary, usually not being 100% serious, and involving entertainingly mad exploits of bits of Perl syntax and internals that most of his audience were just about following with bemused shakes of the head.
I know he didn’t necessarily grant respect easily: I am humbled to believe that he did like and respect me (and trusted me with the (virtual) keys to some of Shadowcat’s systems). He also (which those who didn’t know him beyond the public somewhat curmudgeonly developer persona would be surprised by) gave me some understanding, sympathetic and (being Matt) direct and practical advice about coping when my parents were ill in 2023, which I was very grateful for.
For showing up at Oslo Perl Mongers events, giving classes and doing the presentations only you could do.
For sharing with me some of your stories – always interesting – always something to learn from.
For teaching me (by showing, not telling) the trick of ending your sentences with “..because,” to help force oneself to be clearer in our communication.
For showing that creativity and craziness can work together productively, hand-in-hand, and create awesome results – if one allows oneself this freedom.
For showing that it’s fine to play and experiment, but that in the end, someone else is going to use these experiments and they deserve too.
For showing that you listened, long after the conversations were forgotten.
For demonstrating that anyone can change for the better, even after the stories have been written and told.
Thank you for everything, Matt, you will surely be missed.
Many great things in my life happened only because I’ve got infected by his energy. It’s sad that he wasn’t given more time, and it’s impressive – and appreciated – what he achieved in the time he was given.
I’ll remember him as the best one-man-rock-band of Perl. A unique and very special figure.
mst! Your name echoes across CPAN and every Perl place. I met you at my first conference, and since then your voice was always loudly distinguishable, heard from far away at every venue. Your talks were different, special, razor-sharp, avant-garde, pedantically tidy, and spiked with grunge humour.
You insisted on better abstractions and called us out, LOUDLY, when we shipped rubbish. Your ‘ES6: Almost an acceptable Perl5?’ trolled and taught; your ‘throw away your code’ mantra keeps us brave enough to refactor.
From DBIx::Class to the Moose metaprotocol, from CPAN mirrors to ‘well volunteered’ drive-bys, the waves you kicked up still power library systems worldwide, including the Koha/Perl stack my team is spreading today.
Your contributions live on: DBIx::Class, Catalyst, Moose MOP, local::lib, Task::Kensho, mstpan, Devel::Declare, B::Hooks, Plack/PSGI evangelism, Shadowcat infrastructure, Reaction UI, SQL::Translator patches, MooseX ecosystem, Devel::REPL, and more!
I considered MST to be a friend. He will be missed greatly. Without his support and advocacy Test2 may never have happened. I did not always feel this way, when we first started interacting on IRC I thought he was an asshole, but our relationship developed to the point where I considered him a friend and treasure for the community.
I have also never met someone who worked so hard to have so much growth as a person. He recognized how he rubbed people the wrong way at times, and made the effort to change and become a better person. The MST he was at the end was different from the person he was at the beginning, because he decided who and how he wanted to be, and made the effort to become that person. More people need that strength, and he was an inspiration.
Matt was not just a brilliant mind but a force of kindness, wit, and unwavering passion. His contributions to Perl, open source, and the tech community at large were monumental, but those who knew him personally will remember something even greater—his generosity, his humor, and the way he made people feel seen.
To his family and closest friends: we cannot fathom the depth of your loss. Please know that the ripples of Matt’s work, his words, and his warmth have touched countless lives across the globe. He built bridges—between code and people, between ideas and reality—and his legacy will endure in every line of Perl, every shared laugh, and every moment he spent lifting others up.
Rest easy, mst. You were one of a kind, and you will be fiercely missed.
If there’s any comfort to be found, it’s in the community that loved him—and the fact that, thanks to him, none of us will ever walk alone.
Only just found out about this sad news. Matt was a force of nature and I really enjoyed his talks at FLOSSUK over the years, along with the post-conference chat in the pub. He will be sorely missed.
Absolutely gutted to hear about Matt (mst). He was a true powerhouse in the Perl world—brilliant, blunt, and endlessly generous with his time. I learned so much from him, directly and indirectly. His guidance shaped a lot of the code—and thinking—that’s still with me today. We lost a giant far too soon. Rest in peace, and thank you!
I’m so sad to learn that. Matt was such a unique character. I remember multiple fun discussions with him.
We had some great time in Orlando together.
Matt was a great speaker, no, an amazing speaker and he would never let his audience neutral after his talk.
I now understand better why I was not able to cross him recently, but Matt really marks me for life.
I want to pay my respects to Matt S. Trout, a person I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times in person, and whose impact on me has been significant.
I, like many others, have had the privilege of being on the receiving end of his passionate and sometimes fiery guidance. I have to admit that his, shall we say, colorful language took some getting used to at first. But it quickly became apparent that his strong opinions were a reflection of his deep commitment to the causes he cared about.
I’ll remember his distinctive style, british, loud, long-haired, kilt wearing, full of wits and stories and the unwavering conviction with which he expressed himself.
Even if his approach sometimes caught me off guard, I came to appreciate the kindness and generosity that lay beneath his tough exterior.
His legacy lives on through the countless people he’s inspired and helped along the way.
I am very sorry to hear about mst’s passing. I have very vivid memories of his always passionate talks, and I appreciate his tireless enthusiasm and engagement. perl -E ‘say q[rest in peace]’
This is profoundly sad news. Matt was a Tcl programmer as well, and I am glad I met him through #tcl on what was then freenode. In recent years, he showed up on Libera.Chat more and more rarely, but I hoped he’d come back. Many people who only knew him online, on IRC networks he helped run, are going to miss mst.
MST kept me abreast of his shenanigans, pets, bourbon, and drama on the IRC. He proofread my code for free. I use so many of the Perl modules he invented. Here’s to you Matt! Cheers mate! 🥃
Wow, this is really sad news. When I attended a YAPC where MST was speaking, I would always make sure to see his talks. He never needed a microphone and his passion was infectious. He may have been over the top at times, but he was also inspiring, welcoming, and kind. MST, you will be missed.
Heartbroken to hear this news. When I first interacted with him online I felt a bit intimidated, but over the years after we’ve met countless times in real life, I came to appreciate his friendliness, passion and humor. He’ll be missed.
My first encounter with Matt was seeking help in the old Freenode #perl for an oddity in Redhat’s perl interacting with a bug in Test-Simple. Brusque to be sure, he was ever focused on finding and fixing the root cause, and put me on the path to managing perls to my own preference. I am grateful to have met him however briefly at the 2019 PTS, and found his passion and brashness was certainly authentic. He had uncountable impact on the Perl communities, for better and worse, but that which I will most remember is how he always pushed for things to get done, if not by him then others who were invested in the problem, because he knew that in open source and in life, problems only get solved when someone puts in the work to fix it properly.
40 Responses
This makes me sad. I had many good times with Matt, and some less than awesome times, but at moments like this, the good times bring a smile to my face. It makes me sad I will no longer be able to look forwardto any more good times.
Although Matt and I disagreed on a *lot*, I’m sorry to hear that he has passed away at such a young age. Best wishes to all who loved him.
It had been quite a few years since I last spoke with Matt. I’m saddened to hear of his passing and had hoped we’d cross paths again. He was a complicated individual, and polarizing, but I appreciated his candor even if it was calling me fat 🤣. His contributions to Perl/FOSS helped shape technology for so many people. He’ll be missed.
My first encounter with the Perl community, was connecting online with mst. I was going to be attending YAPC for the first time (Madison 2012), and was anxious about it. Matt was encouraging and welcoming…and when he found me in Madison, yanked me off my feet in the biggest hug I’ve ever had.
Rough around the edges? Absolutely, moreso than most of us. Infuriating, at times? Sure, for some folks–including me, occasionally. But Matt had a huge, huge heart for Perl and the community…I’ll miss him.
Too young to leave, but even in the short time allotted to him he left his mark as few have been able to do. Thank you mst, you made our travels in Perl so much more interesting.
He created some good ripples for me that continue to live on. Thank you mst! May your next journey be all that you could hope for and more.
I already missed his energy. Very disappointed we won’t see it again. Thank you for sharing this difficult news.
Knowing Matt is knowing you cannot summarize him in a single comment. He was a pivotal figure in every sense of the word.
He was as much a mad hatter as he was maddening to work with, and he’ll be missed in ways that can’t even be articulated yet, because Matt was not one to be easily put into words.
<3
A loss for sure. So sad. Peace and prayers to his family and friends.
only the good die young – rip Matt
Matt was an extraordinary talent: from being a child maths prodigy to a developer, maintainer and advisor on some of the most essential parts of what took the Perl development environment to the modern language it is today (and no, this is not the thread for you to argue with that assessment of Perl, so please don’t).
I owe Matt most of the last twenty years of my career: a couple of chance laments on the state of a codebase on my part led to (in his own inimitable way) some pointers from him to the way forward in Perl. That’s typical Matt – I often suspected that part of his means of determining whether people were worth his time and effort was to drop them crumbs and let them figure things out for themselves. Indeed, I suspect there are a lot of Perl projects out there that are the result of Matt planting some seeds and stepping back…
He was something of a controversial figure in the Perl community – I think some folk didn’t always ‘get’ him, and equally I think sometimes he didn’t necessarily do himself any favours. That said? I considered him a friend, if not that close, and had and will always have a heck of a lot of respect and awe for his talent and ability. His lightning talks at the London Perl Workshop were legendary, usually not being 100% serious, and involving entertainingly mad exploits of bits of Perl syntax and internals that most of his audience were just about following with bemused shakes of the head.
I know he didn’t necessarily grant respect easily: I am humbled to believe that he did like and respect me (and trusted me with the (virtual) keys to some of Shadowcat’s systems). He also (which those who didn’t know him beyond the public somewhat curmudgeonly developer persona would be surprised by) gave me some understanding, sympathetic and (being Matt) direct and practical advice about coping when my parents were ill in 2023, which I was very grateful for.
The world is a poorer place without him in it.
Thank you Matt, for all the things you did.
For showing up at Oslo Perl Mongers events, giving classes and doing the presentations only you could do.
For sharing with me some of your stories – always interesting – always something to learn from.
For teaching me (by showing, not telling) the trick of ending your sentences with “..because,” to help force oneself to be clearer in our communication.
For showing that creativity and craziness can work together productively, hand-in-hand, and create awesome results – if one allows oneself this freedom.
For showing that it’s fine to play and experiment, but that in the end, someone else is going to use these experiments and they deserve too.
For showing that you listened, long after the conversations were forgotten.
For demonstrating that anyone can change for the better, even after the stories have been written and told.
Thank you for everything, Matt, you will surely be missed.
Sorry to hear this news.
Condolences.
Many great things in my life happened only because I’ve got infected by his energy. It’s sad that he wasn’t given more time, and it’s impressive – and appreciated – what he achieved in the time he was given.
I’ll remember him as the best one-man-rock-band of Perl. A unique and very special figure.
Rest in peace
I’m truly saddened by this news. I only had the chance to meet Matt once, but he left a lasting impression.
Rest in peace, Matt. I learned a lot from you, even though we never met.
No words feel right
Just https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muOJBYcM85g
Goodbye, old friend 😿
No words feel right
Just https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muOJBYcM85g
Goodbye, old friend 😿
mst! Your name echoes across CPAN and every Perl place. I met you at my first conference, and since then your voice was always loudly distinguishable, heard from far away at every venue. Your talks were different, special, razor-sharp, avant-garde, pedantically tidy, and spiked with grunge humour.
You insisted on better abstractions and called us out, LOUDLY, when we shipped rubbish. Your ‘ES6: Almost an acceptable Perl5?’ trolled and taught; your ‘throw away your code’ mantra keeps us brave enough to refactor.
From DBIx::Class to the Moose metaprotocol, from CPAN mirrors to ‘well volunteered’ drive-bys, the waves you kicked up still power library systems worldwide, including the Koha/Perl stack my team is spreading today.
Your contributions live on: DBIx::Class, Catalyst, Moose MOP, local::lib, Task::Kensho, mstpan, Devel::Declare, B::Hooks, Plack/PSGI evangelism, Shadowcat infrastructure, Reaction UI, SQL::Translator patches, MooseX ecosystem, Devel::REPL, and more!
Rest in code and commits, Shadowcat Matt.
I considered MST to be a friend. He will be missed greatly. Without his support and advocacy Test2 may never have happened. I did not always feel this way, when we first started interacting on IRC I thought he was an asshole, but our relationship developed to the point where I considered him a friend and treasure for the community.
I have also never met someone who worked so hard to have so much growth as a person. He recognized how he rubbed people the wrong way at times, and made the effort to change and become a better person. The MST he was at the end was different from the person he was at the beginning, because he decided who and how he wanted to be, and made the effort to become that person. More people need that strength, and he was an inspiration.
A Tribute to Matt S. Trout (mst)
The world feels a little dimmer today.
Matt was not just a brilliant mind but a force of kindness, wit, and unwavering passion. His contributions to Perl, open source, and the tech community at large were monumental, but those who knew him personally will remember something even greater—his generosity, his humor, and the way he made people feel seen.
To his family and closest friends: we cannot fathom the depth of your loss. Please know that the ripples of Matt’s work, his words, and his warmth have touched countless lives across the globe. He built bridges—between code and people, between ideas and reality—and his legacy will endure in every line of Perl, every shared laugh, and every moment he spent lifting others up.
Rest easy, mst. You were one of a kind, and you will be fiercely missed.
If there’s any comfort to be found, it’s in the community that loved him—and the fact that, thanks to him, none of us will ever walk alone.
MST introduced me to Sufficiently Advanced T-Shirts (Technology) in true good humour. He’s an inspiration.
Rest in Peace, Matt 🙁
Only just found out about this sad news. Matt was a force of nature and I really enjoyed his talks at FLOSSUK over the years, along with the post-conference chat in the pub. He will be sorely missed.
Absolutely gutted to hear about Matt (mst). He was a true powerhouse in the Perl world—brilliant, blunt, and endlessly generous with his time. I learned so much from him, directly and indirectly. His guidance shaped a lot of the code—and thinking—that’s still with me today. We lost a giant far too soon. Rest in peace, and thank you!
I’m so sad to learn that. Matt was such a unique character. I remember multiple fun discussions with him.
We had some great time in Orlando together.
Matt was a great speaker, no, an amazing speaker and he would never let his audience neutral after his talk.
I now understand better why I was not able to cross him recently, but Matt really marks me for life.
Such a Hacker!
Love you Matt!
Everyone remembers their first interaction with mst. He was a true legend who is gone too soon.
I want to pay my respects to Matt S. Trout, a person I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times in person, and whose impact on me has been significant.
I, like many others, have had the privilege of being on the receiving end of his passionate and sometimes fiery guidance. I have to admit that his, shall we say, colorful language took some getting used to at first. But it quickly became apparent that his strong opinions were a reflection of his deep commitment to the causes he cared about.
I’ll remember his distinctive style, british, loud, long-haired, kilt wearing, full of wits and stories and the unwavering conviction with which he expressed himself.
Even if his approach sometimes caught me off guard, I came to appreciate the kindness and generosity that lay beneath his tough exterior.
His legacy lives on through the countless people he’s inspired and helped along the way.
I’m sorry to hear this news, my condolences to the family. Mst was a unique indivdual, and he definitely had an impact on Perl and the Perl community.
I am very sorry to hear about mst’s passing. I have very vivid memories of his always passionate talks, and I appreciate his tireless enthusiasm and engagement. perl -E ‘say q[rest in peace]’
Very sad to learn of him passing on way too early.
He struck me several times as a very passionate, driven, and intelligent person.
My sincere condolences.
Wishing strength and courage to the family, friends, and colleagues.
This is profoundly sad news. Matt was a Tcl programmer as well, and I am glad I met him through #tcl on what was then freenode. In recent years, he showed up on Libera.Chat more and more rarely, but I hoped he’d come back. Many people who only knew him online, on IRC networks he helped run, are going to miss mst.
Rest in peace, friend.
MST kept me abreast of his shenanigans, pets, bourbon, and drama on the IRC. He proofread my code for free. I use so many of the Perl modules he invented. Here’s to you Matt! Cheers mate! 🥃
Wow, this is really sad news. When I attended a YAPC where MST was speaking, I would always make sure to see his talks. He never needed a microphone and his passion was infectious. He may have been over the top at times, but he was also inspiring, welcoming, and kind. MST, you will be missed.
I learned quite a bit from MST when he would help with questions on IRC. Rest in Peace
Heartbroken to hear this news. When I first interacted with him online I felt a bit intimidated, but over the years after we’ve met countless times in real life, I came to appreciate his friendliness, passion and humor. He’ll be missed.
RIP 💔
My first encounter with Matt was seeking help in the old Freenode #perl for an oddity in Redhat’s perl interacting with a bug in Test-Simple. Brusque to be sure, he was ever focused on finding and fixing the root cause, and put me on the path to managing perls to my own preference. I am grateful to have met him however briefly at the 2019 PTS, and found his passion and brashness was certainly authentic. He had uncountable impact on the Perl communities, for better and worse, but that which I will most remember is how he always pushed for things to get done, if not by him then others who were invested in the problem, because he knew that in open source and in life, problems only get solved when someone puts in the work to fix it properly.