Re^2: CPAN Smoke Tests: Some platforms are meant to be broken

[saintmike]

Right, and a module might just magically work on a platform that the author never intended it to function on. Or a new platform ("QuantComp128"), might spring into existence which it might work on, although the author never heard of it.

I like your idea of using "unsupported_platforms" meta info that lists platforms that the author knows the tests will fail on, but considers that normal or doesn't care.

    unsupported_platforms: 
      - Win32

would then alert the smokers to mark the appropriate column in the matrix specially and refrain from sending out emails to the authors with the failed test suite results, because the results are actually considered to be a fulfilled prophecy.

[tye]

I'd prefer the use of code to determine if the platform is unsupported over trying to standardize a data format for such declarations [for example, you might declare a platform as unsupported because it lacks the quantumflux.h file or because the quantumflux.h files does not define entangle() or because there is no /proc/torhock present].

Plus, the use of code to make such determinations is already supported, it just isn't documented sufficiently conveniently.