Re^8: Why is it in some other popular languages fewer steps and potential issues when installing libraries no testing needed and no compilation of C/C++ code done

[Anonymous Monk]

in reply to Re^7: Why is it in some other popular languages fewer steps and potential issues when installing libraries no testing needed and no compilation of C/C++ code done
in thread Why are other popular languages very different from Perl when installing libraries, e.g. no testing needed and no compilation of C/C++ code done

Maybe I'm a little slow on the uptake or something but I don't see how an interactive cpan client this solves the problem. I was saying that a good solution would be something that would work automatically -- that is, without human intervention -- to download and compile some specified list of modules and log all errors on a particular target system.

All you have to do is not run cpan/cpanp/cpanm in interactive mode :)

Now, specifically, how could I accomplish that?

You configure cpan/cpanp/cpanm to

run non-interactive

keep logs

install modules in a certain perfix

...

then you run it, something like this:

set PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1
set PERL5_CPANPLUS_TEST_VERBOSE=1
set TEST_VERBOSE=1
set PERL5LIB=/home/user/stuff/lib/perl5
set PERL_MB_OPT=--install_base /home/user/stuff
set PERL_MM_OPT=INSTALL_BASE=/home/user/stuff
set PERL_CPANM_HOME=/home/user/stuff/.cpanm

cpan-outdated -p | cpanm

cat /home/user/stuff/.cpanm/build.log

[InfiniteSilence]

Crud! You know what I just realized...we can't really trust the tests that come from CPAN modules in all cases. Take the following example from GoogleProvisioningAPI:

Google-ProvisioningAPI-0.11/t/Google-ProvisioningAPI.t
# Before `make install' is performed this script should be runnable wi
+th
# `make test'. After `make install' it should work as `perl Google-Pro
+visioningA
PI.t'

#########################

# change 'tests => 1' to 'tests => last_test_to_print';

use Test::More tests => 1;
BEGIN { use_ok('Google::ProvisioningAPI') };

#########################

# Insert your test code below, the Test::More module is use()ed here s
+o read
# its man page ( perldoc Test::More ) for help writing this test scrip
+t.

That's it. Given such scant testing it is impossible to determine whether updates or changes to the module will break existing code.

[Anonymous Monk]

That's it. Given such scant testing it is impossible to determine whether updates or changes to the module will break existing code.

Um, that is why your existing code should include tests :)