Re: is File::Tail usable on Windows ?

[PodMaster]

In the CPAN i read that tests failed just with MSWin32-x86-multi-thread. After downloading File::Tail from ActiveState i realized no Win32-IMPLEMENTATION-entry in th ppd-file. That's

That just seems a bit disconnected to me :) Why wouldn't you download the distribution from CPAN (maybe you need to read A Guide to Installing Modules)?

Did anybody of you implement File::Tail on a windows-System with AS-Perl 5.6.1?

Just because the test suite fails, doesn't mean the module won't work on a certain platform.

Worst case scenario, the module doesn't work, but most likely it's just that the tests are flawed (as it actually turns out in this case).

The fail report in question "is an error report generated automatically by CPANPLUS", meaning a person didn't actually examine the tests. A casual inspection reveals misguided equality tests (a test prints "0\n1\n2\n3\n4", then reads it back, no chomping is done(or binmode), then a string equiality test is used with "\n" -- not kosher). The tests in the File-Tail distribution need updating (looks as though the author has gone awol).

recommendation: go ahead and install the module, and see if you run into trouble in using it (the part of the module that was being tested appears to work).

Beyond that i'would be interested in a comfortable way of installing ppm-packets without webaccess

I wouldn't call it comfortable, but sure, see my readme (in my signature), follow the links (and their links) and read :) update: bart tyepo s/reccommend/recommend/

[RolandGunslinger]

Well, under Win32, I just grab the source from CPAN, and save it under the appropriate name under the particular directory in the \perl\lib directory tree. I don't use the CPAN shell in other words. I for one got File::Tail to work but I decided to hack up my own script because it didn't suit my needs exactly. Update I guess the question would be, should I use the CPAN shell under Win32? I use it on Linux all the time. Am I missing something by manually installing modules like I've been doing?

[PodMaster]

I guess the question would be, should I use the CPAN shell under Win32? I use it on Linux all the time.

Nope, i'd recommend that you use CPANPLUS (It's already better than CPAN, and it's still improving).

Am I missing something by manually installing modules like I've been doing?

Yes, you're missing everything (that is not how you install modules).

Because you don't know what you're missing is the number one reason you should stop doing that and start installing modules properly.

Module authors (the perl authors) create distributions, write INSTALL instructions, write Makefile.PLs, write test suites ... do all this work for their benefit and yours, it's just good software development. Don't you want to benefit from their work, collective knowledge, years of experience?

PS - regardless of how it sounds, I honestly hope you heed my advice (it's not really my advice per se, but it is good advice) :(

update: bart tyepo s/reccommend/recommend/