Re^5: [RFC] Module code and POD for CPAN - Testing env vars

[hippo]

the environment variable (on Strawberry Perl at least) is RELEASE_TESTING and not AUTHOR_TESTING

These are both useful environment variables and they have subtly different uses.

AUTHOR_TESTING should be set only by the author (or maintainer). There are any number of reasons to run author-only tests but these might include tests which run against some sample data set or server application to which only the author has access, etc. But they can also be used for simple tests which the users don't care about such as POD coverage, POD spell checks, etc..

RELEASE_TESTING is for tests run just prior to release. Usually by the author again but these may be the sorts of things that even the author doesn't care about when hacking on the actual code. It is handy for meta-data tests: did you remember to bump the version number, is the Kwalitee OK, etc.

There is also AUTOMATED_TESTING which allows skipping of anything requiring user interaction - handy for CI and the smoke testers.

These three along with NONINTERACTIVE_TESTING and EXTENDED_TESTING are explained in the Lancaster Consensus. It is well worth a read through.

In your case here there is also the important NO_NETWORK_TESTING which, if set, should prohibit anything relying on internet access such as real communications with the Stripe servers.