Re: [Module::Build] ask() and you will receive

[Randy W. S. <ml...@th...>]

Randy W. Sims wrote:
> Ken Williams wrote:
> 
>> On Apr 14, 2006, at 4:44 AM, Randy W. Sims wrote:
>>
>>> +
>>> +=item default   [required]
>>> +
>>> +This is the default value that will be used if the user presses
>>> +E<lt>enterE<gt> or if running an unattended build.
>>> +
>>> +The value assigned to C<default> may be different from the options
>>> +listed in the C<options> argument.
>>
>>
>> I think I'm about to blaspheme, but I think sometimes we shouldn't 
>> require there to be a default.
>>
>> /me ducks
>>
>> Sometimes there's simply no way to build & test & install a module 
>> without user intervention.  For example, Inline::Java asks you to tell 
>> it where the J2SDK installation is, and there's no default.
>>
>> If we changed the error message to something appropriate, I think we 
>> could handle this case gracefully, both here and in y_n().  Something 
>> like:
>>
>>   if ( $ENV{PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT} && !$def ) {
>>     die <<EOF;
>> ERROR: PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT is in effect, but there is no default 
>> value.  Aborting.
>> EOF
>>   }
>>
>> It might be nice to note this fact in the META.yml file, using a flag 
>> like 'interactive_install' or something, so that automated testers 
>> don't even try to download & build the distro.
>>
>> For a distro that really requires interaction like this, the author 
>> could work around our proposed required 'default' by setting 'default' 
>> to undef and then die()ing with their own error message if prompt() or 
>> y_n() or ask() returned undef, but why not provide them with the 
>> appropriate sugar?
> 
> 
> Here's a rough rough patch to implement something along those lines, I 
> think. Rough day, my brains not working well, and somehow this simple 
> little input routine has become one of the largest routines in M::B, so 
> I'd appreciate feedback. All names, behaviors, and every last byte 
> subject to change.

Anyone have a chance to look over that patch? Does it do the right 
thing? Is it the behavior that was desired, and is it sensisble?

Randy.