Re: [Module::Build] [RFC] author tests

[Chris D. <ch...@cl...>]

On Feb 2, 2006, at 6:49 AM, David Golden wrote:

> Eric Wilhelm wrote:
>> I guess I'm undecided on this.  On the one hand, the *.ta  
>> convention is going to break the test juggler with which I've  
>> recently been experimenting, but on the other it means there is  
>> less 'whoami' code in the tests.  An example of my current whoami- 
>> based approach is below.
>
> My thought was that if someone wants to use *.ta files or a ta/*.t  
> directory, they can still do so by subclassing in Build.PL and  
> having a custom authortest action that includes those files.

Oh, sure, everything I've suggested in this thread *could* be done as  
Build.PL customization.  But the reason I brought this up was to try  
to achieve some consensus and find a Best Practice before the Cargo  
Cult started by Test::Pod takes a deeper hold.

I like the thought of having this as a feature in M::B because then  
it flattens the learning curve for a third party to mess with my  
author tests.  And as a corollary, I don't have to scratch my head as  
much when looking at someone else's author tests.

As a concrete example, take this standard pod.t:

   use Test::More;
   eval "use Test::Pod 1.14";
   plan skip_all => "Test::Pod 1.14 required for testing POD" if $@;
   all_pod_files_ok();

and rewrite as a hypothetical author test (I'm not advocating for  
"RUN_AUTHOR_TESTS" as a name):

   use Test::More;
   plan skip_all => "author test" if (!$ENV{RUN_AUTHOR_TESTS});
   eval 'use Test::Pod 1.14';
   all_pod_files_ok();

This is NOT simpler, but is slightly more standardizable since the  
first two lines could be identical for every author test.   
Additionally, the first one implies to the user that their Perl  
environment may be substandard without Test::Pod when really the lack  
of Test::Pod is really a performance benefit to them if they're not a  
developer!

Chris
-- 
Chris Dolan, Software Developer, Clotho Advanced Media Inc.
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