Re: [Perlunit-devel] XML Generating Test Runner

[Matthew A. <mc...@us...>]

On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 11:27:04AM +0100, Andrew Eland wrote:
> Matthew Astley wrote:

> >I was hoping damagecontrol might be something similar in Perl, but 
> >it's Java too.

Sorry, I don't know what made me think that.  Maybe something about
the look+feel?  But the install docs are at
http://damagecontrol.codehaus.org/Installing and they do mention Ruby
explicitly.

> damagecontrol positions itself as a cross language continuous
> integration platform, and it's actually written in Ruby. [...]

The install procedure sounds simple enough.  /me wonders whether Ruby
is installed at work...


> The runner's just a single module.

...and if the dependencies aren't met, it's not the end of the world?

I guess the selftests would fail, and this can be inconvenient for
installers (bug has been filed by Dave for t/try_examples.t).

I suspect CPAN packages don't support recommended dependencies, but I
haven't looked into that.

> It depends on Time::HiRes, 

I'm now quite fond of using this when it's available and falling back
on plain time() when it isn't, but it depends what you're up to.

> XML::Generator, and XML::XPath for the tests. XML::XPath's quite
> heavyweight, but I guess most people using Test::Unit will have it
> installed anyway.

Exactly.

> I'm happy for it to be part of Test::Unit proper, it seems the
> easiest way to go, if you don't mind the extra dependencies that is.
> 
> If anybody wants to look, you can grab the code from:
> http://www.andreweland.org/Test-Unit-Runner-Xml-0.1.tar.gz

Being part of: the "under the same terms as Perl itself" should be
sufficient.

I've unpacked it, will try to grab a roundtuit this weekend.


Apart from the trying it out, other things to do would be

- talk about it (if people turn up for talking)
- commit it (nice and easy)
- put the tests somewhere they won't break an install (probably a few
  hours hacking about)
- fix enough outstanding bugs to quiet the clamour of the users (!)
  (probably more talking required)
- make a release...  requires Piers' cooperation?


Andrew, are you keen to see your code release ASAP or is it just a
"make it available and people might find it handy" distribution?


Matthew  #8-)