author tests: no more pointless test failures?

The latest release of CPAN::Mini needs to be replaced, because it contains stupid OS X 10.5 resource fork crap. That’s not why I’m going to replace it, though.

It also had a t/perl-critic.t file to check things against my Perl::Critic config. To keep other people from thinking things are busted, I put this in place:

if ($ENV{PERL_TEST_CRITIC}) {
  if (eval { require Test::Perl::Critic }) {
    Test::Perl::Critic::all_critic_ok();
  } else {
    plan skip_all => "couldn't load Test::Perl::Critic";
  }
} else {
  plan skip_all => "define PERL_TEST_CRITIC to run these tests";
}

Then, today, I got test failure report because somebody else happened to have that environment variable set. Oops! I could make more and more elaborate tests, but that just seems like a long battle with FAIL waiting to happen.

I’ve actually had this problem a few times, and it seemed like a nice solution would be the idea of an “extra tests” directory. This came up a few times on the perl-qa mailing list, and it seemed like a great 90% solution.

Today, I combined my problem, this idea, and my long-standing desire to write a Module::Install plugin. I uploaded Module::Install::AuthorTests earlier this evening.

Basically, it lets you add a line like this to your Makefile.PL (assuming that you use Module::Install):

author_tests('xt');

Then, if you’re “the author” the tests are run during make test. If you’re not, they aren’t.

Module::Install has a pretty simple idea of whether you’re the author. If an ./inc directory doesn’t exist when you run the Makefile.PL, one is created, and all the required Module::Install code it put into it. Then, a directory is created called ./inc/author. If that directory exists, you’re the author. If it doesn’t – because ./inc existed already when you ran the Makefile.PL, because you got the whole thing in a tarball from the CPAN – then you are not the author.

So, for someone’s smokebot to run my author tests, they’ll need to create a directory in the unpacked dist before running the Makefile.PL. I think I’m safe.

Further, moving pod-coverage.t and friends to ./xt looks like it won’t affect my kwalitee rating at CPANTS. A look at Module-CPANTS-Analyse makes it look like it will find the tests with no problem, but I won’t have to worry about every old smoker on the internet running them and telling me that I forgot a =back when I didn’t.

I think just about all my dists will get new releases in the next few weeks.

I really need to start using ShipIt or Joseki or something. I’m afraid I will end up writing my own. I should update my Module::Starter templates, too, which are wildly out of date with how I actually construct dists, now.

For now, though, I’m really happy with this plugin. Hooray!

Written on February 25, 2008
🐫 perl
🧑🏽‍💻 programming