Re: [patch] graceful exit from 'make test'

[Geoffrey Young <ge...@modperlcookbook.org>]

Stas Bekman wrote:
> The following patch, allows a graceful exit from 'make test' (so that
> CPAN.pm and other clients can continue w/ installation) if users fail to
> provide the path to httpd or running under root and we figure out that
> apache can't access the files w/ nobody (or some other user).
> 
> It prompts a user whether to continue, w/o completing 'make test',
> warning about possible implications. Should the user change his mind and
> continue, he will be returned to the point he has left at.
> 
> In the future we may consider a timeout as well (but I'm not sure if
> it's a good idea), instead we may add an env var which will optionally
> skip the test suite if something is not working.
> 
> Let me know if you like it. I'm sure most users will like it. And some
> developers may hate it ;)

but what's the point of having tests if the user installs without running them?

just kidding :)

well, you already know that I think a test suite that can't run is not the
same as failing tests, so anything you want to do that gets us closer to
that idea is fine with me.

and I think a timeout is a good idea - I'm always cursing when automated
scripts get hung up on prompts in the middle of the night, even if there are
ways of avoiding the prompt (like setting up environment variables).

--Geoff

Re: [patch] graceful exit from 'make test'

[Stas Bekman <st...@stason.org>]

Geoffrey Young wrote:
> 
> Stas Bekman wrote:
> 
>>The following patch, allows a graceful exit from 'make test' (so that
>>CPAN.pm and other clients can continue w/ installation) if users fail to
>>provide the path to httpd or running under root and we figure out that
>>apache can't access the files w/ nobody (or some other user).
>>
>>It prompts a user whether to continue, w/o completing 'make test',
>>warning about possible implications. Should the user change his mind and
>>continue, he will be returned to the point he has left at.
>>
>>In the future we may consider a timeout as well (but I'm not sure if
>>it's a good idea), instead we may add an env var which will optionally
>>skip the test suite if something is not working.
>>
>>Let me know if you like it. I'm sure most users will like it. And some
>>developers may hate it ;)
> 
> 
> but what's the point of having tests if the user installs without running them?
> 
> just kidding :)
> 
> well, you already know that I think a test suite that can't run is not the
> same as failing tests, so anything you want to do that gets us closer to
> that idea is fine with me.

Yes. I know that. I'm not happy about it and I haven't changed my mind, but 
users know better. Besides I don't want to waste time trying to explain to 
every user why they need to bother to create the right environment to run the 
tests.

> and I think a timeout is a good idea - I'm always cursing when automated
> scripts get hung up on prompts in the middle of the night, even if there are
> ways of avoiding the prompt (like setting up environment variables).

I thought about this. And I don't think this is should be the default 
behavior. My reasoning is this: If you start the test suite and then you have 
to leave, when you come back you may not want to have things automatically 
installed w/o being tested first. Just like you are annoyed when you get a 
prompt, others are annoyed when they weren't prompted, because they will 
forget (or even know) that they didn't test something and assume that 
everything that was installed, is 100% working.

Therefore I think that since most users install things very infrequently, they 
could bother to answer the prompt. For those users who install things all the 
time, and against many perl builds we need to provide tools avoiding prompts 
in first place. And therefore there is no need for the prompt timeout.

What's your take on this?

__________________________________________________________________
Stas Bekman            JAm_pH ------> Just Another mod_perl Hacker
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