How do I perform a dry run of a module installation ?

Let me propose something unconventional:

Create a virtual machine, and create a snapshot BEFORE the installation. Then do a cpan My::New::Module and watch it fail, crash and burn. Revert to the snapshot, fix the problems, and try again.

I did something very similar to get a custom application installed in the last century. My installer required a fully patched Windows 2000 server and a database. Everything after that (webserver, perl, modules, application) was installed by my installer. To test the installer, I used a virtual machine set up with W2K, DB and patches, took a snapshot, and watched my installer fail over and over again, reverting the VM after each fail. See Re: How do you distribute your Perl application to your customers? and Re^3: How do you distribute your Perl application to your customers?.

Alexander