AppVeyor failing to build/test CPAN distro

jkeenan1 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I am doing my annual revision and upload of an income-tax-related CPAN module. For testing on Windows (to which I myself don't have access), this year I added an AppVeyor configuration file (.appveyor.yml) essentially cloned from one of existing AppVeyor config files.

$ cat .appveyor.yml 
version: 1.0.{build}

branches:
  except:
    - /travis/
skip_tags: true

cache:
  - C:\strawberry -> .appveyor.yml

install:
  - if not exist "C:\strawberry" cinst strawberryperl
  - set PATH=C:\strawberry\perl\bin;C:\strawberry\perl\site\bin;C:\str
+awberry\c\bin;%PATH%
  - cd C:\projects\%APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME%
  - cpanm --installdeps .

build_script:
  - perl Makefile.PL
  - gmake

test_script:
  - gmake test TEST_VERBOSE=1

notifications:
  - provider: Email
    to:
    - jkeenan@cpan.org
    on_build_status_changed: true
[download]

However, the AppVeyor process repeatedly fails. Here's the relevant part of the output:

StrawberryPerl v5.40.0.1 [Approved]
strawberryperl package files install completed. Performing other insta
+llation steps.
Downloading strawberryperl 64 bit
  from 'https://github.com/StrawberryPerl/Perl-Dist-Strawberry/release
+s/download/SP_54001_64bit_UCRT/strawberry-perl-5.40.0.1-64bit.msi'
Progress: 100% - Completed download of C:\Users\appveyor\AppData\Local
+\Temp\1\chocolatey\StrawberryPerl\5.40.0.1\strawberry-perl-5.40.0.1-6
+4bit.msi (196.43 MB).
Download of strawberry-perl-5.40.0.1-64bit.msi (196.43 MB) completed.
Hashes match.
Installing strawberryperl...
strawberryperl has been installed.
  strawberryperl may be able to be automatically uninstalled.
Environment Vars (like PATH) have changed. Close/reopen your shell to
 see the changes (or in powershell/cmd.exe just type `refreshenv`).
 The install of strawberryperl was successful.
  Software installed to 'C:\Strawberry\'
Chocolatey installed 1/1 packages. 
 See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.lo
+g).
set PATH=C:\strawberry\perl\bin;C:\strawberry\perl\site\bin;C:\strawbe
+rry\c\bin;%PATH%
cd C:\projects\%APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME%
The system cannot find the path specified.
Command exited with code 1
[download]

If I download the log.txt file from this run, the last 10 to 12 lines match the tail of the output above.

My other distros using .appveyor.yml configuration files build and test as expected, so I am at a lost as to explain why this one does not. Any suggestions?

Comment on AppVeyor failing to build/test CPAN distro Select or Download Code

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Re: AppVeyor failing to build/test CPAN distro by swl (Prior) on Feb 21, 2025 at 03:54 UTC
What does `echo C:\projects\%APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME%` produce? One possibility is that the CI is running under powershell, which uses a perl-like syntax for variables. The config does not specify the shell, but maybe it is in the system setup. The `cd` call also might also not be needed if the system is already in the project dir. (Edited typo) (Some of the above was cribbed from https://help.appveyor.com/discussions/problems/10635-cant-cd-to-appveyor_build_folder).	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: AppVeyor failing to build/test CPAN distro by jkeenan1 (Deacon) on Feb 21, 2025 at 11:44 UTC
I don't have a terminal at which to echo that command. The only way I know how to use AppVeyor is what I'm provided with at ci.appveyor.com.	[reply]
Re^3: AppVeyor failing to build/test CPAN distro by pryrt (Abbot) on Feb 21, 2025 at 15:33 UTC
In recent years, my windows-based test has been focused on GHActions rather than AppVeyor, but many of my older projects still have the AppVeyor setup. swl said, One possibility is that the CI is running under powershell As the "cribbed" source says, AppVeyor defaults to cmd for its script, and you have to prefix powershell scripts with `ps:` . So , since jkeenan1's `cat` shows no `ps` prefixes, I don't think that's the problem. (In the "cribbed" question, the questioner was specifically doing the `cd` in a `- ps: cd ...` command, so needed to use powershell syntax.) swl said, The `cd` call also might also not be needed if the system is already in the project dir. I just checked a handful of my .appveyor.yml files, and none of them needs a `cd` to properly work. So I would agree with this advice. However, AppVeyor's env-var docs claim that `%APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME%` is the correct name for that variable. I haven't printed that variable in a while (if ever), so I concur with swl's advice: jkeenan1 may want to echo both that variable, and I will add the suggestion for also echoing the `%APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%` mentioned in the "cribbed" source, because it doesn't make sense to me that the `cd` isn't working -- I thought momentarily that it might be because the variable value is lowercase whereas the directory might really be uppercase (or vice versa), but this is Windows, so case should be irrelevant. So even if the `cd` is not needed, I am still curious why it isn't working. jkeenan1 said, I don't have a terminal at which to echo that command. I believe you misunderstood swl's echo advice: you can add commands your your .appveyor.yml to do the echo, and then re-run the CI. Change your "install" section to: `install: - if not exist "C:\strawberry" cinst strawberryperl - set PATH=C:\strawberry\perl\bin;C:\strawberry\perl\site\bin;C:\str +awberry\c\bin;%PATH% - echo cd C:\projects\%APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME% - echo %APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER% - echo %CD% - cpanm --installdeps .` [download] I think this will do two things: 1) assuming that the echo commands don't cause the "install" step to fail, it should show that the `cd` isn't needed, since my version of the "install" step doesn't actually execute the `cd`, and (2) it will show the current values of those environment variables, if it's needed for future debugging. update: I tried an .appveyor.yml that includes those three echoes I showed (among other things), with the AppVeyor results showing that echoing `C:\projects\%APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME%` and `%APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%` and `%CD%` all give the same value for my repository ("avtest") . So, unless jkeenan1 has something weird in the project name, I see no reason why the cd wouldn't've worked, which is exceedingly confusing to me.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: AppVeyor failing to build/test CPAN distro by syphilis (Archbishop) on Feb 21, 2025 at 13:37 UTC
Environment Vars (like PATH) have changed. Close/reopen your shell to see the changes (or in powershell/cmd.exe just type `refreshenv`). AIUI, `APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME` is an "Environment Var". Is there anything in the outputs (to which you have access) that indicates what `APPVEYOR_PROJECT_NAME` has been set to ? Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l] [select]