Update: My solution here is not cross-platform. See AnonyMonk's post Re^2: Makefile.PL Question for details as to why.

# original post

This might be very far off, so I'll let other Monks intervene if this is a bad idea, but I just tried adding symlink('apps', 't'); to the top of a Makefile.PL of one of my modules, and things seemed to go ok:

$ cat Makefile.PL

# Note: this file was auto-generated by Module::Build::Compat version 
+0.4214
require 5.006;
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;

symlink('apps', 't'); # <-- *** I added this line ***

WriteMakefile
(
  'PL_FILES' => {},
  'EXE_FILES' => [],
  'NAME' => 'Devel::Examine::Subs',
  'INSTALLDIRS' => 'site',
  'VERSION_FROM' => 'lib/Devel/Examine/Subs.pm',
  'PREREQ_PM' => {
                   'File::Find' => 0,
                   'Data::Dumper' => 0,
                   'Tie::File' => 0,
                   'Carp' => 0,
                   'Test::Trap' => 0,
                   'Test::More' => 0,
                   'PPI' => 0
                 }
)
;
[download]

Output:

steve@spek ~/devel $ hg clone https://spek@bitbucket.org/spek/devel-ex
+amine-subs

...

steve@spek ~/devel $ cd devel-examine-subs/

steve@spek ~/devel/devel-examine-subs $ mv t apps

steve@spek ~/devel/devel-examine-subs $ vi Makefile.PL 

# added the said symlink code here

steve@spek ~/devel/devel-examine-subs $ perl Makefile.PL

Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Generating a Unix-style Makefile
Writing Makefile for Devel::Examine::Subs
Writing MYMETA.yml and MYMETA.json

# make test

steve@spek ~/devel/devel-examine-subs $ make && make test

cp lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/Preprocessor.pm blib/lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/
+Preprocessor.pm
cp lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/Engine.pm blib/lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/Engine
+.pm
cp lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/Sub.pm blib/lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/Sub.pm
cp lib/Devel/Examine/Subs.pm blib/lib/Devel/Examine/Subs.pm
cp lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/Prefilter.pm blib/lib/Devel/Examine/Subs/Pre
+filter.pm
Manifying 4 pod documents
PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 "/usr/bin/perl" "-MExtUtils::Command::MM" "-MTest::H
+arness" "-e" "undef *Test::Harness::Switches; test_harness(0, 'blib/l
+ib', 'blib/arch')" t/*.t
t/00-load.t ................................ 1/20 # Testing Devel::Exa
+mine::Subs 1.28, Perl 5.022000, /usr/bin/perl
t/00-load.t ................................ ok     
t/01-internal.t ............................ ok   
t/02-has.t ................................. 1/26 ^Cmake: *** [test_dy
+namic] Interrupt

# seems to work
[download]

Is that what you were after?

-stevieb