In that case it is a non issue, as Test::Harness will exit abnormally if tests fail (cause that's what you're doing in with the fool's gold I provided above), and

sub test_harness {
    require Test::Harness;
    require File::Spec;

    $Test::Harness::verbose = shift;

    local @INC = @INC;
    unshift @INC, map { File::Spec->rel2abs($_) } @_;
    Test::Harness::runtests(sort { lc $a cmp lc $b } @ARGV);
}
[download]

From `perldoc Test::Harness', runtests ... It returns true if everything was ok. Otherwise it will die() with one of the messages in the DIAGNOSTICS section

update: chromatic I read the article (grrr). My suggestion was to use Test::Harness in test.pl via ExtUtils::Command::MM (see Re: MakeMaker and multiple test directories).

UPDATE: Convince yourself http://crazyinsomniac.perlmonk.org/perl/misc/DEATH-0.01.tar.gz

E:\dev\LOOSE\DEATH>tar -zxvf DEATH-0.01.tar.gz
DEATH-0.01/
DEATH-0.01/Changes
DEATH-0.01/DEATH.pm
DEATH-0.01/Makefile.PL
DEATH-0.01/MANIFEST
DEATH-0.01/META.yml
DEATH-0.01/mytests/
DEATH-0.01/mytests/01-load-This.t
DEATH-0.01/README
DEATH-0.01/test.pl

E:\dev\LOOSE\DEATH>cd DEATH-0.01

E:\dev\LOOSE\DEATH\DEATH-0.01>perl Makefile.PL
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for DEATH

E:\dev\LOOSE\DEATH\DEATH-0.01>nmake test

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility   Version 6.00.8168.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1988-1998. All rights reserved.

cp DEATH.pm blib\lib\DEATH.pm
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe "-Iblib\lib" "-Iblib\arch" test.pl
mytests/01-load-This....# Failed test 1 in mytests/01-load-This.t at l
+ine 4
#  mytests/01-load-This.t line 4 is: ok(0); # If we made it this far, 
+we're ok.
mytests/01-load-This....FAILED test 1
        Failed 1/1 tests, 0.00% okay
Failed Test            Stat Wstat Total Fail  Failed  List of Failed
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------
mytests/01-load-This.t                1    1 100.00%  1
Failed 1/1 test scripts, 0.00% okay. 1/1 subtests failed, 0.00% okay.
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe' : return code '0xff'
Stop.
[download]

MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"

I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).

** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.