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

I submitted a bad tarball to pause. I realised my mistake a few seconds later and then got an email from pause reaffirming my suspicions. Immediately, I tried submitting a valid tarball, but was bitch slapped by pause, which said that I couldn't submit two tarballs with the same name. Well, my next idea was to delete the bad tarball. So I clicked on the delete menu choice, saw my bad tarball, and tried to delete it. But I had to schedule the deletion, which cron would take care of in 3 days. Now I had to wait 3 days or I could just bump the version number of my module and resubmit it. However, I didn't want to do so. Why should I? I made a mistake and wanted to correct it. So I sat there, like a good Perl programmer, and waited the entire 3 days.

Then I visited pause again and to my satisfaction saw that the bad tarball was indeed gone. Okay, time to upload the module again. Bam! Smack! Got rejected! Same error: two tarballs with the same name is a no-no. But I thought I had deleted it. Apparently not. So, I then waited another 2 weeks, just in case the deletion needed to propagate (I am guessing here.) Tried uploading again and got the usual error. At this point, I bumped the version number. I wish I didn't have to . . . Any suggestions on what to do next time (other than make sure your tarball is valid)? I also tried the 'repair pending upload' link, but that didn't work at all. Thanks

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: PAUSE problem
by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Jan 16, 2004 at 15:00 UTC
    Once you have uploaded a file with a specific name, you can never ever upload a file with the same name. Period.

    Just increase the version number, that's the easiest way.

    I don't know what happens if you upload a module with the same version number, but in a different file. I don't really want to try either.

    Abigail

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Re: PAUSE problem
by asarih (Hermit) on Jan 16, 2004 at 15:09 UTC
    Did you read this passage from PAUSE? In particular, it says
    For security reasons you will never be able to upload a file with identical name again. This strict requirement does have one exception: documentation files may be overwritten.
    In other words, you have to bump up the version number if you make a mistake in uploading.

    Update: You don't have to, I guess, but what's in a version number anyway? As long as you don't go backwards (n.b., Adobe Illustrator) I couldn't care less.

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Re: PAUSE problem
by samtregar (Abbot) on Jan 16, 2004 at 16:31 UTC
    How did you end up with a "bad" tarball in the first place? Are you rolling your own? I suggest you get on the ExtUtils::MakeMaker train. Then you can: 

      make disttest
  make dist

    [download]

    and never have to worry again!

    -sam

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[d/l]
Re: PAUSE problem
by Anonymous Monk on Jan 16, 2004 at 23:25 UTC

    As a professional Configuration Manager I say always roll the version number. That is what they are there for. I have never understood this developer notion of trying to avoid incrementing version numbers.

    In your particular case If someone had downloaded the bodgy version and you did manage to insert your fixed version with the same version number then how would your victim's auto update software know that the release had been fixed?

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      I have never understood this developer notion of trying to avoid incrementing version numbers

      Oh thats easy. We are numerically inclined us developers. So when we see 2.2.0, 2.2.1, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.7 we immediately want to know what the hell happened to 2.2.2, 2.2.5 and 2.2.6. And when the answers is "well er, I, ah, well, you know screwed, ah, er, the tarball" we are inclined to think the less of the poor chap involved, even when secretly we know weve all done it at least once or twice ourselves.

      But you are of course correct. Bumping the version number is the right way to procede, but sometimes pshychology outweighs logic.


      ---
      demerphq

        First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
        -- Gandhi

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Re: PAUSE problem
by jacques (Priest) on Jan 16, 2004 at 16:38 UTC
    Why can't pause check if your tarball cuts the mustard before adding it to your directory? I know that this is our job, but at least pause won't collect anymore faulty files. Couldn't they add some Perl code that inspects the tarball after it has been upload and before it gets added to your directory?

    Also why does pause give me the option to delete files in my directory, when those files don't get deleted upon request? (I tried emailing the pause maintainer about this but got no response.)

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      (Completely off-topic, but the phrase is didn't cut muster, not didn't cut the mustard. To muster is to summon the troops or athletes or other group members; and those which fail the subsequent inspection are cut, or culled or rejected. This is the same as didn't make the cut.)

      Perl and English are both very idiomatic languages.

      (Back on topic.) Why the reticence to change a version number? It's a different version. The version you gave is broken, the new version is fixed. It's not a big deal if your 1.0.0.0.0.0 is broken; just upload that nice 1.1 and be happy.

      --
      [ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

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        Completely off-topic, but the phrase is didn't cut muster, not didn't cut the mustard.
        And completely untrue - well, maybe not untrue, but questionable ;)

        O. Henry coined the phrase "cut the mustard" in the early 1900's. Some linguists think that it's a corruption of "cut muster", but others think that it is about the mustard.

        Obligatory google link

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