I wouldn't want a module to silently install the pure-perl code and claim success just because it tripped over some trivial, easily-fixed problem building the XS code

Well, that's a good point. Trying to automatically make it fast could just as easily fail and make it silently not-fast.

What about trying to detect presence of a functioning C compiler during Makefile.PL and then spitting out a dependency on the ::XS variant? Something like:

  1. If an environment variable says not to try XS, proceed with normal make
  2. Else, look for a C compiler and relevant tooling. If found, end the Makefile.PL with a dependency on MyModule::XS
  3. cpanm switches to installing MyModule::XS
  4. cpanm comes back and finishes installing MyModule.

Are there official methods to detect whether XS is supported by a Perl environment? I thought maybe I could find out whether Devel::CheckLib finds a compiler, but it appears that Devel::CheckLib probably can't be installed unless it does find a compiler. So I can't list Devel::CheckLib as a dependency for a module that I want to be installable on compiler-less perls.

Maybe I shouldn't worry about compiler-less perl environments? (are there any where a compiler *can't* be installed?) and just focus on making sure my module can work properly with fat-packing, since I think that is the main reason that people try to avoid XS dependencies?

In reply to Re^2: How to author a module with optional XS by NERDVANA
in thread How to author a module with optional XS by NERDVANA

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