IMHO (and I have made software and hardware QA my business :) it looks like the problem here is that the test scope is pointed in the wrong direction.

I would hope that all of these tests are being run on as many platforms as are available BEFORE the code is ever downloaded. It seems to me that these tests should be a small, basic subset of the major test suites, and...

...Here's the kicker...

...should be testing that the module has INSTALLED properly, and the basics work as expected on that platform!

22,000 tests is not the basics, it is rather excessive for testing if the installation was successful. Having an option to run all 22,000 tests? Sure, someone might need to know the results of that for various reasons, and if they have the requirement to get that knowlege they will hopefully have the patience to get it.

I would really encourage people to ship as many of their tests as possible with the modules and packages, and even have instructions on how to run them, the debugging benifits are obvious. But please not as an install test, an install test should test exactly that, was the installation successful?

Scope is a very important thing to keep in mind when applying testing to anything. Just because you can and do execute these tests, does not mean they are appropriate for every place that testing is required.

How would you feel if every test ever written for your OS was executed every time the computer booted? or even every time you did an install?

"Nothing is sure but death and taxes" I say combine the two and its death to all taxes!

In reply to Re: Skip tests if/unless $ENV{FOO} is set using Test::More by Rex(Wrecks)
in thread Skip tests if/unless $ENV{FOO} is set using Test::More by merlyn

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