I'm kind of with choedebeck here -- I'm unsure as to where you'd be unsure.

A passing test means "I expect the bit of functionality I just tested to work". A failing test means "I expect the bit of functionality I just tested to not work". A skipped test means "I couldn't tell if this bit of functionality will work for you or not".

On the other hand, I interpret the env vars bit the other way. If the env var is needed for the /test/, but not the /functionality being tested/, then you should skip, since you can't say anything about the functionality. For example, if you have a module that accesses an online service, and the normal way of giving it an account is to pass the username and password to new, you need to give some way of letting the tests get a username and password. Obviously, if you don't have a username and password, you can't test much in this hypothetical module, and thus won't know if it'd work or not if they did pass something to new. If they didn't, then they aren't using your module correctly, and there's little way to test against misuse.

Warning: Unless otherwise stated, code is untested. Do not use without understanding. Code is posted in the hopes it is useful, but without warranty. All copyrights are relinquished into the public domain unless otherwise stated. I am not an angel. I am capable of error, and err on a fairly regular basis. If I made a mistake, please let me know (such as by replying to this node).

In reply to Re: Skip Vs. Fail by theorbtwo
in thread Skip Vs. Fail by pileofrogs

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.