Re^2: Perl6 - Module::Build

No user interaction without defaults
No loops, or at least no possibly infinite loops when the installation is not run interactively

Could you please elaborate on these points? What situation(s) are you trying to avoid? Those sound like experience-based rules ...

In general, if you think something isn't in Perl, try it out, because it usually is. :-)
"What is the sound of Perl? Is it not the sound of a wall that people have stopped banging their heads against?"

Comment on Re^2: Perl6 - Module::Build

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Re^3: Perl6 - Module::Build by Corion (Patriarch) on May 28, 2005 at 20:08 UTC
I run CPAN smoke tests, and the `alarm()` call has problems on Win32 Perl, so Makefile.PL does not get timed out when doing a CPAN smoke. Both rules have been evolved from the broken Makefile.PL that is the tradition of `mod_perl`, which dives into an infinite loop asking me for the location of `httpd`, over and over again, without a default and without user interaction. The subsequently generated long error email (after I kill the runaway process) then gets bounced back to me by x.perl.org in its entirety because it's too large. To prevent authors of Makefile.PL from doing these stupid steps, I came up with these rules. The first rule makes authors think about providing sensible defaults or even making the Makefile.PL actively search instead of always asking the user. This is a passive measure to make Makefile.PL find things even in absence of guidance by a user. The second rule actively prevents authors from writing potentially infinite loops asking the same question, again and again, without ever getting an answer because there is no user.	[reply]

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Re^3: Perl6 - Module::Build
by Corion (Patriarch) on May 28, 2005 at 20:08 UTC

I run CPAN smoke tests, and the alarm() call has problems on Win32 Perl, so Makefile.PL does not get timed out when doing a CPAN smoke. Both rules have been evolved from the broken Makefile.PL that is the tradition of mod_perl, which dives into an infinite loop asking me for the location of httpd, over and over again, without a default and without user interaction. The subsequently generated long error email (after I kill the runaway process) then gets bounced back to me by x.perl.org in its entirety because it's too large.

To prevent authors of Makefile.PL from doing these stupid steps, I came up with these rules.

The first rule makes authors think about providing sensible defaults or even making the Makefile.PL actively search instead of always asking the user. This is a passive measure to make Makefile.PL find things even in absence of guidance by a user.

The second rule actively prevents authors from writing potentially infinite loops asking the same question, again and again, without ever getting an answer because there is no user.

[reply]