Re: Responsibilities of a module author

I just released version 0.30 of PDF::Template to CPAN. The last release prior (0.22) was over a year ago. The last new feature was over 18 months ago. Why? Because the last time I personally used PDF::Template was 18 months ago. I just now have had time to integrate the excellent changes autrijus forked on CPAN so that you can use PDF::API2 or PDFlib, as you choose.

Plus, fixing bugs isn't as simple as that. For one thing, I took PDF::Template over with, count 'em, 2 tests. I got that number up to about 20 and the coverage went from 10% to 26% (or so). Why so poor? Well, for one thing, I didn't test my stuff back then. For another, mocking pdflib_pl is hard. By using PDF::Writer instead, it makes it a lot easier to write tests for PDF::Template.

Of course, the problems never stop there. P::T was written against PDFlib v3. PDFlib v7 is about to be released and it will be removing a number of functions that I use to do things like load fonts. They were deprecated 2 years earlier in v5, but I wasn't keeping track. I've made a call for helpers, but I hope you'll note the number of responses. I don't have time to keep track of PDFlib changes and I don't know PDF::API2 at all. I want help with it, but no-one seems to want to help.

What should I do?

My criteria for good software:

Does it work?
Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?

Comment on Re: Responsibilities of a module author

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Re^2: Responsibilities of a module author by xdg (Monsignor) on Nov 24, 2005 at 13:44 UTC
What should I do? In line with the guidelines I'm offering, I'd suggest adding a similar summary like you had above to the module documentation, plus a note that you're not actively maintaining it and are looking for a co-maintainer to hand off to. That way, any prospective users are at least aware ahead of time what to expect. Plus, you'll keep your request for help with it out in front of the module users. -xdg Code written by xdg and posted on PerlMonks is public domain. It is provided as is with no warranties, express or implied, of any kind. Posted code may not have been tested. Use of posted code is at your own risk.	[reply]
Re^3: Responsibilities of a module author by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Nov 24, 2005 at 15:31 UTC
Except, I am actively maintaining it to the best of my abilities. It's still my responsability and I will be using it for work. In addition, I want to be involved in the direction that it takes as a module I do maintain depends on it. It's never quite that simple. Oh, and PDF::Writer has no documentation as the API is completely random and will change every release for a while as I refactor. My criteria for good software: Does it work? Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?	[reply]
Re^4: Responsibilities of a module author by xdg (Monsignor) on Nov 24, 2005 at 16:36 UTC
I don't see anything wrong with saying that. I wasn't trying to suggest that you should deprecate a module that you are maintaining. Whatever is your situation and level of commitment, just communicate that clearly. -xdg Code written by xdg and posted on PerlMonks is public domain. It is provided as is with no warranties, express or implied, of any kind. Posted code may not have been tested. Use of posted code is at your own risk.	[reply]