temporary files in .t scripts

esobchenko has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: temporary files in .t scripts by GrandFather (Saint) on Mar 24, 2008 at 22:54 UTC
IO::File's new_tmpfile method should be a good choice for creating temporary files in a test suite. The documentation implies that it should be fine for Windows use and a simple test script certainly works as expected. Perl is environmentally friendly - it saves trees	[reply]
Re: temporary files in .t scripts by Burak (Chaplain) on Mar 24, 2008 at 23:07 UTC
I think that File::Temp is the best tool for this task	[reply]
Re: temporary files in .t scripts by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Mar 25, 2008 at 02:06 UTC
You've had two recommendations for File::Temp. Consider this a third - I use tempfiles in the test suites for DBM::Deep, PDF::Template, and Excel::Template. The common denominator is that I have a t/common.pm which manages the creation and destruction. You will probably want something similar. 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^2: temporary files in .t scripts by esobchenko (Beadle) on Mar 25, 2008 at 09:19 UTC
You'll laugh: I need a tempfile for DBM::Deep which is used by default in my module. :-) Thanks for your answer.	[reply]
Re^3: temporary files in .t scripts by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Mar 25, 2008 at 11:32 UTC
Oooh. What does your module do? What do you use DBM::Deep for? Inquiring minds want to know! 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: temporary files in .t scripts by esobchenko (Beadle) on Mar 25, 2008 at 13:50 UTC
Re^5: temporary files in .t scripts by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Mar 25, 2008 at 15:52 UTC
Re: temporary files in .t scripts by kyle (Abbot) on Mar 25, 2008 at 01:55 UTC
There was a pretty good discussion of temp file creation techniques not long ago in Temporary text files with File::Temp. You might find that useful.	[reply]
Re: temporary files in .t scripts by ack (Deacon) on Mar 25, 2008 at 04:45 UTC
I use File::Temp all the time on my Windows XP machine. Burak's, kyle's and drangonchild's recommendations are 'on-target' from my humble perspective. Haven't tried GrandFather's recommended IO::File approach; but intend to look into it to see if it offers any advantages. Thanks, GrandFather. ack Albuquerque, NM	[reply]
Re: temporary files in .t scripts (Directory::Scratch) by lodin (Hermit) on Mar 25, 2008 at 13:28 UTC
I haven't tried Directory::Scratch, but it looks pretty nice. It's specifically written to handle cross-platform issues with temporary test files. From Directory::Scratch: When writing test suites for modules that operate on files, it's often inconvenient to correctly create a platform-independent temporary storage space, manipulate files inside it, then clean it up when the test exits. /.../ This module aims to eliminate that problem by making it easy to do things right. It may be overkill if you only want to create only one file though. lodin	[reply]