The mock that I created is a very simple C program that would need to be compiled before running the tests using a Makefile already available.

There might be an easier way... but if all else fails, you can always add an extra target (which builds you C program) to the generated Makefile and add it as a prerequisite to the test target, so that your program would be built right before testing.

Something like this (assuming you have your C stuff in a subdirectory mymock, and that mymock/Makefile would build the target executable mymock/mymock):

### Makefile.PL

WriteMakefile(
    ...
);

package MY;

# override / modify test target
sub test {
    my $t = shift->SUPER::test(@_);
    $t =~ s|^test ::\K| mymock/mymock |m;  # inserts your prereq
    return $t;
}

# add your own target
sub postamble {
    return <<'MAKE_MOCK';
mymock/mymock : mymock/Makefile
    cd mymock && $(MAKE) all

MAKE_MOCK
}
[download]

(untested)

See also Overriding MakeMaker Methods.

Portability might well be an issue here, so you might ultimately be better off implementing your mock program in pure Perl... (if that's possible)

I thought creating a "mock" of this same program that expects an input and just print some output....

The mock that I created is a very simple C program that would need to be compiled before running the tests using a Makefile already available.

If all the mock program needs to do is accept some input and produce some output, why woudl you use C to write that?

I use Perl one-liners for similar purposes al the time:

my $mockedReturn = `perl -E"say 'fred' if $ARGV[0] eq 'bill'`;
[download]

The C code is interactive, so my mock test should "interact" with the program, giving commands to it and expecting output. Again, I'm not sure if using another Perl script would have any issue (only thing that comes to my mind is that I need print buffering).

Here is the C code anyway:

Read more... (2 kB)

I'm sure I could write something better in pure Perl, but I'm confident that it wouldn't compromisse the testing results.

Alceu Rodrigues de Freitas Junior
---------------------------------
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Sir Winston Churchill

This is a pretty literal translation of your C file, that should perform exactly the same way (barring typos):

#! perl -slw
use strict;
use constant {
    COMP_FILE        => "list_comp.txt",
    COMP_TYPES_FILE => "list_comp_types.txt",
};

while( 1 ) {
    printf "svrmgr> ";
    chomp( my $command = <STDIN> );
    if( $command eq COMP_FILE ) {
        open my $in, '<', COMP_FILE 
            or printf("Error reading %s\n", COMP_FILE )
            and next;
        print while <$in>;
    }
    elsif( $command eq COMP_TYPES_FILE ) {
        open my $in, '<', COMP_TYPES_FILE 
            or printf("Error reading %s\n", COMP_TYPES_FILE )
            and next;
        print while <$in>;
    }
    else if( $command eq 'EXIT' ) {
        print "Disconnecting...\n";
        last;
    }
    else {
        print "Invalid command\n";
    }
}
exit 0;
[download]

Easier to maintain?

(Also, just an aside. Are the blank lines in your C code an artifact of posting, or your preferred style?)

---

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

See also http://wiki.cpantesters.org/wiki/CPANAuthorNotes , $^X, see ExtUtils::CChecker/ ExtUtils::CBuilder