NAME CPAN::Reporter - Provides Test::Reporter support for CPAN.pm VERSION This documentation describes version 0.41. SYNOPSIS From the CPAN shell: cpan> install CPAN::Reporter cpan> reload cpan cpan> o conf init test_report DESCRIPTION CPAN::Reporter is an add-on for the CPAN.pm module that uses Test::Reporter to send the results of module tests to the CPAN Testers project. Support for CPAN::Reporter is available in CPAN.pm as of version 1.88. The goal of the CPAN Testers project () is to test as many CPAN packages as possible on as many platforms as possible. This provides valuable feedback to module authors and potential users to identify bugs or platform compatibility issues and improves the overall quality and value of CPAN. One way individuals can contribute is to send test results for each module that they test or install. Installing CPAN::Reporter gives the option of automatically generating and emailing test reports whenever tests are run via CPAN.pm. GETTING STARTED The first step in using CPAN::Reporter is to install it using whatever version of CPAN.pm is already installed. CPAN.pm will be upgraded as a dependency if necessary. cpan> install CPAN::Reporter If CPAN.pm was upgraded, it needs to be reloaded. cpan> reload cpan If upgrading from a very old version of CPAN.pm, users may be prompted to renew their configuration settings, including the 'test_report' option to enable CPAN::Reporter. If not prompted automatically, users should manually initialize CPAN::Reporter support. After enabling CPAN::Reporter, CPAN.pm will automatically continue with interactive configuration of CPAN::Reporter options. (Remember to commit the CPAN configuration changes.) cpan> o conf init test_report cpan> o conf commit Once CPAN::Reporter is enabled and configured, test or install modules with CPAN.pm as usual. For example, to force CPAN to repeat tests for CPAN::Reporter to see how it works: cpan> force test CPAN::Reporter UNDERSTANDING TEST GRADES CPAN::Reporter will assign one of the following grades to the report: * "pass" -- all tests were successful * "fail" -- one or more tests failed, one or more test files died during testing or no test output was seen * "na" -- tests could not be run on this platform or one or more test files died because of missing prerequisites * "unknown" -- no test files could be found (either t/*.t or test.pl) or a result could not be determined from test output * "default" -- this is not an actual grade reported to CPAN Testers, but it is used in action prompt configuration options to indicate a fallback action In returning results to CPAN.pm, "pass" and "unknown" are considered successful attempts to "make test" or "Build test" and will not prevent installation. "fail" and "na" are considered to be failures and CPAN.pm will not install unless forced. CONFIG FILE OPTIONS Default options for CPAN::Reporter are read from a configuration file ".cpanreporter/config.ini" in the user's home directory (Unix and OS X) or "My Documents" directory (Windows). The configuration file is in "ini" format, with the option name and value separated by an "=" sign email_from = "John Doe" cc_author = no Interactive configuration of email address, action prompts and mail server options may be repeated at any time from the CPAN shell. cpan> o conf init test_report Interactive configuration will also include any additional, non-standard options that have been added manually to the configuration file. Available options are described in the following sections. Email Address (required) CPAN::Reporter requires users to provide an email address that will be used in the "From" header of the email to cpan-testers@perl.org. * "email_from = " -- email address of the user sending the test report; it should be a valid address format, e.g.: user@domain John Doe "John Q. Public" Because "cpan-testers" uses a mailing list to collect test reports, it is helpful if the email address provided is subscribed to the list. Otherwise, test reports will be held until manually reviewed and approved. Subscribing an account to the cpan-testers list is as easy as sending a blank email to cpan-testers-subscribe@perl.org and replying to the confirmation email. Action Prompts Several steps in the generation of a test report are optional. Configuration options control whether an action should be taken automatically or whether CPAN::Reporter should prompt the user for the action to take. The action to take may be different for each report grade. Valid actions, and their associated meaning, are as follows: * "yes" -- automatic yes * "no" -- automatic no * "ask/no" or just "ask" -- ask each time, but default to no * "ask/yes" -- ask each time, but default to yes For "ask" prompts, the default will be used if return is pressed immediately at the prompt or if the "PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT" environment variable is set to a true value. Action prompt options take one or more space-separated "grade:action" pairs, which are processed left to right. edit_report = fail:ask/yes pass:no An action by itself is taken as a default to be used for any grade which does not have a grade-specific action. A default action may also be set by using the word "default" in place of a grade. edit_report = ask/no edit_report = default:ask/no A grade by itself is taken to have the action "yes" for that grade. edit_report = default:no fail Multiple grades may be specified together by separating them with a slash. edit_report = pass:no fail/na/unknown:ask/yes The action prompt options are: * "cc_author = ..." -- should module authors should be sent a copy of the test report at their "author@cpan.org" address? (default:yes pass:no) * "edit_report = ..." -- edit the test report before sending? (default:ask/no pass:no) * "send_report = ..." -- should test reports be sent at all? (default:ask/yes pass:yes na:no) These options are included in the starter config file created automatically the first time CPAN::Reporter is configured interactively. Note that if "send_report" is set to "no", CPAN::Reporter will still go through the motions of preparing a report, but will discard it rather than send it. This is the default for an "na" report -- users may still edit the report to see which prerequisites failed, but no report will be sent. A better way to disable CPAN::Reporter temporarily is with the CPAN option "test_report": cpan> o conf test_report 0 Mail Server By default, Test::Reporter attempts to send mail directly to perl.org mail servers. This may fail if a user's computer is behind a network firewall that blocks outbound email. In this case, the following option should be set to the outbound mail server (i.e., SMTP server) as provided by the user's Internet service provider (ISP): * "smtp_server = " -- one or more alternate outbound mail servers if the default perl.org mail servers cannot be reached; multiple servers may be given, separated with a space (none by default) In at least one reported case, an ISP's outbound mail servers also refused to forward mail unless the "email_from" was from the ISP-given email address. This option is also included in the starter config file. Additional Options These additional options are only necessary in special cases, such as for testing, debugging or if a default editor cannot be found. * "email_to = " -- alternate destination for reports instead of "cpan-testers@perl.org"; used for testing * "editor = " -- editor to use to edit the test report; if not set, Test::Reporter will use environment variables "VISUAL", "EDITOR" or "EDIT" (in that order) to find an editor * "debug = " -- turns debugging on/off FUNCTIONS CPAN::Reporter provides only two public function for use within CPAN.pm. They are not imported during "use". Ordinary users will never need them. "configure()" CPAN::Reporter::configure(); Prompts the user to edit configuration settings stored in the CPAN::Reporter "config.ini" file. It will create the configuration file if it does not exist. It is automatically called by CPAN.pm when initializing the 'test_report' option, e.g.: cpan> o conf init test_report "test()" CPAN::Reporter::test( $cpan_dist, $system_command ); Given a CPAN::Distribution object and a system command to run distribution tests (e.g. "make test"), "test()" executes the command via "system()" while teeing the output to a file. Based on the output captured in the file, "test()" generates and sends a Test::Reporter report. It returns true if the test grade is "pass" or "unknown" and returns false, otherwise. PRIVACY WARNING CPAN::Reporter includes information in the test report about environment variables and special Perl variables that could be affecting test results in order to help module authors interpret the results of the tests. This includes information about paths, terminal, locale, user/group ID, installed toolchain modules (e.g. ExtUtils::MakeMaker) and so on. These have been intentionally limited to items that should not cause harmful personal information to be revealed -- it does *not* include your entire environment. Nevertheless, please do not use CPAN::Reporter if you are concerned about the disclosure of this information as part of your test report. Users wishing to review this information may choose to edit the report prior to sending it. BUGS Please report any bugs or feature using the CPAN Request Tracker. Bugs can be submitted through the web interface at When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature. AUTHOR David A. Golden (DAGOLDEN) dagolden@cpan.org http://www.dagolden.org/ COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE Copyright (c) 2006 by David A. Golden This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module. 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