=head1 NAME README - Perl Core Test Smoke Suite (1.17) =head1 SYNOPSIS $ perl configsmoke.pl $ sh smokecurrent.sh =head1 DESCRIPTION The perl core test smoke suite is a set of scripts and modules that try to run the perl core tests on as many configurations as possible and combine the results into an easy to read report. The basic cycle looks like: fetch_sourcetree foreach $config ( @configurations ) { make distclean ./Configure $config make make test (and log failures) } create_report() mail_report() Before you start "smoking" we expect you have tried to build some of the configurations "by hand" to check if your environment is okay. =head1 INSTALLATION The standard Perl installation commands: $ perl Makefile.PL $ make $ make test $ make install The F program will ask for a directory in which Test::Smoke should be installed (unless you specify one yourself). You are now ready to run the F configuration program: $ perl configsmoke.pl You will have to answer some questions that help create a configuration file for the Test::Smoke suite. You should check the F build-configurations file and remove options that are not supported for your platform. Now you are set to go: $ sh smokecurrent.sh If something useful happens, do it every night using a scheduler. We still supply the old way to run the perl core test smoke suite, but it is not really maintained or supported. Here is what Merijn used to say about installing that: Edit F and change the PC= definition to reflect the location you choose as a builddir. Theoretically you are now ready to go, just use B to give it a first shot for tonight. Optionally delete lines from F (or a local copy with a different name) for which you are certain your system doesn't support it (like threading or 64bit configurations) =head1 CONFIGURATION As of v1.16_10 there is more than one way to run and configure the perl core test smoke suite. =over 4 =item * F This will ask your for: =over 4 =item * Build directory (where the source-tree should go) =item * Which build-configurations file to use (perlcurrent.cfg) =item * How to sync with the repository/snapshot =item * Which patches-to-be-applied file to use =item * Platform specific stuff =item * How to mail the report =back =item * F (unixy only, deprecated) This will ask you for: =over 4 =item * Build directory (where the source-tree should go) =item * How and when to schedule smokes =item * Which build-configurations file to use (smoke.cfg) =item * umask =back After that it will change some settings in the F file. =item Edit F (MSWin32 only, deprecated) Edit the F batch file and set the right values. =back =head1 Note to MSWin32 users To make it clear, the perl core test smoke suite treats B and B as unixy platforms and not as true MSWin32. To keep in sync with the source-tree, it is recommended you use the B program. This currently seems only available with Cygwin . (All the cygwin tools run perfectly well under CMD.EXE, so don't let that stop you.) Windows 95/98/ME do not seem to be ideal platforms to run Test::Smoke on. F gives some problems while building perl. (See F) We have found some problems with the default windows debugger B. By default Dr.Watson will pop-up when the moral equivalent of a segmentation fault happens, this will make the smoke wait for user input. You can disable this by starting F and un-check the B and B check-boxes and press B. There seems to be a problem with B and segmentation faults, even if B is run to set it as the default debugger. =head1 Slow Systems It can happen that your system is not able to pursue all the tests, either because it is too slow or because some of the configurations are not supported by the system. At first, don't worry, they are detected by the report creation script and shown as such. After the first run gave you some idea of how long the smoke will run on your system, you can create your own copy of smoke.cfg where you either add new combinations and/or test levels, or delete lines to speed up the run time of Test::Smoke. At the moment there are no guidelines of how to change the configuration best to fit the needs of perl5-porters while still getting as much smoke out of the test as possible, simply because the needs of perl5-porters change over time:). This also makes Test::Smoke somewhat volatile, as we aim to please the perl5-porters as much as possible, to help make perl even better, more stable and as thoroughly tested as possible. =head1 Availability and references =over 4 =item B http://search.cpan.org/author/ABELTJE/ =item B =over 4 =item B [subscribe: ] http://archive.develooper.com/daily-build-reports@perl.org/ news:nntp.perl.org/perl.daily-build.reports =item B [subscribe: ] http://archive.develooper.com/daily-build@perl.org/ news:nntp.perl.org/perl.daily-build =item B Perl general QA: perl-qa@perl.org Development: perl5-porters@perl.org =item B (by Alain Barbet) Alain Barbet has put a lot of effort in storing the smoke test reports in a database and build a nice WEB-front-end: http://www.alianwebserver.com/cgi-bin/smoke_db =back =back =head1 COPYRIGHT and LICENSE Copyright (C) 2001-2003 * H.Merijn Brand * Abe Timmerman This suite is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, without consulting the author. (Future) Co-Authors and or contributors should agree to this before submitting patches. See: =over 4 =item * http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html =item * http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html =back This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. =head1 AUTHOR The perl core smoke suite is maintained by Abe Timmerman . H.Merijn Brand in dialogue and consultation with Michael Schwern , the Perl QA pumpkin. Contributors and/or co-authors: Configurations and nuts and bolts Nicholas Clark smoke.sh Jarkko Hietaniemi Portability issues Will Coleda - IMG Safety Richard Soderberg Win32/MSC5/dmake Mattia Barbon , Abe Timmerman Cygwin John Peacock Sharing issues Blair Zajac Good ideas Jos Boumans and all the people having useful suggestions and nits, starting at YAPC::Europe-2.0.01, where Michael talked Merijn into simplifying his own test-suite and sharing it with the community. The Test::Smoke team. =head1 MISC As always, have the appropriate amount of fun =head1 SEE ALSO L, L =head1 TODO =over 4 =item * More refactoring =item * Test-suite =item * VMS? =back =cut