_____         _            ____ ____ ___       
  |_   _|__  ___| |_   _ _   / ___/ ___|_ _|  _ _ 
    | |/ _ \/ __| __| (_|_) | |  | |  _ | |  (_|_)
    | |  __/\__ \ |_   _ _  | |__| |_| || |   _ _ 
    |_|\___||___/\__| (_|_)  \____\____|___| (_|_)
                                                  
   _____      _                        _ 
  | ____|_  _| |_ ___ _ __ _ __   __ _| |
  |  _| \ \/ / __/ _ \ '__| '_ \ / _` | |
  | |___ >  <| ||  __/ |  | | | | (_| | |
  |_____/_/\_\\__\___|_|  |_| |_|\__,_|_|
                                         


This is the README for Test::CGI::External version 0.09.

Test::CGI::External is a "module" for the Perl computer programming language, a
library of computer code to install on a computer.  This document contains four
sections:

1. About - what the module does

2. Documentation - how to learn more about the module

3. Installation - how to install this module on a computer

4. Help - what to do if you get stuck

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1. ABOUT

Test::CGI::External - run tests on an external CGI program

Test::CGI::External is a tool for running basic checks of the
operation of a CGI (common gateway interface) program. It is meant to
be used for "sanity checks" of CGI program operation. For example, if
a CGI program prints stuff on standard output before it prints its
HTTP headers, when running from behind a server, the only output
visible from a browser is an obscure server error message.

In a Perl script,

    use Test::More;
    my $tester = Test::CGI::External->new ();
    $tester->set_cgi_executable ('example.cgi');
    $tester->run ({});
    done_testing ();

The above tests whether










debugging messages on standard output)







In other words, this tests for extremely simple "slip-up" mistakes and
basic program execution.

Test::CGI::External runs CGI programs as stand-alone programs, under a
faked CGI-like environment created by manipulating environment
variables. Thus it does not require a web server.  The tested CGI
program can be in any language, not just Perl; Test::CGI::External is
meant to test external programs which are completely independent of
itself. Test::CGI::External was originally created to check the
operation of CGI programs written in C.

Test::CGI::External is meant for the testing stage before the program
is put onto a web server. One of the main errors this module catches
for the author is stray printf statements. If a program with stray
printf statements is uploaded to the web server and run as a CGI
program, the browser will show only a 500 Server Error
message. Another typical mistake is forgetting to make the CGI program
executable; again, this results in a weird server error.

Test::CGI::External is TAP (Test Anything Protocol)-compliant and
should work with Perl testing modules like "Test::More".

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2. DOCUMENTATION

You can read the documentation for the module online at the following websites:

    * http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Test::CGI::External
    * http://metacpan.org/release/Test-CGI-External

(These links go to the latest version of the module.)

After installing the module, you can read the documentation on your computer
using

    perldoc Test::CGI::External

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3. INSTALLATION

This module requires Perl version 5.0.6 or later.

To install the module from CPAN, use

    cpan Test::CGI::External

If you have the App::cpanminus installer, you may prefer

    cpanm Test::CGI::External

To install the module from the source file, Test-CGI-External-0.09.tar.gz,
follow this sequence of commands:

    tar xfz Test-CGI-External-0.09.tar.gz
    cd Test-CGI-External-0.09
    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make install

If you want to test the module before installing it, use "make test" after
"make" and before "make install".

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4. HELP

To get help with the module, you can email the author, Ben Bullock, at
<bkb@cpan.org>. If you think there is a problem in the module, you can report a
bug at 

<https://github.com/benkasminbullock/test-cgi-external/issues>,

or if you want to alter the source code of Test::CGI::External, try the public
repository on github at 

<https://github.com/benkasminbullock/test-cgi-external>. 

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This README was written on Wed Nov  4 22:34:22 2015.

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