Wanted: program that makes working on "Bleadperl breaks" bugs easy

p5p-ers:

We're at the point in the Perl 5 release cycle where we need
to keep track of efforts to repair CPAN distributions which
have suffered test failures when those distros are run
against various 5.19 releases.

By my count, since May Andreas Koenig has filed at least 40
RT tickets reporting breakage in CPAN distributions when run
against 5.19 monthly releases or blead.  And that doesn't
count tickets filed by others whose subject lines don't
contain qr/Bleadperl\s5\.19/.  So there's plenty of checkup
to be done.

I would like to help out with this checkup, but -- more
importantly -- I would like there to be a way for *anyone*
with modest Perl and git skills to help out with this effort.

Suppose, for example, that a first-timer shows up at a
local hackathon and asks, "How can I help get Perl 5.20 out
the door?"  I want to be able to provide that hacker with a
*turnkey* solution such that she can get blead, run its test
suite, then test one of the "Bleadperl breaks" distros from
CPAN which still fails on blead.  She would then check that
distro's own bug tracker at rt.cpan.org or elsewhere, notify
the distro's maintainer as needed and comment on the
rt.perl.org RT ticket in which the breakage against blead
was first reported.

I emphasize that I want a *turnkey* solution to this
problem.  In the hackathon context I described above, I
don't want to have to say to the hacker, "Learn about
perlbrew, cpanm, etc. *before* you walk in the door."  And I
don't want to spend any of my own time during the hackathon
training the hacker in any of those technologies.  I want
the first-time hackathon participant to be testing a
problematic CPAN distro within 15 minutes of opening her
laptop.  (If someone *else* at that hackathon wants to play
the role of "Trainer in perlbrew, cpanm, etc.", that's
terrific.  That's just not the role that *I* want to play.)

A turnkey solution like this should also be something that
works in a minimal environment.  It should be able to run in
a shell account with git being the only thing absolutely
needed above and beyond basic Unix tools.  It should be
something, for example, that any p5p-er could run in an
account on the Dromedary server.

Under the hood, such a turnkey solution may well use tools
like perlbrew and cpanm.  But for the purpose of getting the
hacker to work on an assignment ASAP, such a solution should
make any installation of such tools seamless and as nearly
invisible as possible.  The hacker, for instance, should not
have to care whether the solution temporarily installs blead
before testing a CPAN distro or simply builds blead before
testing the CPAN distro.

Now, I suspect that some p5p-ers have already invested a lot
of time over the years to get something which is 90%+ of
this turnkey solution already.  If so, I would like to hear
from you, because getting such a turnkey solution will
enable me to take on these "Bleadperl breaks" problems as
well.

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan

• Wanted: program that makes working on "Bleadperl breaks" bugs easy by James E Keenan
• Re: Wanted: program that makes working on "Bleadperl breaks" bugs easy by David Golden
• Re: Wanted: program that makes working on "Bleadperl breaks" bugseasy by Karl Williamson
• Re: Wanted: program that makes working on "Bleadperl breaks" bugs easy by Father Chrysostomos