Re: Wanted: program that makes working on "Bleadperl breaks" bugseasy

On 12/21/2013 01:54 PM, James E Keenan wrote:
> 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
>

For the record, I gave Jim a program that originally came from Florian 
Ragwitz that does some of this work.

• 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