=head1 NAME
README - Perl Core Test Smoke Suite (1.30)
=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 Test::Smoke suite has been designed to be installed outside of the
normal Perl library-tree. It will also run from the directory in which
it was un-tar-gzipped, but if you like to keep up to date with
Test::Smoke releases, it might be useful to use the standard
perl-module installation commands:
$ perl Makefile.PL
$ make test
$ make install
The F<Makefile.PL> program will ask for a directory in which
Test::Smoke should be installed (this will set I<PREFIX>,
I<INSTALLSCRIPT> and I<LIB> all to that directory).
I<If you want to automate the Makefile.PL step you need to set two
environment variables: $ENV{SMOKE_INSTDIR}='../p5smoke' and
$ENV{PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT}='y'>
You are now ready to run the F<configsmoke.pl> 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<perlcurrent.cfg> 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.
=head1 CONFIGURATION
=over 4
=item Test::Smoke configuration
You can create configurations by running the F<configsmoke.pl>
program. Please see its L<documentation|configsmoke.pl>.
=item Build configurations
At the moment there are no guidelines of how to change the
build-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.
=back
=head1 Note to MSWin32 users
To make it clear, the perl core test smoke suite treats B<cygwin> and
B<DJGPP> as unixy platforms and not as true MSWin32.
To keep in sync with the source-tree, it is recommended you use the
B<rsync> program. This currently seems only available with Cygwin
<http://www.cygwin.com>. (All the cygwin tools run perfectly well
under CMD.EXE, so don't let that stop you.)
Some problems have been reported with older versions of cygwin and the
patch program during the C<< S<[nd]make test> >> stage of
Test::Smoke. Don't worry about it if you do not intend to use patch.
Windows 95/98/ME do not seem to be ideal platforms to run Test::Smoke
on. F<COMMAND.COM> gives some problems while building perl. (See
F<README.win32>.)
We have found some problems with the default windows debugger
B<Dr.Watson>. 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<drwtsn32.exe> and
un-check the B<Visual Notification> and B<Sound Notification>
check-boxes and press B<OK>.
There seems to be a problem with B<Microsoft .NET/Windows XP> and
segmentation faults, even if B<drwtsn32 -i> 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.
=head1 Availability and references
=over 4
=item B<Distribution>
http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Smoke/
=item B<Archives>
=over 4
=item B<Reports>
<daily-build-reports@perl.org>
[subscribe: <daily-build-reports-subscribe@perl.org>]
http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports
news:nntp.perl.org/perl.daily-build.reports
=item B<Smokers>
<daily-build@perl.org>
[subscribe: <daily-build-subscribe@perl.org>]
http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build
news:nntp.perl.org/perl.daily-build
=item B<Others>
Perl general QA: perl-qa@perl.org
Development: perl5-porters@perl.org
=item B<The new smoke_db> (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
=item B<TinySmoke db>
I also keep a database of smokereports that are created by Test::Smoke
1.17 or higher.
http://www.test-smoke.org/cgi/tsdb
=back
=back
=head1 REVISION
$Id$
=head1 COPYRIGHT and LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2001-2004
* 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 test smoke suite is maintained by Abe Timmerman
<abeltje@cpan.org>.
H.Merijn Brand <h.m.brand@hccnet.nl> in dialogue and consultation with
Michael Schwern <schwern@pobox.com>, the Perl QA pumpkin.
Contributors and/or co-authors:
Configurations and
nuts and bolts Nicholas Clark <nick@plum.flirble.org>
smoke.sh Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@cc.hut.fi>
Portability issues Will Coleda - IMG <wjc@infomg.com>
Safety Richard Soderberg <rs@oregonnet.com>
Win32/MSC5/dmake Mattia Barbon <mbarbon@dsi.unive.it>,
Abe Timmerman <abeltje@cpan.org>
Cygwin John Peacock <jpeacock@rowman.com>
Sharing issues Blair Zajac <blair@orcaware.com>
Good ideas Jos Boumans <kane@dwim.org>
VMS Craig Berry
SysInfo Alain Barbet
Merijn Brand
Alan Burlison
Allen Smith
David Woolger
Campo Wijerman
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<ReleaseNotes>, L<FAQ>
=head1 TODO
=over 4
=item * More test-suite
=item * VMS?
=back
=cut