On Wed, Jan 21, 2004 at 08:41:35PM -0600, david nicol wrote: > Or maybe we're talking about adding a bureaucratic layer to CPAN so > it won't accept new versions of modules under the same name unless > the new version passes the test suite from the old version, for modules > on a restricted list that your module gets on once enough people rely on > your module.
David, Your mail details a number of practical ways to implement the given requirement that are worthy of discussion. Bravo! However, a flea in the ointment of the above idea: more than once I've discovered bugs in the test harnesses of previous versions, that may or may not be related to bugs in the installed code. Thus, as the bugs are fixed, so is the test harness, and the new version will fail the old harness; but the differences are bugs, not true interface changes. Yes, in some cases even fixing a bug is an interface change, but sometimes not. Here we are moving into the area of specification, design-by-contract, etc., about which I could wax lyrical, but I won't, because you're probably bored already. Cheers, Mx.