Hi Neil, Apologies for the delayed reply, and thank you for taking the time to explain the downstream impact of Devel::CallChecker.
I understand the concern, and I agree that Devel::CallChecker's position in the CPAN River should be an explicit part of the maintenance plan. Given the 13 direct dependents and 81 distributions relying on it directly or indirectly, I would treat compatibility with existing downstream users as a release requirement, rather than relying only on Devel::CallChecker's own test suite. In particular, my plan would be to: - keep changes small and preserve the existing API and behavior wherever possible; - run Devel::CallChecker's full test suite on supported/current Perl versions; - test the 13 direct dependent distributions against a proposed release; - use a developer release first for any significant or potentially compatibility-affecting change; - review CPAN Testers results after releases and investigate regressions before proceeding further; - avoid unnecessary changes to the XS/API surface. For an initial maintenance release, I would prefer to focus on maintenance infrastructure, metadata, CI, and clearly understood compatibility fixes rather than making broad changes. I'm also tracking this work publicly as part of CPAN Rescue, and I'll incorporate CPAN River impact and downstream testing into the project's maintenance criteria: https://github.com/kawamurashingo/cpan-rescue Thank you again for the guidance. I appreciate the additional context, and I'm happy to take that responsibility into account before making any releases. Best regards, Shingo Kawamura PAUSE ID: SHINGO 2026年8月17日(月) 18:26 Neil Bowers <[email protected]>: > Hi Kawamura-san, > > I'm one of the PAUSE admins. > > I just wanted to check that you're aware that there are quite a few other > CPAN distributions dependent on Devel::CallChecker. Currently there are 13 > distributions which directly use it, but including indirect dependents, > there are 81 distributions reliant on Devel-CallChecker. > > This means that if you break Devel-CallChecker you could break up to 81 > other distributions. > > As a result, you need to be careful when doing releases: consider doing > developer releases if there are significant changes, check your CPAN > Testers results after a release, and when you create a new version for > release, check that it doesn't break those 13 distributions. > > Your request was reassuring, in the things you mentioned in your > maintenance plan, but given you don't currently maintain any CPAN > distributions relied on by others, I'd like to factor "CPAN River position" > into you plan. > > Thanks, > Neil > > On 17 Aug 2026 at 03:59 +0100, ぱんなこ <[email protected]>, wrote: > > Hello PAUSE admins, > > I'd like to adopt the Devel-CallChecker distribution. > > The distribution is currently marked ADOPTME, and it still has active > downstream users. I would like to take over its maintenance and keep it > compatible with current and future Perl releases. > > My initial maintenance plan is to: > > - preserve the existing API and behavior > - establish a canonical public source repository > - add CI coverage for current Perl versions > - verify the existing XS test suite against recent Perl releases > - update distribution metadata and bug tracker information > - make conservative maintenance releases as needed > > My PAUSE ID is SHINGO. > > I have also recently started contributing maintenance fixes and tests to > other CPAN distributions as part of an effort to help maintain the Perl > ecosystem. > > Please let me know if you need any additional information. > > Best regards, > Shingo Kawamura > PAUSE ID: SHINGO > >
