Michael G Schwern wrote: > Disabling tests for subjective reasons (they take "too long", they don't > test critical functionality, etc...) is a slippery slope. For that reason > I'd agree with Curtis and say that everything is always run by default > and users can then elect what to turn off. PERL_SKIP_LONG_TESTS seems like > a clear name. > > If users find tests annoying then can turn them off, or ignore them or > not run them at all. Because the user impulse is more often to weaken > the tests than the strengthen them, the default should always be the > strongest testing position.
I think PERL_SKIP_LONG_TESTS is a fine name. Given the sometimes heated discussion in this thread: http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=254011 I doubt the two camps will ever agree on this issue. My view is that it is up to the individual CPAN author how he wants to treat the naive user (i.e. the user who installs his module without explicitly setting any environment variable). That is, the CPAN author can choose whether he wants to use PERL_SMOKE or PERL_SKIP_LONG_TESTS (based on his good taste and sound judgement, after all it is his module). I think the two environment variables can happily coexist as shown in the table below: PERL_SMOKE PERL_SKIP_LONG_TESTS Naive User 0 0 Contrary User 1 1 Impatient User 0 1 Robot 1 0 Naive: Gets default behaviour desired by CPAN author Contrary: Gets opposite of default behaviour desired by CPAN author Impatient: Never runs long tests Robot: Always runs long tests /-\ http://personals.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Personals New people, new possibilities. FREE for a limited time.
