On 2005-06-16, at 12:20:45 -0400, Rob Janes wrote:
> well, i only maintain Compress::Bzip2, not CPANPLUS.
>
> Compress::Bzip2 is a perl xs module. you cannot install it without a c
> compiler. I think it's a prereq. maybe something appropriate for the
> yaml file, that CPAN/PLUS, Build.PL or Makefile.PL will catch.
>
> the yaml file is generated by Makefile.PL or Build, not h2xs, from
> parameters to the generating function.
>
> I'm of the opinion a cc prereq should be in the yaml generated by
> Makefile.PL or Build.PL, and therefore should be part of Module::Build
> or ExtUtils::MakeMaker. CPAN/PLUS should look in the yaml for info put
> there by Module::Build or ExtUtils::MakeMaker.
Agreed.
> I don't think h2xs or other such low level parts of perl core should be
> doing this.
Yes, h2xs is just a starter for writing modules. It's just generating
templates. It doesn't know if the module, when finished, will need a
compiler or not (since modules can be hybrid).
> I don't think I should put anything into Compress::Bzip2 to handle this,
> although it is easy enough to do. What I would do is check for
> $Config{cc}, and die pronto if it's not set. How big an issue is this?
It doesn't make much sense to check for $Config{cc} as that is set
by Configure at perl build time, where a compiler _must_ have been
available. So this is always set, unless you delete it by hand.
You'd have to check if $Config{cc} works. This is also doable with
less than 50 lines of code, but it's IMO too much effort for a
modules that require a compiler.
Module::Build has a method have_c_compiler() that you can use to do
that check if your distribution is based on M::B instead of EU::MM.
Marcus
> Sorry, I wasn't a part of the original thread.
>
> -rob
>
> Randy Kobes wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 16 Jun 2005, imacat wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >> I have forwarded this whole thread to Rob Janes, the current
> >>maintainer of CPANPLUS.
> >>
> >> Sorry first. Compress::Bzip2 won't generate reports
> >>when $Config{"cc"} is missing. So I assume there is some
> >>way to disable reports for missing $Config{"cc"}, and as a
> >>XS module author you should employ that. I was wrong.
> >>Digging into CPANPLUS I cannot found any mechanism for
> >>that. Maybe I was wrong here again.
> >>
> >> Personally I think whether $Config{"cc"} is available
> >>for XS modules should be checked at CPANPLUS, and a N/A
> >>report should be sent if $Config{"cc"} is not available.
> >>As a module author you can check if $Config{"cc"} is
> >>available and make some decision (although I don't know
> >>what decision). Maybe some graceful failure on that?
> >>
> >> And Randy, I don't agree with you. Perl may be
> >>distributed as binaries (and that is mostly the case).
> >>Often the building environment is not the same as the
> >>running environment. For the OS characteristics like
> >>$Config{"flock"}, it's reasonable to assume that it is
> >>reliable. But for $Config{"cc"}, assuming its existence
> >>is no doubt a mistake.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >It seems to me that this issue should be decided at the
> >level of the Perl core, since this is responsible for
> >writing the glue for XS-based modules. If it was decided
> >that certain %Config entries should not be trusted, then it
> >would be more efficient to handle this at the core level,
> >rather than having every module author put in the same
> >checks.
> >
> >
> >
>
--
Computers will not be perfected until they can compute how much more
than the estimate the job will cost.
th
