On Aug 3, 2006, at 2:02 PM, Jay Savage wrote:
On 8/3/06, Sherm Pendley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Aug 3, 2006, at 10:41 AM, Jay Savage wrote:
> The only caveat I can think of is that the tests assume you're
> installing DBD::mysql against a fresh MySQL installation with
the root
> password still unset.
They assume no such thing. They don't even assume that the server
against which you're going to run the tests is on the same machine.
I believe you, but this clearly contradicts docs, and the information
provided by MySQL themselves
It's worth keeping in mind that MySQL AB is neither the author nor
the maintainer of DBD::mysql. It's certainly nice that they've
provided a brief summary of the most common scenario, but it's a
mistake to view that summary as being authoritative.
Assuming that you run cpan via sudo, that means the tests attempt to
connect to the database as root, with no password. That's pretty clear
from the docs and, in fact, matches observed behavior.
Yes, it does. The MySQL AB summary is correct as far as it goes, but
it *is* just a summary, and as such it's incomplete by nature. It
describes the default situation, but it doesn't go into detail as to
what options are available for overriding the defaults. Nor should it
- that's what the module documentation itself is for.
The final word, as always, is the documentation provided by the
module author. That trumps any and all advice given by third parties
- including my own. :-)
Ok, I'll turn off the sarcasm, they're not really that obscure. But
few things in life bug me more than CPAN modules that can be installed
via normal CPAN methods.
It's certainly a problem, I agree. Although, I view it as more of a
social problem than a technical one. Clearly it wouldn't be very
difficult in principle for a module to provide a list of its install
options, along with a brief description of each and its default value.
The problem is that there is no standardized means for a module to
provide such a list, and therefore no means for something like
CPAN.pm to determine what options are available and how they should
be set.
Module authors over the years have used various different approaches
of specifying different options. Some modules (DBD::Pg) use
environment variables, others use options passed to Makefile.PL
(DBD::mysql), while others use an interactive Q&A session (CPAN.pm).
Getting all of the various module authors to agree on a common
standardized approach would be like herding cats.
In the absence of such standardization, the best thing CPAN.pm can do
is offer the "look" command, for downloading and unwrapping the
latest version of a module which needs some manual hand-holding for
the actual installation process.
sherm--
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