CPAN::Reporter::FAQ - Answers and tips for using CPAN::Reporter

version 1.1902

Historically, CPAN Testers was designed to have each tester send a copy of reports to authors. This philosophy changed in September 2008 and CPAN Testers tools were updated to no longer copy authors, but some testers may still be using an older versions.

As of CPAN::Reporter 0.46, FAIL and UNKNOWN reports with unsatisfied prerequisites are discarded. Earlier versions may have sent these reports out by mistake as either an NA or UNKNOWN report.

PASS reports are not discarded because it may be useful to know when tests passed despite a missing prerequisite. NA reports are sent because information about the lack of support for a platform is relevant regardless of prerequisites.

Test reports are sent via ordinary email. The most common reason for errors sending a report is that many Internet Service Providers (ISP's) will block outbound SMTP (email) connections as part of their efforts to fight spam. Instead, email must be routed to the ISP's outbound mail servers, which will relay the email to the intended destination.

You can configure CPAN::Reporter to use a specific outbound email server with the smtp_server configuration option.

  smtp_server = mail.some-isp.com

In at least one case, an ISP has blocked outbound email unless the "from" address was the assigned email address from that ISP.

CPAN Testers uses a mailing list to collect test reports. If the email address you set in email_from is subscribed to the list, your emails will be automatically processed. Otherwise, test reports will be held until manually reviewed and approved.

Subscribing an account to the cpan-testers list is as easy as sending a blank email to cpan-testers-subscribe@perl.org and replying to the confirmation email.

There is a delay between the time emails appear on the mailing list and the time they appear on the CPAN Testers website. There is a further delay before summary statistics appear on search.cpan.org.

If your email address is subscribed to the list but your test reports are still not showing up, your outbound email may have been silently blocked by your ISP. See the question above about errors sending reports.

We do! See the transport option in CPAN::Reporter::Config.

A good place to start is the CPAN Testers Wiki: http://wiki.cpantesters.org/

CPAN Testers statistics are compiled at http://stats.cpantesters.org/

To get credit in the statistics, use the same email address wherever you run tests.

For example, if you are a CPAN author, use your PAUSEID email address.

  email_from = pauseid@cpan.org

Otherwise, you should use a consistent "Full Name" as part of your email address in the email_from option.

  email_from = "John Doe" <john.doe@example.com> 

• CPAN::Testers
• CPAN::Reporter
• Test::Reporter

David Golden <dagolden@cpan.org>

This software is Copyright (c) 2006 by David Golden.

This is free software, licensed under:

  The Apache License, Version 2.0, January 2004