Title: Important Testing Changes for perl-module.eclass
Author: Kent Fredric <kentfredric@gmai.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Posted: 2014-10-11
Revision: 1
News-Item-Format: 1.0

If you don't use FEATURES=test, you can ignore this message.

Previously, the default behaviour for consumers of perl-module.eclass was to
not perform tests, even under the application of FEATURES=test, except when
specifically enabled in each and every ebuild with SRC_TEST=do

Gentoo are looking to change this default in the main tree some time around
EAPI6, and so, this behavior is being tested for all EAPIs in the
perl-experimental overlay.

This however means things that previously simply skipped tests due to either
being broken, or due to developer forgetfulness, will now run.

If you experience problems with tests failing as a result, please file a
bug[1] and we'll either

  - version bump the release to one that doesn't fail tests
  - disable tests explicitly with RESTRICT=test

Additionally, Parallel testing is also now enabled by default, which is far
more likely to cause breakage than testing alone.

If you find tests failing due to parallel testing, please file a bug[1] and
we'll either

  - version bump the release to one where parallel testing works
  - disable parallel testing explicitly with PERL_RESTRICT=parallel-test

If you find parallel testing too much of a problem for you in general, you can
disable it by either

  - setting USER_PERL_RESTRICT=parallel-test in your make.conf
  - setting USER_PERL_RESTRICT=parallel-test using /etc/portage/package.env
  and similar.

Additionally, there is a final additional control word that you may wish to
use if you want to disable only tests that require internet access.

Set:

  USER_PERL_RESTRICT=network-test

And two things will happen:

  - NO_NETWORK_TESTING will be declared during test phase, and CPAN Modules
  that respect that will stop firing tests ( without failing )

  - Any packages Gentoo identify as needing network access for tests will
  be marked as such with PERL_RESTRICT=network-test and that will cause the
  whole test-suite to be skipped.

If you find packages tests requiring network access and not respecting the
above control word, please file a bug[1], and we'll likely:

  - file bugs with upstream requesting they utilize NO_NETWORK_TESTING where
  possible.

  - disable tests on the distribution with PERL_RESTRICT=network-test until
  upstream introduce the ENV controls.

Links:

1: Perl Overlay Bug Tracker: https://github.com/gentoo-perl/perl-experimental/issues