CPAN::...er::FAQ(3pm)

💖 CPAN::Reporter::FAQ — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is CPAN::Reporter::FAQ from the Perl docs, and it's literally just answers and tips for using CPAN::Reporter. no cap. if you've ever been like "why is this thing emailing strangers about my test results" — this page is for you. 🫶

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✨ VERSION ✨

version 1.2020 — yes it's giving vintage, we love her anyway 💅

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🎀 REPORT GRADES 🎀

🌸 Why did I receive a report?

so back in the day, CPAN Testers was designed so that every single tester sent a copy of their reports to the authors. like, the author's inbox just got flooded. that whole philosophy changed in September 2008, and the CPAN Testers tools got updated to stop copying authors. but 💀 some testers are still out here running an older version, so you might still get one. it's not you, it's them.

🌸 Why was a report sent if a prerequisite is missing?

as of CPAN::Reporter 0.46, FAIL and UNKNOWN reports with unsatisfied prerequisites are discarded. slay. earlier versions may have sent those out by mistake as either an NA or UNKNOWN report — rip. 🙈

now, PASS reports are not discarded, because honestly it's useful to know when tests passed despite a missing prerequisite. and NA reports get sent because info about a platform not being supported is relevant regardless of prerequisites. periodt.

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🦋 SENDING REPORTS 🦋

🌸 Why did I get an error sending a test report?

historically, test reports were sent via ordinary email. the most common reason for errors back then? a lot of Internet Service Providers (ISP's) would block outbound SMTP (email) connections as part of their anti-spam efforts. yeah. that.

since 2010, test reports are sent to the CPAN Testers Metabase over HTTPS. so the most common reason for failures now is systems that upgraded CPAN::Reporter but are still configured to use the deprecated and unsupported email system instead of Metabase for transport. like bestie, upgrade the config too 😭

if you're unsure which transport mechanism you're using, go look for the "transport" rule in the .cpanreporter/config.ini file, in the user's home directory. see CPAN::Reporter::Config for the deets on how to set the "transport" option for Metabase.

other errors could be caused by the absence of the .cpanreporter/metabase_id.json file in the user's home directory. this file should be manually created prior to sending any reports, via the metabase-profile program. literally just run it, fill in the information accordingly, and it will create the metabase_id.json file for you. move that file to your .cpanreporter directory and you're all set. ✨

if you get intermittent network issues, you can set the 'retry_submission' option to make a second attempt at sending the report a few seconds later, in case the first one fails. this could be useful for extremely slow connections. we love a comeback attempt 💖

finally: lack of Internet connection or firewall filtering will prevent the report from reaching the CPAN Testers servers. if you're experiencing HTTPS issues or messages complaining about SSL modules, try installing the LWP::Protocol::https module and trying again. if all fails, you may still change the transport uri to use HTTP instead of HTTPS, though this is not recommended. 🚨

🌸 Why didn't my test report show up on CPAN Testers?

there is a delay between the time reports are sent to the Metabase and when they appear on the CPAN Testers website. there's a further delay before summary statistics appear on search.cpan.org. the pipeline is giving slow burn, ngl. 🐌

if your reports do not appear after 24 hours, please contact the cpan-testers-discuss email list (http://lists.perl.org/list/cpan-testers-discuss.html) or join the "#cpantesters-discuss" IRC channel on irc.perl.org. the girlies there will help you out 🫶

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🌈 CPAN TESTERS 🌈

🌸 Where can I find out more about CPAN Testers?

a good place to start is the CPAN Testers Wiki: http://wiki.cpantesters.org/ — go read it, it's iconic 📚

🌸 Where can I find statistics about reports sent to CPAN Testers?

CPAN Testers statistics are compiled at http://stats.cpantesters.org/ — numbers go brrr 📊

🌸 How do I make sure I get credit for my test reports?

to get credit in the statistics, use the same Metabase profile file and the same email address wherever you run tests. consistency is the vibe check here, fr fr. 👑

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

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

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

David Golden <dagolden@cpan.org> — thank you king 🫡

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🌸 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE 🌸

this software is Copyright (c) 2023 by David Golden.

this is free software, licensed under:

The Apache License, Version 2.0, January 2004

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and that's the whole page bestie!! ✨ this was generated by perl v5.40.0 on 2024-08-17 — the manual name is CPAN::...er::FAQ(3pm) and it's a 3pm page, meaning it's a Perl module manpage, iykyk 💅 go send some slay test reports, mwah 💖🎀🦋