=head1 NAME

FAQ - Test::Smoke frequently asked questions

=head1 DESCRIPTION

=head2 What is Test::Smoke?

B<Test::Smoke> is the symbolic name for a set of scripts and modules that
try to run the perl core tests on as many configurations as possible and
combine the results into an easy to read report.

The basic cycle looks like:

    fetch_sourcetree
    foreach $config ( @configurations ) {
        make distclean
        ./Configure $config
        make
        make test (and log failures)
    }
    create_report()
    mail_report()

=head2 Why is Test::Smoke?

The reports from B<Test::Smoke> give a good picture of the current state
of Perl development. We try to get as many of the supported platforms
as possible.

=head2 Where is Test::Smoke?

On CPAN and L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Test-Smoke>

=head2 What are these configuration files about?

B<Test::Smoke> uses two types of configuration files:

=over 4

=item B<smoke-configuration-file>

This is a file that uses a B<_config> suffix and contains settings for
the F<smokeperl.pl> program and is created by F<configsmoke.pl>.

This is basically a Data::Dumper::Dump() of a hash.

=item B<build-configurations-file>

This file contains the information needed to assemble the list of
perl configurations that will be used to build and test perl.

The file is devided into sections separated by a line that starts with
an equals-sign (B<=>). Each line in a section is combined with all
lines from all the other sections. The default build-configurations
file F<perlcurrent.cfg> consist of four (4) sections:

=over 4

=item B<section 1> one (1) (blank) line

=item B<section 2> two (2) lines

=item B<section 3> seven (7) lines

=item B<section 4> two (2) lines (and a policy indicator line)

=back

This file wil yield 1 * 2 * 7 * 2 = 28 configurations. B<Test::Smoke>
will build perl in all of these 28 configurations and run the core
test suite one (1), two (2) or three (3) times for each of those
perls:

=over 4

=item * with C<< $ENV{PERLIO}=stdio >> (allways)

=item * with C<< $ENV{PERLIO}=perlio >> (unless -Uuseperlio)

=item * with C<< $ENV{PERL_UNICODE}="", $ENV{LC_ALL}=xx_YY.utf8 >> (if
specified and !-Uuseperlio) 

=back

If a section consists of only one single line, like I<section 1> in
the example, the options on this line are used in B<every>
configuration. This can be useful to set an alternate compiler
(-Dcc=gcc) or to disable features that would fail anyway
(-Uusefaststdio). [Thank you Merijn for contributing that insight!]

=back

=head2 How do I create different smoke-configurations?

By specifying a diffent prefix to F<configsmoke.pl>:

    $ perl configsmoke.pl -p mysmoke

This will create the smokeconfiguration F<mysmoke_config> and a small
shellscript F<mysmoke.sh> (or F<mysmoke.cmd> if you are on Windows).

There are three (3) special prefixes: B<smoke55x>, B<smoke562> and
B<smoke58x>. These will set the default answers for F<configsmoke.pl>
to be appropriate for smoking the maintenance branches for these
versions of perl.

=head2 How do I include I<copy-on-write> testing in my smokes?

TIMTOWTDO :-)

Most of this works for flags that need to be added to C<ccflags> in
general.

=over 4

=item B<-Accflags='-DPERLL_COPY_ON_WRITE'>

The fastest way to do it, is to add a new section to your
buildconfiguration file, like this:

    =
    # Add a new two line section for -DPERL_COPY_ON_WRITE

    -Accflags='-DPERL_COPY_ON_WRITE'
    =

That will always work, but IMO looks a bit "loud" in the reports.

B<NOTE>: This is the only way to smoke COW on MSWin32!

=item B<< Default F<Policy.sh> >>

Since maintenence version 1.18.10, the default F<Policy.sh> is
generated from the policy-target sections in the buildconfigurations
file. It is now possible to just add this three line section to your
buildconfiguration file:

    =
    /-DPERL_COPY_ON_WRITE/

    -DPERL_COPY_ON_WRITE
    =

=item B<< Your own F<Policy.sh> >>

Some people use this approach to handle site-specific build
environments from F<< <builddir>/../Policy.sh >>. This precludes the
use of the default F<Policy.sh>. You will need to add the
B<-DPERL_COPY_ON_WRITE> flag to the C<ccflags=''> line in your
F<Policy.sh>. After that you must add the policy-target section, as
above, to your buildconfiguration file.

=back

=head2 What are all the scripts in the smoke suite for?

=over 4

=item B<smokeperl.pl>

This is a wrapper script that goes through all the steps in the smoke
process.

=item B<synctree.pl>

Small wrapper around B<Test::Smoke::Syncer> that can use the settings
from the smoke-configuration file. It will bring the source-tree in
sync.

=item B<patchtree.pl>

Small wrapper around B<Test::Smoke::Patcher> that can use the settings
from the smoke-configuration file. It will apply the patches that are
specified in the patches-to-be-applied file.

=item B<runsmoke.pl>

Small wrapper around B<Test::Smoke::run_smoke()> that can use the
settings from the smoke-configuration file. It runs the smoke cycle
for all configurations and is a replacement for the now removed
B<mktest.pl>.

=item B<mailrpt.pl>

Small wrapper around B<Test::Smoke::Mailer> that can use the settings
from the smoke-configuration file. It will check if the report is
already generated and do so if not. This is the replacement for the
now removed B<mkovz.pl>.

=item B<archiverpt.pl>

This script copies the report and the logfile to a configurable place.

=item B<smokestatus.pl>

This script prints a little status report for a smoke configuration:

    $ ./smokestatus.pl -c smoke58x
    Checking status for configuration 'smoke58x' (5.8.x)
      Change number 21537 started on Sun Oct 26 06:30:39 2003.
        4 out of 10 configurations finished in 3 hours 6 minutes.
        1 configuration showed failures (F).
        0 failures in the running configuration.
        6 configurations to finish, estimated completion in 4 hours 40 minutes
        Average smoke duration: 46 minutes 42 seconds.

=item B<W32Configure.bat>

Small wrapper around B<Test::Smoke::Util::Configure_win32()> that can
use some of the settings from the smoke-configuration file.

This helps users on Windows to create the F<<
<builddir>/win32/smoke.mk >> makefile for a specific configuration in
a unixy way.

=back

=head2 How can I skip a step in smokeperl.pl?

F<smokeperl.pl> takes arguments to skip some of the steps it takes:

=over 4

=item B<--nofetch> Do not sync the source-tree before smoking

=item B<--nopatch> Do not patch the source-tree (if applicable)

=item B<--nomail> Do not send the report out by mail

=item B<--noarchive> Do not archive the report and logfile

=back

F<smokeperl.pl> will always do the equivalent of F<runsmoke.pl> and
generate the report.

After running F<configsmoke.pl> you should have a small
wrapper-script, that sets up the environment and calls
F<smokeperl.pl>. All arguments passed to this script will be passed to
F<smokeperl.pl>! Please see L<smokeperl.pl> for details.

=head2 How do I smoke my patch?

When preparing a patch for admission to perl5-porters it is always a
good idea to test it. B<Test::Smoke> has a mechanism to smoke-test the
effects of that patch. Here is a way to set it up:

=over 4

=item Set up Test::Smoke

Install Test::Smoke and create a separate directory to keep all your
configurations in.

=item Create a build-configurations file

In this configs directory you then create a build-configurations
file. This is usually done from one of default F<*.cfg> files in the
Test::Smoke distribution.

=item Configure Test::Smoke with F<configsmoke.pl>

Now you need to configure Test::Smoke by running F<configsmoke.pl> in
your configs directory (optionally specifying a prefix).

    $ ../smoke/configsmoke.pl -p testpatch

You should be careful with the e-mail options and make sure you
do not send the results to either <smokers-reports@perl.org> or
<perl5-porters@perl.org>.

=item Create a patches-to-apply-file

The patches-to-apply-file has a simple format. It has each patch to
apply on a single line and each line is semicolon separated with the
full path to the patchfile in the first column and optionally the
options to pass to L<patch(1)> in the second column. By default B<-p1>
is passed if no B<-pN> option was specified.

    $ cat mypatch.inc
    ~/p5p/patches/mypatch.diff;-p0

=item Start the smoke with the --pfile option

    $ ./testpatch.sh --pfile mypatch.inc
 
You can also configure Test::Smoke to always use a
patches-to-apply-file during F<configsmoke.pl>.

=back

=head2 Can I interrupt a smoke run?

Yes, you can kill all the smoke related processes. Each stage is
directly logged in F<< <builddir>/mktest.out >>.

As of version 1.17.02 you can specify a timeout (if you have alarm())

=head2 Can I still generate a report after an interrupted smoke?

Yes, but some information might be missing (the compiler info).

    $ perl mailrpt.pl -c [configname]

=head2 How can I run continuous smokes?

On a unixy system you can try this shellscript if you adjust the
C<basedir> variable (thank you Johan Vromans for helping with this).

    #! /bin/sh
    
    basedir=$HOME/Test-Smoke/smoke
    cd "$basedir"
    pidfile=`pwd`/smokeloop.pid
    stpfile=`pwd`/.stopsmoking
    versions="58x current"

    if test -f "$pidfile" ; then
        echo "We seem to be running as: `cat $pidfile`"
        exit
    fi

    trap 'trap "" 0 ; rm -f "$pidfile" ; echo "exiting now" ; exit' 0 1 2 3 15

    checkstop() {
        if test -f "$stpfile" ; then
            echo "`date`: Stopping on user request"
            rm -f "$stpfile"
            exit
        fi
    }

    echo $$ > "$pidfile"
    while test 1 ; do
        checkstop
        touch "$pidfile"

        for smokever in $versions ; do
            nice $basedir/smoke$smokever.sh
            checkstop
        done

        perl -e 'sleep 3600 if (1+2*rand)*(time-(stat(shift))[9])<600' \
            "$pidfile"
    done

This script assumes it is located in the directory where the
Test::Smoke suite is installed. You can stop execution between smokes
for different versions by putting the file F<.stopsmoking> in that
same directory.

=head2 Where do the reports go?

To the address configured in F<configsmoke.pl>. The default is
<smokers-reports@perl.org>.

There are several ways to monitor the reports send in:

=over 4

=item Subscribe to the mailinglist

You can subscribe to that list by sending an empty message to
<daily-build-reports-subscribe@perl.org>.
You do B<not> have to be subscribed to send reports!

=item The usenet mirror

The mailinglist also has a mirror on usenet:
<news:nntp.perl.org/perl.daily-build.reports>

Posts to the newsgroup will also be mirrored on the mailinglist.

=item Google groups

The newsgroup is mirrored on Google groups:
L<http://groups.google.com/group/perl.daily-build.reports>

=item The usenet WWW archive

The usenet mirror also has an archive on the web:
L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports>

=back

=head2 How do I investigate failures?

When investigating a testfailure you need to make sure you have
I<Configure>d and build perl with the same options as the one with the
failures.

    $ cd <builddir>
    $ make distclean
    $ sh Configure -des -Dusedevel [other build options]
    $ make
    $ make test-prep
    $ cd t

Now you can start with a manual run of the failing test:

    $ ./perl harness -v <pathto/failingtest>

=over 4

=item B<Note for Win32>

As Windows lacks a Configure to create the Makefile, Test::Smoke
supplies the helper script F<W32Configure.bat> that will create a new
Makefile with the right options: F<< <builddir>\win32\smoke.mk >>.

After that you can:

    S:\perl-current\win32>nmake -f smoke.mk
    S:\perl-current\win32>nmake -f smoke.mk test-prep
    S:\perl-current\win32>cd ..\t

=back

For -Duseperlio builds (per default) failures can occur in different
environments, and you will also need to set these up:

=over 4

=item B<PERLIO=stdio>

    $ PERLIO=stdio ./perl harness -v <pathto/failingtest>

Note that Windows builds (MSVC, Borland or MinGW) also need the "crlf"
layer:

    S:>(set PERLIO=stdio :crlf) && .\perl harness -v <pathto\failingtest>

Be careful with the environment variables on Windows, they are sticky.

=item B<PERLIO=perlio>

    $ PERLIO=perlio ./perl harness -v <pathto/failingtest>

Note that Windows builds (MSVC, Borland or MinGW) also need the "crlf"
layer:

    S:>(set PERLIO=perlio :crlf) && .\perl harness -v <pathto\failingtest>

Be careful with the environment variables on Windows, they are sticky.

=item B<UTF-8 locale>

If the failure occurs in the UTF-8 locale test-run the environment
setup is a bit different (assuming "en_US.utf8"):

    $ PERL_UNICODE= LC_ALL=en_US.utf8 ./perl harness -v <pathto/failingtest>

=back

=head2 What's with the "daily-build" and "smokers" names?

There has been enough discussion on the subject, so lets agree to
disagree (it was all before my time).

The case is now that the official name for the mailinglist is
B<daily-build-reports> and there is an alias to B<smokers-reports>.

=head1 REVISION

$Id$

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2002-2003, Abe Timmerman <abeltje@cpan.org> All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.

See:

=over 4

=item * L<http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>

=item * L<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>

=back

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

=cut