Being an open source geek is an interesting position to be in. You can hack on bizarre stuff that barely anyone uses (like Net::IMAP::Simple::NB) or you can hack on stuff that people use but you rarely hear about (like CDB_File, which I didn't create but at least I maintain it).
But then there's the "other" stuff. The things you randomly hear about people installing as "essential" tools, like XML::XPath, or more commonly lately DBD::SQLite.
What's odd about DBD::SQLite is that it has now become a staple of so many tiny little applications (most recently I read about some hack of reddit that someone had done) that if it suddenly went away it would be like perl going away. And that both gives me a wonderful sense of joy (for helping those people) and a terrible sense of dread (because what if I got it wrong somehow?). Such is the way of free software I guess...
Re:Plus, while I think about it
jk2addict on 2007-08-21T13:56:52
DBD::SQLite++ (well, except for 1.13):-)
Aside from using it for applications, the sheer amount of things on CPAN that couldn't be tested, or tested easily without it is probably quite large.
I know Handel/Mango would have worthless tests if it weren't for DBD::SQLite...cuz lord knows I'd never install a real DB just for testing most of that stuff.Re:Plus, while I think about it
Aristotle on 2007-08-21T19:36:53
DBD::Mock?
Re:Plus, while I think about it
jk2addict on 2007-08-21T19:49:37
Not really. I'm not interested in what statements [syntax] were run or what params were bound..that's DBIx::Class' job. I simply want to check that if I told DBIC to delete, it deleted. I'm really testing my interaction with DBIC and comparing it the to real db data itself, not checking that certain statements/binding happened.
Re:Don't sweat it...
Alias on 2007-09-20T00:26:05
He means the ZOMGIBROKECPAN effect, where something stupid causes a ripple effect downstream.
