Following on from Devel::CheckOS I have been working with
David Golden on Devel::CheckLib. It's similar to Devel::CheckOS, in that it will let module authors specify dependencies which aren't just other perl modules - if they need, eg, libjpeg, then they can use this module in Makefile.PL / Build.PL to make it a pre-req, and if it's missing then the CPAN testers will SHUT UP ABOUT IT and not annoy the author.
It's still in something of a state of flux so not ready for real-world use yet, but we're at the stage where we need lots of people to beat it to hell and back. Please try to run the tests on as many platforms as possible, with as many perls as possible, and in particular using perls built with as many compilers and linkers as possible. Send the results - both successes and failures - to me by email along with the output from perl -V (that's a capital V).
We're particularly interested in results from people whose perl was built with something other than gcc or Microsoft C, as we don't have easy access to the proprietary Sun/SGI/DEC etc compilers or Borland C.
The more alert of you will have noticed that there is a bootstrapping problem in using this from within a Makefile.PL - relax, it will come with a script to bundle itself in an inc/ directory.
The SYNOPSIS of Devel::CheckLib suggests that
Devel::CheckLib should be bundled with the
module distribution. Maybe this should be changed
to a "soft" requirement like
if (eval { require Devel::CheckLib; 1 }) {
Devel::CheckLib::check_lib_or_exit
and make Devel::CheckLib a prereq for tester tools
like CPAN::Reporter?
