Driven by the need for some quicky modules on aformentioned $work projects, I've just written and uploaded Test::Script 0.01 and Devel::Pler 0.08 to CPAN.
Test::Script is born of my frustration in not having the equivalent of a use_ok test for Perl scripts that can work safely across all platforms, and thus be safe to depend on. I find from time to time I upload a script with a typo of simple syntax error by accident, and these aren't being caught by my normal 01_compile.t, which is where I normally do an initial use_ok of everything in the distribution.
Devel::Pler is a little more interesting. It provides you with a script called pler.
pler is intended as a DWIM (intially for the case where the "I" == "me") wrapper for the Perl debugger when working on Perl distributions.
I'm not a text-mode programmer and I'm not a sysadmin, and I never want to be. And so I find needing to do things like "make && perl -Mblib -d t/04_some_test.t" over and over and over again to be annoying.
prove is a great program for running tests sanely with a minimum of keystrokes, but it doesn't handle debugging, and isn't really designed to.
So if you want a mental equivalent, pler is the equivalent of prove, but for debugging test scripts.
It looks where you are, reruns make if needed, does a few other bits and pieces if needed, and then hands off to the perl debugger.
So if you want to debug a script, all you need to do is:
perl Makefile.PL
pler t/02_script.t
I chose the name in part because every Perl programmer already has those finger-positions hardwired into their brain, so it's fast as hell to type, and in part because it was one of the few sequences of characters I could find that isn't already being used be something else. (and partly in homage to Drawn Together :) )
pler also takes into account that some modules don't need to have their Makefile.PL run to debug/test them. So if you run pler t/02_script.t and you don't have a Makefile, it will -I your lib dir instead and launch using the lib version.
And there's more bits to come as I think of them. One I want to add is that if you run C< pler 02_script.t > inside the t directory, it will make sure the actual debugging session is run from the root of the distribution (as it would during a real make test run).
But of course, as much as I like the name, my apologies go to all Japanese Perl coders (since I'm told it's "not easy" by my flatmate's Japanese girlfriend).
