[Pdx-pm] Starting from scratch with Module::Build

Michael G Schwern schwern at pobox.com
Fri Jul 1 19:06:39 PDT 2005


On Fri, Jul 01, 2005 at 05:40:52PM -0700, Marvin Humphrey wrote:
> > No, why should it?
> 
> Because figuring out which modules are worth a damn is already time- 
> consuming, and making it easier for people to contribute  
> undocumented, untested crap makes it that much harder to pull the  
> signal out of the noise.

Slowing the flow of modules to CPAN is not the way to do that espcially if
its slowed by having to know some mysterious module creation mantra.  That
does not select for the best authors but for the ones that slog through the
lore to discover what the mantra is.

I've seen a lot of excellent code that was not put on CPAN because either
A) they thought it was a difficult thing to do or B) they thought putting
code on CPAN was something "special" and that nobody would be interested
in their module.

Remember, CPAN is the *Comprehensive* Perl Archive Network which means you
get the good and the bad.  Often by trying to filter out the bad we've lost
the good.  Its better to just gather everything together and filter from
there.

And then, of course, its a matter of opinion what's good and bad which is
the overriding reason why there are no restrictions on what goes onto CPAN.


> >> As someone who takes documentation and QC seriously, I appreciate
> >> having a template prepared for me that errs on the side of excess.
> >
> > This I don't understand.
> 
> I don't find it burdensome to delete a couple lines of "I'm too lazy  
> to write POD" POD, because I'm going to spend a *lot* more time  
> writing good POD to replace it than it takes to hit the 'd' key a  
> dozen times in vim.  I'm going to check the module and its associated  
> files over several times to make sure nothing's missing before I  
> publish.

If you're going to delete it why have it there in the first place?


-- 
Michael G Schwern     schwern at pobox.com     http://www.pobox.com/~schwern
'All anyone gets in a mirror is themselves,' she said. 'But what you
gets in a good gumbo is everything.'
	-- "Witches Abroad" by Terry Prachett


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