=pod

=head1 NAME

CPANPLUS::Hacking - developing in the CPANPLUS environment

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document attempts to describe how to easiest develop with the
CPANPLUS environment, how certain things work and why.

This is basically a quick-start guide to people who want to add
features or patches to CPANPLUS.

=head1 OBTAINING CPANPLUS

CPANPLUS offers snapshots from the stable and unstable branches.
After every patch to either of the branches, the snapshot is
automatically updated.

You can find the stable branch here (which should be equal to the
CPAN release): L<http://p4.elixus.org/snap/cpanplus-dist.tar.gz>

And the development branch here:
L<http://p4.elixus.org/snap/cpanplus-devel.tar.gz>

=head1 INSTALLING CPANPLUS

CPANPLUS follows the standard perl module installation process:

    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    make install

=head1 CONFIGURING CPANPLUS

When running C<perl Makefile.PL> you will be prompted to configure.
If you have already done so, and merely wish to update the C<Makefile>,
simply run:

    perl Makefile.PL JFDI=1

This will keep your configuration intact. Note however, if there are
changes to the default configuration file C<Config.pm-orig>, you should
either delete your current config file and reconfigure, or patch your
config file from the new entries in C<Config.pm-orig>.

=head1 RUNNING CPANPLUS FROM DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT

If you'd rather not install the development version to your
C<site_perl> directory, that's no problem. You can set your C<PERL5LIB>
environment variable to CPANPLUS' C<lib> directory, and you can run it
from there.

=head1 RUNNING CPANPLUS TESTS

Tests are what tells us if CPANPLUS is working. If a test is not working,
try to run it explicilty like this:

    perl -I/path/to/cpanplus/lib t/XX_name_of_test.t 1

The extra '1' makes sure that all the messages and errors (they might
be errors we're testing for!) are being printed rather than kept quiet.
This is a great way to find out the context of any failures that may
occur.

If you believe this test failure proves a bug in CPANPLUS, the long
output of the test file is something we'd like to see alongside your
bug report.

=head1 FINDING BUGS

Sometimes you might find bugs in CPANPLUS' behaviour. If you encounter
these in a development snapshot, we'd appreciate a complete patch (as
described below in the L<SENDING PATCHES> section.

If it's way over your head, then of course reporting the bug is always
better than not reporting it at all. Before you do so though, make
sure you have the B<latest> development snapshot, and the bug still
persists there. If so, report the bug to this address:

    cpanplus-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

A good C<patch> would have the following characteristics:

=over 4

=item Problem description

Describe clearly what the bug is you found, and what it should have
done instead.

=item Program demonstrating the bug

Show us how to reproduce the bug, in a simple of a program as possible

=item [OPTIONAL] A patch to the test suite to test for the bug

Amend our test suite by making sure this bug will be found in this, and
future versions of CPANPLUS (see L<SUPPLYING PATCHES>)

=item [OPTIONAL] A patch to the code + tests + documentation

Fix the bug, update the docs & tests. That way your bug will be gone
forever :)

=back

=head1 SUPPLYING PATCHES

Patches are a good thing, and they are welcome. Especially if they fix
bugs you've found along the way, or that others have reported.

We prefer patches in the following format:

=over 4

=item * In C<diff -u> or C<diff -c> format

=item * From the root of the snapshot

=item * Including patches for code + tests + docs

=item * Sent per mail to cpanplus-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

=item * With subject containing C<[PATCH]> + description of the patch

=back

You will always be informed if a patch is applied or rejected, and in
case of rejection why that is (perhaps you can tweak the patch to have
it accepted after all).

=cut

__END__

* perl5lib
* perl t/foo 1
* patches to cpanplus-devel
* snap/devel.tgz
