use Perl

• Best way to do it? (Score:2)

  by Matts (1087)

  I've often wanted to know when people install one of my modules. Do you have a suggestion of a good way to do it? I was thinking of something like:

  local $SIG{ALARM} = sub { die "alarm" };
  alarm(5);
  print "[This question will timeout in 5 seconds and default to 'No']\n";
  my $val = eval { prompt("Send message to module author that you installed $module?", "Y") };
  $val = "N" if $@;
  if ($val =~ /^Y/i) {
       send_udp_packet_to_sergeant_dot_org();
  }

  Would that be reasonable?
  • Re:Best way to do it? (Score:2)

    by Ovid (2709) on 2006.09.13 10:28 (#50002) Homepage Journal

    I'd feel a lot more comfortable with that, but there's a better way. If you're using ExtUtil::MakeMaker (and I believe Module::Build offers the same functionality), then you can force a default if not running interactively. From the docs [cpan.org]:

    If prompt() detects that it is not running interactively and there is nothing on STDIN or if the PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT environment variable is set to true, the $default will be used without prompting. This prevents automated processes from blocking on user input.

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    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Matts (1087)

      Interesting. But I'd almost *rather* the user could choose even under the CPAN shell to not send the info (but still have the default be 'Y'). Hence the alarm() so that it only blocks for 5 seconds.