Hi guys,

A couple of days ago I uploaded Math::MPC-0.50 to CPAN.

Since none of the CPAN Testers (afaik) have the prerequisite mpc C library
installed, and since I've taken no steps to make any special provision for
such a case, I was expecting to see a number of FAIL reports stemming from
"mpc.h: No such file" (or something like that).

But instead of "FAIL" reports, I see 4 "UNKNOWN" reports from Andreas
Koenig - eg  http://nntp.x.perl.org/group/perl.cpan.testers/2317010

How is it that the unlocatability of mpc.h is now resulting in an
"UNKNOWN" - when it used to result in a "FAIL" ?
Is this a new *feature* of the testing that's now being conducted ? Is it
(instead) a new bug ? Or is it just something special that Andreas has
configured ?

If it's a new feature, then I think that's fantastic !! - and congrats to
whoever (David Golden, you're the main suspect ) implemented it.

The diagnostic that's being reported suggests that the"UNKNOWN" is given
because the 'make' step failed. Is that the basis upon which Math-MPC-0.50
gets its "UNKNOWN" reports ? I'm not sure that's an ideal basis ... but
it's bloody close to it - and far closer than anything I could have come up
with, despite (or "because of") the fact that it's so simple :-)

I guess my only quibble would be that the diagnostic still implies that the
author has made a mistake. I'm looking at the paragraph:

--------------------------------------------
This could be because your distribution had an error during the make/build
stage, did not define tests, tests could not be found, because your tests 
were
interrupted before they finished, or because the results of the tests could 
not
be parsed.  You may wish to consult the CPAN Testers Wiki:
--------------------------------------------

The super-sensitive module author will still read that as implying that
"there's something wrong with your distro", even though the real problem
could be that the tester's environment is lacking something (eg the mpc
library).

Maybe something like:

--------------------------------------------
This could be because the tester's build environment lacked a necessary 
element, because your distribution had an error during the make/build stage, 
because tests were not defined or could not be found, because your tests 
were interrupted before they finished, or because the results of the tests 
could not be parsed.  You may wish to consult the CPAN Testers Wiki:
--------------------------------------------

Cheers,
Rob