Re: configure's checks for --enable-tap-tests are insufficient

Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> writes:

> ilmari(at)ilmari(dot)org (Dagfinn Ilmari =?utf-8?Q?Manns=C3=A5ker?=) writes:
>> Note that Fedora aren't the only ones to do this: Debian also splits the
>> Perl core dist into multiple packages. The crucial difference is that
>> on Debian installing the 'perl' package gives you the whole lot, while
>> on Fedora that's just a subset (similar to Debian's 'perl-base'
>> package); you have to install 'perl-core' to get everything.
>
> Ah-hah. So it seems to me that it'd be a useful exercise to start
> from perl-base and find out what has to be added to get to working
> TAP tests. Anyone?

I disagree. The set of modules in perl-base is not guaranteed to stay
the same across Debian releases: it's just whatever the Debian base
system needs. Similarly, the split of modules between the perl and
perl-core (and even indvidual perl-Foo-Bar) packages has varied between
Fedora/RHEL releases.

I think the other way would be better simpler: we require a complete
Perl core installation. This means that on Fedora < 27 and RHEL < 8 you
need to install perl-core, not perl.

- ilmari
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