[cam.pm] advice about buggy CPAN module

[David Cantrell]

On Thu, Jun 07, 2007 at 01:33:53PM +0100, Daniel Hulme wrote:

> There is a module on CPAN which shall remain unnamed for now. I use this
> module quite heavily, and happened to discover a bug in it. Like a good
> boy, I wrote a failing test for the bug and came up with a patch against
> the module.  The module's POD gives an email address to send bug reports
> to, so I sent the test, the patch, and a note of explanation to that
> address.  That was about a fortnight ago, and I've not heard back.

He might be on holiday.  Give him *at least* a month before assuming
something is wrong.

> I'd like some advice on what to do next. Should I give in and just keep
> the fix to myself?

Apply the fix locally, post it to rt.cpan so that other people can
benefit.

>                    Should I try to find another way of contacting the
> author?

Yes.

>         Should I write a bad review on cpanratings?

No.  Failure to respond to an email in a short period of time is not
something that you should criticise in someone who is giving you their
stuff for free.

>                                                     Should I distribute
> the patch on my website and hope people find it?

Yes.

>                                                   Should I upload a
> rival module to CPAN?

No.

I'd prod the guy after a month, and again a month later, and a month
after that, and if he's still not responded I'd mumble at the modules
mailing list and ask someone with the necessary privs to make me a
co-maintainer so I can upload a fixed version to the CPAN.

That's basically what I did with Data::Compare.

-- 
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

  "Cynical" is a word used by the naive to describe the experienced.
      George Hills, in uknot