Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

Hi all,

I would like to ask what is the "official"/"best practice" to write
patch on a existing module which is original written by others?

The module I planned to patch is "Math::Amoeba".

Thanks in advance.


Tom

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

"Tom" wrote in message
news:1128914946.694522.296760@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com.. .
> Hi all,
>
> I would like to ask what is the "official"/"best practice" to write
> patch on a existing module which is original written by others?
>
> The module I planned to patch is "Math::Amoeba".
>

I would normally send the patch to the author/maintainer of the module, so
that it can be incorporated into a future cpan release of the module. Have
you contacted the author/maintainer ? If it turns out that the module is no
longer being supported by anyone, then you might consider taking it on. I
think there's a procedure for "adopting" modules that have been "abandoned"
...... but I don't know what that procedure is (or where to find details
about it).

If you think that the module has been "abandoned" (which seems likely since
it hasn't been updated in 10 years)and you would like to be its maintainer,
let us know - and someone here might be able to tell you how to go about it.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

Hi Rob,

Yes, I had sent an email to the original author, and now waiting for
his reply. :)

Anyway, this module was not updated for around ten years since the
version 0.01.

Tom

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

"Tom" wrote in message
news:1128918797.063314.69380@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Rob,
>
> Yes, I had sent an email to the original author, and now waiting for
> his reply. :)
>
> Anyway, this module was not updated for around ten years since the
> version 0.01.
>

Another way to report bugs and provide patches is to go to:
http://search.cpan.org/~jarw/Math-Amoeba-0.01/
and click on the link to [View/Report Bugs] -which will take you to:
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Math-Amoeba

But if the author is unreachable via email, then bug reports and patches
submitted to rt.cpan are also unlikely to attract the author's attention.
However, I guess you could submit a report there, too - just to be thorough.
And at least anyone who takes the trouble to visit that page will then find
your patch.

(Of course, there's an rt.cpan page for each module on cpan.)

Cheers,
Rob

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

Tom wrote:
> I would like to ask what is the "official"/"best practice" to write
> patch on a existing module which is original written by others?

In addition to Rob's comments, it may be appropriate to mention

http://www.annocpan.org/about

(which I discovered only recently...)

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Email: http://www.gunnar.cc/cgi-bin/contact.pl

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

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In article <1128914946.694522.296760@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, Tom
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I would like to ask what is the "official"/"best practice" to write
> patch on a existing module which is original written by others?

If you can't find the original author and the module hasn't been
updated in a long time, you can consider taking it over. Talk to
the folks at modules AT perl.org to start that process. :)

--
brian d foy, bdfoy@cpan.org
Subscribe to The Perl Review: http://www.theperlreview.com

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

Dear all,

Thanks for all replies. The original author told me that he would like
to let me to hand over if I am happy with that.

I spent plenty of time to search for "cpan.org" and "perl.org" but
still cannot find a standard procedure of "handover". Could anyone
suggesting some reference to me to follow?

Besides, I tried to register a developer a/c at "pause.cpan.org" but I
did not receive a acknowledge email. Is it normal?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

Tom wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> Thanks for all replies. The original author told me that he would like
> to let me to hand over if I am happy with that.

Just for future reference, there are some suggestions available
for modules that have apparently been abandoned:
http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_maintain_module
The modules at perl.org mailing list can be consulted if
these suggestions don't work.

> I spent plenty of time to search for "cpan.org" and "perl.org" but
> still cannot find a standard procedure of "handover". Could anyone
> suggesting some reference to me to follow?
>
> Besides, I tried to register a developer a/c at "pause.cpan.org" but I
> did not receive a acknowledge email. Is it normal?

The registration guidelines at
http://www.cpan.org/modules/04pause.html#registering
suggest it might take 3 weeks to process; if nothing happens
after this time, try the modules at perl.org mail list.

Once you get a CPAN id, transferring ownership is relatively
straightforward; the original author visits
https://pause.perl.org/pause/
in which there's a form that can be used to transfer a given
module to your CPAN id.

--
best regards,
randy kobes

Re: Best practice to patch a existing module written by others

Thanks a lot.

The links you post are very helpful.
Besides, I search for the mailing archive but could not find my 1st
posting. I think there is an error occured last time.

I requested again and then this new message appear in the mailing list.
:)