Unexplained delay Module::Build + ExtUtils::MakeMaker building pureperl modules

[Klaus]

I am having a problem when building pure perl modules
on Windows 7, ActiveState Perl 5.12.3.

The module build / test / install works correctly, but
my issue is that the build process for a very simple
pure perl module (Acme::SList::Utilities in this case)
takes about 60 seconds on my Windows machine. The
Build test and Build install process work rapidly
in about 2 seconds each.

I have experimented with Strawberry Perl on Windows 7 (first a 'Build
clean', then a 'Build') and I can report no delay in building a pure
perl module (Acme::SList::Utilities, takes 2 seconds with Strawberry
Perl on my Windows 7 machine).

So I installed ActiveState Perl back on Windows 7, and, voila, after a
'Build clean', followed by a 'Build', the build process is back to 60
seconds.

C:\Acme-SList-Utilities-0.01>Build clean
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
Cleaning up build files

Yes, a Build clean actually makes it go back to taking a
long time again.

C:\Acme-SList-Utilities-0.01>Build --verbose
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
Building Acme-SList-Utilities
Copying lib\Acme\SList\Utilities.pm -> blib\lib\Acme
\SList\Utilities.pm
Manifying blib\lib/Acme/SList/Utilities.pm -> blib
\libdoc\Acme.SList.Utilities.3
Converting Pod to HTML with ActiveState:ocTools:od
HTMLifying blib\lib\Acme\SList\Utilities.pm -> blib\
libhtml\site\lib\Acme\SList\Utilities.html

** It's actually the HTMLifying step which takes such a
long time.

I suspect that the HTMLifying step of the Build actually
crawls the filesystem (or even worse, goes out on the
net to verify external links)

To get to the bottom of this, I drilled into the ActiveState modules
and I found that the following single call to Pod::Simple::Search in
ActivePerl/DocTools/Pod.pm, subroutine pod2html() is the reason for
the slowdown:

This call (Pod::Simple::Search) consumes 58 seconds on my machine.
It's purpose is to crawl all perl directories,
identify *.pm files and populate an index of all modules with their
respective location on disk. It is that index
which later allows the podfile to replace the pod directive
L<Mod::Name> by <a href="C:\Perl\scite\lib\Mod\Name.pm">.

Let's say that I am not particularly interested in that feature which
translates pod directives L<...> into <a href="...">. In this case, I
can simply comment out the call to Pod::Simple::Search in ActivePerl/
DocTools/Pod.pm.

Now, even with ActiveState Perl, I am back to 2 seconds for a 'Build
clean' + 'Build'. Of course, I have lost the
fancy <a href="..."> for the L<...> constructions, but I consider this
a small price to pay for the 58 seconds that
I have gained with 'Build clean' + 'Build'.

What is particularly interesting is that I now can use App::cpanminus,
without that annoying delay of 58 seconds
for each module to be installed.

The question I have is as follows: The commenting out of the call to
Pod::Simple::Search in ActivePerl/DocTools/Pod.pm works fine for my
system, but I would like to have a more flexible solution (probably
triggered by an environment variable $ENV{'ASPERL_INDEX'} = 'off') as
follows:

Do you think that this is a good solution ?

Where can I speak to ActiveState to propose my changes to be
incorporated into their development branch ?

 

[Klaus]

To get to the bottom of this, I drilled into the ActiveState modules
and I found that the following single call to Pod::Simple::Search in
ActivePerl/DocTools/Pod.pm, subroutine pod2html() is the reason for
the slowdown:

Sorry, my bad. The call to Pod::Simple::Search takes place in Pod/
Html.pm and *not* in ActivePerl/DocTools/Pod.pm.

Let's say that I am not particularly interested in that feature which
translates pod directives L<...> into <a href="...">. In this case, I
can simply comment out the call to Pod::Simple::Search in ActivePerl/
DocTools/Pod.pm.

Again, my bad, the call was commented out in Pod/Html.pm and *not* in
ActivePerl/DocTools/Pod.pm.

Now, even with ActiveState Perl, I am back to 2 seconds for a 'Build
clean' + 'Build'. Of course, I have lost the
fancy <a href="..."> for the L<...> constructions, but I consider this
a small price to pay for the 58 seconds that
I have gained with 'Build clean' + 'Build'.

What is particularly interesting is that I now can use App::cpanminus,
without that annoying delay of 58 seconds
for each module to be installed.

The question I have is as follows: The commenting out of the call to
Pod::Simple::Search in ActivePerl/DocTools/Pod.pm works fine for my

Again, my bad, the call was commented out in Pod/Html.pm and *not* in
ActivePerl/DocTools/Pod.pm.

system, but I would like to have a more flexible solution (probably
triggered by an environment variable $ENV{'ASPERL_INDEX'} = 'off') as
follows:


Do you think that this is a good solution ?

Answering my own question: I don't think this is a good solution.

Where can I speak to ActiveState to propose my changes to be
incorporated into their development branch ?

Before I speak to ActiveState I will first investigate further.