Provided by: libdevel-cover-perl_1.29-1_amd64 
NAME
Devel::Cover - Code coverage metrics for Perl
VERSION
version 1.29
SYNOPSIS
To get coverage for an uninstalled module:
cover -test
or
cover -delete
HARNESS_PERL_SWITCHES=-MDevel::Cover make test
cover
To get coverage for an uninstalled module which uses Module::Build (0.26 or later):
./Build testcover
If the module does not use the t/*.t framework:
PERL5OPT=-MDevel::Cover make test
If you want to get coverage for a program:
perl -MDevel::Cover yourprog args
cover
To alter default values:
perl -MDevel::Cover=-db,cover_db,-coverage,statement,time yourprog args
DESCRIPTION
This module provides code coverage metrics for Perl. Code coverage metrics describe how
thoroughly tests exercise code. By using Devel::Cover you can discover areas of code not
exercised by your tests and determine which tests to create to increase coverage. Code
coverage can be considered an indirect measure of quality.
Although it is still being developed, Devel::Cover is now quite stable and provides many
of the features to be expected in a useful coverage tool.
Statement, branch, condition, subroutine, and pod coverage information is reported.
Statement and subroutine coverage data should be accurate. Branch and condition coverage
data should be mostly accurate too, although not always what one might initially expect.
Pod coverage comes from Pod::Coverage. If Pod::Coverage::CountParents is available it
will be used instead. Coverage data for other criteria are not yet collected.
The cover program can be used to generate coverage reports. Devel::Cover ships with a
number of reports including various types of HTML output, textual reports, a report to
display missing coverage in the same format as compilation errors and a report to display
coverage information within the Vim editor.
It is possible to add annotations to reports, for example you can add a column to an HTML
report showing who last changed a line, as determined by git blame. Some annotation
modules are shipped with Devel::Cover and you can easily create your own.
The gcov2perl program can be used to convert gcov files to "Devel::Cover" databases. This
allows you to display your C or XS code coverage together with your Perl coverage, or to
use any of the Devel::Cover reports to display your C coverage data.
Code coverage data are collected by replacing perl ops with functions which count how many
times the ops are executed. These data are then mapped back to reality using the B
compiler modules. There is also a statement profiling facility which should not be relied
on. For proper profiling use Devel::NYTProf. Previous versions of Devel::Cover collected
coverage data by replacing perl's runops function. It is still possible to switch to that
mode of operation, but this now gets little testing and will probably be removed soon.
You probably don't care about any of this.
The most appropriate mailing list on which to discuss this module would be perl-qa. See
<http://lists.perl.org/list/perl-qa.html>.
The Devel::Cover repository can be found at <http://github.com/pjcj/Devel--Cover>. This
is also where problems should be reported.
REQUIREMENTS AND RECOMMENDED MODULES
REQUIREMENTS
• Perl 5.10.0 or greater.
Perl versions 5.6.1, 5.6.2 and 5.8.x may work to an extent but are unsupported. Perl
5.8.7 has problems and may crash.
If you want to use an unsupported version you will need to set the environment
variable $DEVEL_COVER_UNSUPPORTED. Unsupported versions are also untested. I will
consider patches for unsupported versions only if they do not compromise the code.
This is a vague, nebulous concept that I will decide on if and when necessary.
If you are using an unsupported version, please let me know. I don't want to know if
you are just testing Devel::Cover, only if you are seriously using it to do code
coverage analysis of real code. If I get no reports of such usage then I will remove
support and delete the workarounds for versions of perl below 5.10.0. I may do that
anyway.
Different versions of perl may give slightly different results due to changes in the
op tree.
• The ability to compile XS extensions.
This means a working C compiler and make program at least. If you built perl from
source you will have these already and they will be used automatically. If your perl
was built in some other way, for example you may have installed it using your
Operating System's packaging mechanism, you will need to ensure that the appropriate
tools are installed.
• Storable and Digest::MD5
Both are in the core in Perl 5.8.0 and above.
OPTIONAL MODULES
• Template, and either PPI::HTML or Perl::Tidy
Needed if you want syntax highlighted HTML reports.
• Pod::Coverage (0.06 or above) or Pod::Coverage::CountParents
One is needed if you want Pod coverage. If Pod::Coverage::CountParents is installed,
it is preferred.
• Test::More
Required if you want to run Devel::Cover's own tests.
• Test::Differences
Needed if the tests fail and you would like nice output telling you why.
• Template and Parallel::Iterator
Needed if you want to run cpancover.
• JSON::MaybeXS
JSON is used to store the coverage database if it is available. JSON::MaybeXS will
select the best JSON backend installed.
Use with mod_perl
By adding "use Devel::Cover;" to your mod_perl startup script, you should be able to
collect coverage information when running under mod_perl. You can also add any options
you need at this point. I would suggest adding this as early as possible in your startup
script in order to collect as much coverage information as possible.
Alternatively, add -MDevel::Cover to the parameters for mod_perl. In this example,
Devel::Cover will be operating in silent mode.
PerlSwitches -MDevel::Cover=-silent,1
OPTIONS
-blib - "use blib" and ignore files matching \bt/ (default true
if blib directory exists, false otherwise)
-coverage criterion - Turn on coverage for the specified criterion. Criteria
include statement, branch, condition, path, subroutine,
pod, time, all and none (default all available)
-db cover_db - Store results in coverage db (default ./cover_db)
-dir path - Directory in which coverage will be collected (default
cwd)
-ignore RE - Set REs of files to ignore (default "/Devel/Cover\b")
+ignore RE - Append to REs of files to ignore
-inc path - Set prefixes of files to include (default @INC)
+inc path - Append to prefixes of files to include
-loose_perms val - Use loose permissions on all files and directories in
the coverage db so that code changing EUID can still
write coverage information (default off)
-merge val - Merge databases, for multiple test benches (default on)
-select RE - Set REs of files to select (default none)
+select RE - Append to REs of files to select
-silent val - Don't print informational messages (default off)
-subs_only val - Only cover code in subroutine bodies (default off)
-replace_ops val - Use op replacing rather than runops (default on)
-summary val - Print summary information if val is true (default on)
More on Coverage Options
You can specify options to some coverage criteria. At the moment only pod coverage takes
any options. These are the parameters which are passed into the Pod::Coverage
constructor. The extra options are separated by dashes, and you may specify as many as
you wish. For example, to specify that all subroutines containing xx are private, call
Devel::Cover with the option -coverage,pod-also_private-xx.
SELECTING FILES TO COVER
You may select the files for which you want to collect coverage data using the select,
ignore and inc options. The system uses the following procedure to decide whether a file
will be included in coverage reports:
• If the file matches a RE given as a select option, it will be included
• Otherwise, if it matches a RE given as an ignore option, it won't be included
• Otherwise, if it is in one of the inc directories, it won't be included
• Otherwise, it will be included
You may add to the REs to select by using +select, or you may reset the selections using
-select. The same principle applies to the REs to ignore.
The inc directories are initially populated with the contents of perl's @INC array. You
may reset these directories using -inc, or add to them using +inc.
Although these options take regular expressions, you should not enclose the RE within //
or any other quoting characters.
The options -coverage, [+-]select, [+-]ignore and [+-]inc can be specified multiple times,
but they can also take multiple comma separated arguments. In any case you should not add
a space after the comma, unless you want the argument to start with that literal space.
UNCOVERABLE CRITERIA
Sometimes you have code which is uncoverable for some reason. Perhaps it is an else
clause that cannot be reached, or a check for an error condition that should never happen.
You can tell Devel::Cover that certain criteria are uncoverable and then they are not
counted as errors when they are not exercised. In fact, they are counted as errors if
they are exercised.
This feature should only be used as something of a last resort. Ideally you would find
some way of exercising all your code. But if you have analysed your code and determined
that you are not going to be able to exercise it, it may be better to record that fact in
some formal fashion and stop Devel::Cover complaining about it, so that real problems are
not lost in the noise.
If you have uncoverable criteria I suggest not using the default HTML report (with uses
html_minimal at the moment) because this sometimes shows uncoverable points as uncovered.
Instead, you should use the html_basic report for HTML output which should behave
correctly in this regard.
There are two ways to specify a construct as uncoverable, one invasive and one non-
invasive.
Invasive specification
You can use special comments in your code to specify uncoverable criteria. Comments are
of the form:
# uncoverable <criterion> [details]
The keyword "uncoverable" must be the first text in the comment. It should be followed by
the name of the coverage criterion which is uncoverable. There may then be further
information depending on the nature of the uncoverable construct.
Statements
The "uncoverable" comment should appear on either the same line as the statement, or on
the line before it:
$impossible++; # uncoverable statement
# uncoverable statement
it_has_all_gone_horribly_wrong();
If there are multiple statements (or any other criterion) on a line you can specify which
statement is uncoverable by using the "count" attribute, count:n, which indicates that the
uncoverable statement is the nth statement on the line.
# uncoverable statement count:1
# uncoverable statement count:2
cannot_run_this(); or_this();
Branches
The "uncoverable" comment should specify whether the "true" or "false" branch is
uncoverable.
# uncoverable branch true
if (pi == 3)
Both branches may be uncoverable:
# uncoverable branch true
# uncoverable branch false
if (impossible_thing_happened_one_way()) {
handle_it_one_way(); # uncoverable statement
} else {
handle_it_another_way(); # uncoverable statement
}
If there is an elsif in the branch then it can be addressed as the second branch on the
line by using the "count" attribute. Further elsifs are the third and fourth "count"
value, and so on:
# uncoverable branch false count:2 if ($thing == 1) {
handle_thing_being_one(); } elsif ($thing == 2) {
handle_thing_being_tow(); } else {
die "thing can only be one or two, not $thing"; # uncoverable statement }
Conditions
Because of the way in which Perl short-circuits boolean operations, there are three ways
in which such conditionals can be uncoverable. In the case of " $x && $y" for example,
the left operator may never be true, the right operator may never be true, and the whole
operation may never be false. These conditions may be modelled thus:
# uncoverable branch true
# uncoverable condition left
# uncoverable condition false
if ($x && !$y) {
$x++; # uncoverable statement
}
# uncoverable branch true
# uncoverable condition right
# uncoverable condition false
if (!$x && $y) {
}
"Or" conditionals are handled in a similar fashion (TODO - provide some examples) but
"xor" conditionals are not properly handled yet.
As for branches, the "count" value may be used for either conditions in elsif
conditionals, or for complex conditions.
Subroutines
A subroutine should be marked as uncoverable at the point where the first statement is
marked as uncoverable. Ideally all other criteria in the subroutine would be marked as
uncoverable automatically, but that isn't the case at the moment.
sub z {
# uncoverable subroutine
$y++; # uncoverable statement
}
Non-invasive specification
If you can't, or don't want to add coverage comments to your code, you can specify the
uncoverable information in a separate file. By default the files PWD/.uncoverable and
HOME/.uncoverable are checked. If you use the -uncoverable_file parameter then the file
you provide is checked as well as those two files.
The interface to managing this file is the cover program, and the options are:
-uncoverable_file
-add_uncoverable_point
-delete_uncoverable_point **UNIMPLEMENTED**
-clean_uncoverable_points **UNIMPLEMENTED**
The parameter for -add_uncoverable_point is a string composed of up to seven space
separated elements: "$file $criterion $line $count $type $class $note".
The contents of the uncoverable file is the same, with one point per line.
ENVIRONMENT
User variables
The -silent option is turned on when Devel::Cover is invoked via $HARNESS_PERL_SWITCHES or
$PERL5OPT. Devel::Cover tries to do the right thing when $MOD_PERL is set.
$DEVEL_COVER_OPTIONS is appended to any options passed into Devel::Cover.
Developer variables
When running Devel::Cover's own test suite, $DEVEL_COVER_DEBUG turns on debugging
information, $DEVEL_COVER_GOLDEN_VERSION overrides Devel::Cover's own idea of which golden
results it should test against, and $DEVEL_COVER_NO_COVERAGE runs the tests without
collecting coverage. $DEVEL_COVER_DB_FORMAT may be set to "Sereal", "JSON" or "Storable"
to override the default choice of DB format (Sereal, then JSON if either are available,
otherwise Storable). $DEVEL_COVER_IO_OPTIONS provides fine-grained control over the DB
format. For example, setting it to "pretty" when the format is JSON will store the DB in
a readable JSON format. $DEVEL_COVER_CPUS overrides the automated detection of the number
of CPUs to use in parallel testing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Some code and ideas cribbed from:
• Devel::OpProf
• B::Concise
• B::Deparse
SEE ALSO
• Devel::Cover::Tutorial
• B
• Pod::Coverage
LIMITATIONS
There are things that Devel::Cover can't cover.
Absence of shared dependencies
Perl keeps track of which modules have been loaded (to avoid reloading them). Because of
this, it isn't possible to get coverage for a path where a runtime import fails if the
module being imported is one that Devel::Cover uses internally. For example, suppose your
program has this function:
sub foo {
eval { require Storable };
if ($@) {
carp "Can't find Storable";
return;
}
# ...
}
You might write a test for the failure mode as
BEGIN { @INC = () }
foo();
# check for error message
Because Devel::Cover uses Storable internally, the import will succeed (and the test will
fail) under a coverage run.
Modules used by Devel::Cover while gathering coverage:
• B
• B::Debug
• B::Deparse
• Carp
• Cwd
• Digest::MD5
• File::Path
• File::Spec
• Storable or JSON::MaybeXS (and its backend) or Sereal
Redefined subroutines
If you redefine a subroutine you may find that the original subroutine is not reported on.
This is because I haven't yet found a way to locate the original CV. Hints, tips or
patches to resolve this will be gladly accepted.
The module Test::TestCoverage uses this technique and so should not be used in conjunction
with Devel::Cover.
BUGS
Almost certainly.
See the BUGS file, the TODO file and the bug trackers at
<https://github.com/pjcj/Devel--Cover/issues?sort=created&direction=desc&state=open> and
<https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Devel-Cover>
Please report new bugs on Github.
LICENCE
Copyright 2001-2017, Paul Johnson (paul@pjcj.net)
This software is free. It is licensed under the same terms as Perl itself.
The latest version of this software should be available on CPAN and from my homepage:
http://www.pjcj.net/.