Test2::Util(3perl) Perl Programmers Reference Guide Test2::Util(3perl)
NAME
Test2::Util - Tools used by Test2 and friends.
DESCRIPTION
Collection of tools used by Test2 and friends.
EXPORTS
All exports are optional. You must specify subs to import.
($success, $error) = try { ... }
Eval the codeblock, return success or failure, and the error
message. This code protects $@ and $!, they will be restored by the
end of the run. This code also temporarily blocks $SIG{DIE}
handlers.
protect { ... }
Similar to try, except that it does not catch exceptions. The idea
here is to protect $@ and $! from changes. $@ and $! will be
restored to whatever they were before the run so long as it is
successful. If the run fails $! will still be restored, but $@ will
contain the exception being thrown.
CAN_FORK
True if this system is capable of true or pseudo-fork.
CAN_REALLY_FORK
True if the system can really fork. This will be false for systems
where fork is emulated.
CAN_THREAD
True if this system is capable of using threads.
USE_THREADS
Returns true if threads are enabled, false if they are not.
get_tid
This will return the id of the current thread when threads are
enabled, otherwise it returns 0.
my $file = pkg_to_file($package)
Convert a package name to a filename.
$string = ipc_separator()
Get the IPC separator. Currently this is always the string '~'.
$string = gen_uid()
Generate a unique id (NOT A UUID). This will typically be the
process id, the thread id, the time, and an incrementing integer all
joined with the ipc_separator().
These ID's are unique enough for most purposes. For identical ids to
be generated you must have 2 processes with the same PID generate
IDs at the same time with the same current state of the incrementing
integer. This is a perfectly reasonable thing to expect to happen
across multiple machines, but is quite unlikely to happen on one
machine.
This can fail to be unique if a process generates an id, calls exec,
and does it again after the exec and it all happens in less than a
second. It can also happen if the systems process id's cycle in less
than a second allowing 2 different programs that use this generator
to run with the same PID in less than a second. Both these cases are
sufficiently unlikely. If you need universally unique ids, or ids
that are unique in these conditions, look at Data::UUID.
($ok, $err) = do_rename($old_name, $new_name)
Rename a file, this wraps rename() in a way that makes it more
reliable cross-platform when trying to rename files you recently
altered.
($ok, $err) = do_unlink($filename)
Unlink a file, this wraps unlink() in a way that makes it more
reliable cross-platform when trying to unlink files you recently
altered.
($ok, $err) = try_sig_mask { ... }
Complete an action with several signals masked, they will be
unmasked at the end allowing any signals that were intercepted to
get handled.
This is primarily used when you need to make several actions atomic
(against some signals anyway).
Signals that are intercepted:
SIGINT
SIGALRM
SIGHUP
SIGTERM
SIGUSR1
SIGUSR2
NOTES && CAVEATS
5.10.0
Perl 5.10.0 has a bug when compiled with newer gcc versions. This
bug causes a segfault whenever a new thread is launched. Test2 will
attempt to detect this, and note that the system is not capable of
forking when it is detected.
Devel::Cover
Devel::Cover does not support threads. CAN_THREAD will return false
if Devel::Cover is loaded before the check is first run.
SOURCE
The source code repository for Test2 can be found at
<https://github.com/Test-More/test-more/>.
MAINTAINERS
Chad Granum <exodist@cpan.org>
AUTHORS
Chad Granum <exodist@cpan.org>
Kent Fredric <kentnl@cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2020 Chad Granum <exodist@cpan.org>.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
See <https://dev.perl.org/licenses/>
perl v5.40.1 2026-08-30 Test2::Util(3perl)
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