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     match:
         distribution: "/Win32"
     disabled: 1
     ---
     comment: "Skip distributions by Andy Lester"
     match:
         distribution: "^PETDANCE"
     disabled: 1

Please note that disabling distributions like this will also disable them
for normal, non-smoke usage of CPAN.pm.

One distribution that I would recommend either installing up front or else
disabling with distroprefs is mod_perl, as it is a common requirement for many
Apache:: modules but does not (easily) build and test under automation.

     ---
     comment: "Don't build mod_perl if required by some other module"
     match:
         distribution: "/mod_perl-\d"
     disabled: 1

Distroprefs are more powerful than this -- they can be used to automate
responses to prompts in distributions, set environment variables, specify
additional dependencies and so on.  Read the docs for CPAN.pm for more and
look in the "distroprefs" directory in the CPAN distribution tarball for
examples.

=head2 Using a local CPAN::Mini mirror

Because distributions must be retrieved from a CPAN mirror, the smoker may
cause heavy network load and will repetitively download common build
prerequisites.

An alternative is to use L<CPAN::Mini> to create a local CPAN mirror and to
point CPAN's C<<< urllist >>> to the local mirror.

     $ cpan
     cpan> o conf urllist unshift file:///path/to/minicpan
     cpan> o conf commit

However, CPAN::Reporter::Smoker needs the C<<< find-ls.gz >>> file, which
CPAN::Mini does not mirror by default.  Add it to a .minicpanrc file in your
home directory to include it in your local CPAN mirror.

     also_mirror: indices/find-ls.gz

Note that CPAN::Mini does not mirror developer versions.  Therefore, a
live, network CPAN Mirror will be needed in the urllist to retrieve these.

Note that CPAN requires the LWP module to be installed to use a local CPAN
mirror.

Alternatively, you might experiment with the alpha-quality release of
L<CPAN::Mini::Devel>, which subclasses CPAN::Mini to retrieve developer
distributions (and find-ls.gz) using the same logic as
CPAN::Reporter::Smoker.

=head2 Timing out hanging tests

CPAN::Reporter (since 1.08) supports a 'command_timeout' configuration option.
Set this option in the CPAN::Reporter configuration file to time out tests that
hang up or get stuck at a prompt.  Set it to a high-value to avoid timing out a
lengthy tests that are still running  -- 1000 or more seconds is probably
enough.

Warning -- on Win32, terminating processes via the command_timeout is equivalent to
SIGKILL and could cause system instability or later deadlocks

This option is still considered experimental.

=head2 Avoiding repetitive prerequisite testing

Because CPAN::Reporter::Smoker satisfies all requirements from scratch, common
dependencies (e.g. Class::Accessor) will be unpacked, built and tested
repeatedly.

As of version 1.92_56, CPAN supports the C<<< trust_test_report_history >>> config
option.  When set, CPAN will check the last test report for a distribution.
If one is found, the results of that test are used instead of running tests
again.

     $ cpan
     cpan> o conf init trust_test_report_history
     cpan> o conf commit

=head2 Avoiding repetitive prerequisite builds (EXPERIMENTAL)

CPAN has a C<<< build_dir_reuse >>> config option.  When set (and if a YAML module is
installed and configured), CPAN will attempt to make build directories
persistent.  This has the potential to save substantial time and space during
smoke testing.  CPAN::Reporter::Smoker will recognize if this option is set
and make adjustments to the test process to keep PERL5LIB from growing
uncontrollably as the number of persistent directories increases.

B<NOTE:> Support for C<<< build_dir_reuse >>> is highly experimental. Wait for at least
CPAN version 1.92_62 before trying this option.

     $ cpan
     cpan> o conf init build_dir_reuse
     cpan> o conf commit

=head2 Stopping early if a prerequisite fails

Normally, CPAN.pm continues testing a distribution even if a prerequisite fails
to build or fails testing.  Some distributions may pass their tests even
without a listed prerequisite, but most just fail (and CPAN::Reporter discards
failures if prerequisites are not met).

As of version 1.92_57, CPAN supports the C<<< halt_on_failure >>> config option.
When set, a prerequisite failure stops further processing.

     $ cpan
     cpan> o conf init halt_on_failure
     cpan> o conf commit

However, a disadvantage of halting early is that no DISCARD grade is
recorded in the history.  The next time CPAN::Reporter::Smoker runs, the
distribution will be tested again from scratch.  It may be better to let all
prerequisites finish so the distribution can fail its test and be flagged
with DISCARD so it will be skipped in the future.

=head2 CPAN cache bloat

CPAN will use a lot of scratch space to download, build and test modules.  Use
CPAN's built-in cache management configuration to let it purge the cache
periodically if you don't want to do this manually.  When configured, the cache