Technically, all MakeMaker is doing is a pass through too. Each just makes a shell call to its own implementation of test, install, etc. Since we are talking pure Perl modules here (check thread title) those are the only targets that are relevant. Whether pssthrough is a suitable way to deal with C/C++ builds is another discussion entirely.
I pay attention to the topic at hand (pure perl cpan packages), and yes, passthrough is crap.
It is like the most beautiful woman you ever saw, except when you get close you find out she is really a man.
If you want Makefile.PL and Module::Build, use Module::Install, it is most excellent.
Given that both MM and MB command lines are only making Perl calls to their own libraries, "passthrough is crap" is little more than a bald statement that you believe Module::Build is crap.
No I don't, otherwise I would not have recommended that you forget Makefile.PL and stick with Build.PL.
Besides, didn't you know passthrough is DEPRECATED?
I didn't post this question to take sides in the "I hate Module::Build" debate.
With the amount of .. *pause* .. shall we say ... "tangents" , you could have fooled me.
... How big of a community can't download Module::Build but can download CPAN modules... What are the costs ...
Survey time :)
Does it occur to you that my time is valuable and you are asking me to spend it to support your hatred of Module::Build? If so, I need a good reason.
Balls. Sounds like a stiff something or other or other or another is in order.
Looking at the tenor of the responses on this thread and who has participated and who has not, I'm inclined to believe that the answer to my question is something like this: aside from some very vocal (if anonymous) individuals like yourself, most people simply don't care....
*yawn*
Straw man,
Argumentum ex silentio,
Ad hominem,
Argumentum ad ignorantiam...