Module::Build::API(3) User Contributed Perl DocumentationModule::Build::API(3)
NAME
Module::Build::API - API Reference for Module Authors
DESCRIPTION
I list here some of the most important methods in "Module::Build".
Normally you won't need to deal with these methods unless you want to
subclass "Module::Build". But since one of the reasons I created this
module in the first place was so that subclassing is possible (and
easy), I will certainly write more docs as the interface stabilizes.
CONSTRUCTORS
current()
[version 0.20]
This method returns a reasonable facsimile of the currently-
executing "Module::Build" object representing the current build.
You can use this object to query its "notes()" method, inquire
about installed modules, and so on. This is a great way to share
information between different parts of your build process. For
instance, you can ask the user a question during "perl Build.PL",
then use their answer during a regression test:
# In Build.PL:
my $color = $build->prompt("What is your favorite color?");
$build->notes(color => $color);
# In t/colortest.t:
use Module::Build;
my $build = Module::Build->current;
my $color = $build->notes('color');
...
The way the "current()" method is currently implemented, there may
be slight differences between the $build object in Build.PL and the
one in "t/colortest.t". It is our goal to minimize these
differences in future releases of Module::Build, so please report
any anomalies you find.
One important caveat: in its current implementation, "current()"
will NOT work correctly if you have changed out of the directory
that "Module::Build" was invoked from.
new()
[version 0.03]
Creates a new Module::Build object. Arguments to the new() method
are listed below. Most arguments are optional, but you must
provide either the "module_name" argument, or "dist_name" and one
of "dist_version" or "dist_version_from". In other words, you must
provide enough information to determine both a distribution name
and version.
add_to_cleanup
[version 0.19]
An array reference of files to be cleaned up when the "clean"
action is performed. See also the add_to_cleanup() method.
allow_pureperl
[version 0.4005]
A bool indicating the module is still functional without its xs
parts. When an XS module is build with --pureperl_only, it
will otherwise fail.
auto_configure_requires
[version 0.34]
This parameter determines whether Module::Build will add itself
automatically to configure_requires (and build_requires) if
Module::Build is not already there. The required version will
be the last 'major' release, as defined by the decimal version
truncated to two decimal places (e.g. 0.34, instead of 0.3402).
The default value is true.
auto_features
[version 0.26]
This parameter supports the setting of features (see
"feature($name)") automatically based on a set of
prerequisites. For instance, for a module that could
optionally use either MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, you might
use "auto_features" like this:
my $build = Module::Build->new
(
...other stuff here...
auto_features => {
pg_support => {
description => "Interface with Postgres databases",
requires => { 'DBD::Pg' => 23.3,
'DateTime::Format::Pg' => 0 },
},
mysql_support => {
description => "Interface with MySQL databases",
requires => { 'DBD::mysql' => 17.9,
'DateTime::Format::MySQL' => 0 },
},
}
);
For each feature named, the required prerequisites will be
checked, and if there are no failures, the feature will be
enabled (set to 1). Otherwise the failures will be displayed
to the user and the feature will be disabled (set to 0).
See the documentation for "requires" for the details of how
requirements can be specified.
autosplit
[version 0.04]
An optional "autosplit" argument specifies a file which should
be run through the AutoSplit::autosplit() function. If
multiple files should be split, the argument may be given as an
array of the files to split.
In general I don't consider autosplitting a great idea, because
it's not always clear that autosplitting achieves its intended
performance benefits. It may even harm performance in
environments like mod_perl, where as much as possible of a
module's code should be loaded during startup.
build_class
[version 0.28]
The Module::Build class or subclass to use in the build script.
Defaults to "Module::Build" or the class name passed to or
created by a call to "subclass()". This property is useful if
you're writing a custom Module::Build subclass and have a
bootstrapping problem--that is, your subclass requires modules
that may not be installed when "perl Build.PL" is executed, but
you've listed in "build_requires" so that they should be
available when "./Build" is executed.
build_requires
[version 0.07]
Modules listed in this section are necessary to build and
install the given module, but are not necessary for regular
usage of it. This is actually an important distinction - it
allows for tighter control over the body of installed modules,
and facilitates correct dependency checking on binary/packaged
distributions of the module.
See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements
can be specified.
configure_requires
[version 0.30]
Modules listed in this section must be installed before
configuring this distribution (i.e. before running the Build.PL
script). This might be a specific minimum version of
"Module::Build" or any other module the Build.PL needs in order
to do its stuff. Clients like "CPAN.pm" or "CPANPLUS" will be
expected to pick "configure_requires" out of the META.yml file
and install these items before running the "Build.PL".
Module::Build may automatically add itself to
configure_requires. See "auto_configure_requires" for details.
See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements
can be specified.
test_requires
[version 0.4004]
Modules listed in this section must be installed before testing
the distribution.
See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements
can be specified.
create_packlist
[version 0.28]
If true, this parameter tells Module::Build to create a
.packlist file during the "install" action, just like
"ExtUtils::MakeMaker" does. The file is created in a
subdirectory of the "arch" installation location. It is used
by some other tools (CPAN, CPANPLUS, etc.) for determining what
files are part of an install.
The default value is true. This parameter was introduced in
Module::Build version 0.2609; previously no packlists were ever
created by Module::Build.
c_source
[version 0.04]
An optional "c_source" argument specifies a directory which
contains C source files that the rest of the build may depend
on. Any ".c" files in the directory will be compiled to object
files. The directory will be added to the search path during
the compilation and linking phases of any C or XS files.
[version 0.3604]
A list of directories can be supplied using an anonymous array
reference of strings.
conflicts
[version 0.07]
Modules listed in this section conflict in some serious way
with the given module. "Module::Build" (or some higher-level
tool) will refuse to install the given module if the given
module/version is also installed.
See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements
can be specified.
create_license
[version 0.31]
This parameter tells Module::Build to automatically create a
LICENSE file at the top level of your distribution, containing
the full text of the author's chosen license. This requires
"Software::License" on the author's machine, and further
requires that the "license" parameter specifies a license that
it knows about.
create_makefile_pl
[version 0.19]
This parameter lets you use "Module::Build::Compat" during the
"distdir" (or "dist") action to automatically create a
Makefile.PL for compatibility with "ExtUtils::MakeMaker". The
parameter's value should be one of the styles named in the
Module::Build::Compat documentation.
create_readme
[version 0.22]
This parameter tells Module::Build to automatically create a
README file at the top level of your distribution. Currently
it will simply use "Pod::Text" (or "Pod::Readme" if it's
installed) on the file indicated by "dist_version_from" and put
the result in the README file. This is by no means the only
recommended style for writing a README, but it seems to be one
common one used on the CPAN.
If you generate a README in this way, it's probably a good idea
to create a separate INSTALL file if that information isn't in
the generated README.
dist_abstract
[version 0.20]
This should be a short description of the distribution. This
is used when generating metadata for META.yml and PPD files.
If it is not given then "Module::Build" looks in the POD of the
module from which it gets the distribution's version. If it
finds a POD section marked "=head1 NAME", then it looks for the
first line matching "\s+-\s+(.+)", and uses the captured text
as the abstract.
dist_author
[version 0.20]
This should be something like "John Doe <jdoe AT example.com>", or
if there are multiple authors, an anonymous array of strings
may be specified. This is used when generating metadata for
META.yml and PPD files. If this is not specified, then
"Module::Build" looks at the module from which it gets the
distribution's version. If it finds a POD section marked
"=head1 AUTHOR", then it uses the contents of this section.
dist_name
[version 0.11]
Specifies the name for this distribution. Most authors won't
need to set this directly, they can use "module_name" to set
"dist_name" to a reasonable default. However, some
agglomerative distributions like "libwww-perl" or "bioperl"
have names that don't correspond directly to a module name, so
"dist_name" can be set independently.
dist_suffix
[version 0.37]
Specifies an optional suffix to include after the version
number in the distribution directory (and tarball) name. The
only suffix currently recognized by PAUSE is 'TRIAL', which
indicates that the distribution should not be indexed. For
example:
Foo-Bar-1.23-TRIAL.tar.gz
This will automatically do the "right thing" depending on
"dist_version" and "release_status". When "dist_version" does
not have an underscore and "release_status" is not 'stable',
then "dist_suffix" will default to 'TRIAL'. Otherwise it will
default to the empty string, disabling the suffix.
In general, authors should only set this if they must override
the default behavior for some particular purpose.
dist_version
[version 0.11]
Specifies a version number for the distribution. See
"module_name" or "dist_version_from" for ways to have this set
automatically from a $VERSION variable in a module. One way or
another, a version number needs to be set.
dist_version_from
[version 0.11]
Specifies a file to look for the distribution version in. Most
authors won't need to set this directly, they can use
"module_name" to set it to a reasonable default.
The version is extracted from the specified file according to
the same rules as ExtUtils::MakeMaker and "CPAN.pm". It
involves finding the first line that matches the regular
expression
/([\$*])(([\w\:\']*)\bVERSION)\b.*\=/
eval()-ing that line, then checking the value of the $VERSION
variable. Quite ugly, really, but all the modules on CPAN
depend on this process, so there's no real opportunity to
change to something better.
If the target file of "dist_version_from" contains more than
one package declaration, the version returned will be the one
matching the configured "module_name".
dynamic_config
[version 0.07]
A boolean flag indicating whether the Build.PL file must be
executed, or whether this module can be built, tested and
installed solely from consulting its metadata file. The main
reason to set this to a true value is that your module performs
some dynamic configuration as part of its build/install
process. If the flag is omitted, the META.yml spec says that
installation tools should treat it as 1 (true), because this is
a safer way to behave.
Currently "Module::Build" doesn't actually do anything with
this flag - it's up to higher-level tools like "CPAN.pm" to do
something useful with it. It can potentially bring lots of
security, packaging, and convenience improvements.
extra_compiler_flags
extra_linker_flags
[version 0.19]
These parameters can contain array references (or strings, in
which case they will be split into arrays) to pass through to
the compiler and linker phases when compiling/linking C code.
For example, to tell the compiler that your code is C++, you
might do:
my $build = Module::Build->new
(
module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
extra_compiler_flags => ['-x', 'c++'],
);
To link your XS code against glib you might write something
like:
my $build = Module::Build->new
(
module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
dynamic_config => 1,
extra_compiler_flags => scalar `glib-config --cflags`,
extra_linker_flags => scalar `glib-config --libs`,
);
get_options
[version 0.26]
You can pass arbitrary command line options to Build.PL or
Build, and they will be stored in the Module::Build object and
can be accessed via the "args()" method. However, sometimes
you want more flexibility out of your argument processing than
this allows. In such cases, use the "get_options" parameter to
pass in a hash reference of argument specifications, and the
list of arguments to Build.PL or Build will be processed
according to those specifications before they're passed on to
"Module::Build"'s own argument processing.
The supported option specification hash keys are:
type
The type of option. The types are those supported by
Getopt::Long; consult its documentation for a complete
list. Typical types are "=s" for strings, "+" for additive
options, and "!" for negatable options. If the type is not
specified, it will be considered a boolean, i.e. no
argument is taken and a value of 1 will be assigned when
the option is encountered.
store
A reference to a scalar in which to store the value passed
to the option. If not specified, the value will be stored
under the option name in the hash returned by the "args()"
method.
default
A default value for the option. If no default value is
specified and no option is passed, then the option key will
not exist in the hash returned by "args()".
You can combine references to your own variables or subroutines
with unreferenced specifications, for which the result will
also be stored in the hash returned by "args()". For example:
my $loud = 0;
my $build = Module::Build->new
(
module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
get_options => {
Loud => { store => \$loud },
Dbd => { type => '=s' },
Quantity => { type => '+' },
}
);
print STDERR "HEY, ARE YOU LISTENING??\n" if $loud;
print "We'll use the ", $build->args('Dbd'), " DBI driver\n";
print "Are you sure you want that many?\n"
if $build->args('Quantity') > 2;
The arguments for such a specification can be called like so:
perl Build.PL --Loud --Dbd=DBD::pg --Quantity --Quantity --Quantity
WARNING: Any option specifications that conflict with
Module::Build's own options (defined by its properties) will
throw an exception. Use capitalized option names to avoid
unintended conflicts with future Module::Build options.
Consult the Getopt::Long documentation for details on its
usage.
include_dirs
[version 0.24]
Specifies any additional directories in which to search for C
header files. May be given as a string indicating a single
directory, or as a list reference indicating multiple
directories.
install_path
[version 0.19]
You can set paths for individual installable elements by using
the "install_path" parameter:
my $build = Module::Build->new
(
...other stuff here...
install_path => {
lib => '/foo/lib',
arch => '/foo/lib/arch',
}
);
installdirs
[version 0.19]
Determines where files are installed within the normal perl
hierarchy as determined by Config.pm. Valid values are:
"core", "site", "vendor". The default is "site". See "INSTALL
PATHS" in Module::Build
license
[version 0.07]
Specifies the licensing terms of your distribution.
As of Module::Build version 0.36_14, you may use a
Software::License subclass name (e.g. 'Apache_2_0') instead of
one of the keys below.
The legacy list of valid license values include:
apache
The distribution is licensed under the Apache License,
Version 2.0 (<http://apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0>;).
apache_1_1
The distribution is licensed under the Apache Software
License, Version 1.1
(<http://apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.1>;).
artistic
The distribution is licensed under the Artistic License, as
specified by the Artistic file in the standard Perl
distribution.
artistic_2
The distribution is licensed under the Artistic 2.0 License
(<http://opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license-2.0.php>;.)
bsd The distribution is licensed under the BSD License
(<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php>;).
gpl The distribution is licensed under the terms of the GNU
General Public License
(<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php>;).
lgpl
The distribution is licensed under the terms of the GNU
Lesser General Public License
(<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php>;).
mit The distribution is licensed under the MIT License
(<http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php>;).
mozilla
The distribution is licensed under the Mozilla Public
License. (<http://opensource.org/licenses/mozilla1.0.php>;
or <http://opensource.org/licenses/mozilla1.1.php>;)
open_source
The distribution is licensed under some other Open Source
Initiative-approved license listed at
<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/>;.
perl
The distribution may be copied and redistributed under the
same terms as Perl itself (this is by far the most common
licensing option for modules on CPAN). This is a dual
license, in which the user may choose between either the
GPL or the Artistic license.
restrictive
The distribution may not be redistributed without special
permission from the author and/or copyright holder.
unrestricted
The distribution is licensed under a license that is not
approved by www.opensource.org but that allows distribution
without restrictions.
Note that you must still include the terms of your license in
your code and documentation - this field only sets the
information that is included in distribution metadata to let
automated tools figure out your licensing restrictions. Humans
still need something to read. If you choose to provide this
field, you should make sure that you keep it in sync with your
written documentation if you ever change your licensing terms.
You may also use a license type of "unknown" if you don't wish
to specify your terms in the metadata.
Also see the "create_license" parameter.
meta_add
[version 0.28]
A hash of key/value pairs that should be added to the META.yml
file during the "distmeta" action. Any existing entries with
the same names will be overridden.
See the "MODULE METADATA" section for details.
meta_merge
[version 0.28]
A hash of key/value pairs that should be merged into the
META.yml file during the "distmeta" action. Any existing
entries with the same names will be overridden.
The only difference between "meta_add" and "meta_merge" is
their behavior on hash-valued and array-valued entries:
"meta_add" will completely blow away the existing hash or array
value, but "meta_merge" will merge the supplied data into the
existing hash or array value.
See the "MODULE METADATA" section for details.
module_name
[version 0.03]
The "module_name" is a shortcut for setting default values of
"dist_name" and "dist_version_from", reflecting the fact that
the majority of CPAN distributions are centered around one
"main" module. For instance, if you set "module_name" to
"Foo::Bar", then "dist_name" will default to "Foo-Bar" and
"dist_version_from" will default to "lib/Foo/Bar.pm".
"dist_version_from" will in turn be used to set "dist_version".
Setting "module_name" won't override a "dist_*" parameter you
specify explicitly.
needs_compiler
[version 0.36]
The "needs_compiler" parameter indicates whether a compiler is
required to build the distribution. The default is false,
unless XS files are found or the "c_source" parameter is set,
in which case it is true. If true, ExtUtils::CBuilder is
automatically added to "build_requires" if needed.
For a distribution where a compiler is optional, e.g. a dual
XS/pure-Perl distribution, "needs_compiler" should explicitly
be set to a false value.
PL_files
[version 0.06]
An optional parameter specifying a set of ".PL" files in your
distribution. These will be run as Perl scripts prior to
processing the rest of the files in your distribution with the
name of the file they're generating as an argument. They are
usually used as templates for creating other files dynamically,
so that a file like "lib/Foo/Bar.pm.PL" might create the file
"lib/Foo/Bar.pm".
The files are specified with the ".PL" files as hash keys, and
the file(s) they generate as hash values, like so:
my $build = Module::Build->new
(
module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
...
PL_files => { 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm.PL' => 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm' },
);
Note that the path specifications are always given in Unix-like
format, not in the style of the local system.
If your ".PL" scripts don't create any files, or if they create
files with unexpected names, or even if they create multiple
files, you can indicate that so that Module::Build can properly
handle these created files:
PL_files => {
'lib/Foo/Bar.pm.PL' => 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm',
'lib/something.PL' => ['/lib/something', '/lib/else'],
'lib/funny.PL' => [],
}
Here's an example of a simple PL file.
my $output_file = shift;
open my $fh, ">", $output_file or die "Can't open $output_file: $!";
print $fh <<'END';
#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Hello, world!\n";
END
PL files are not installed by default, so its safe to put them
in lib/ and bin/.
pm_files
[version 0.19]
An optional parameter specifying the set of ".pm" files in this
distribution, specified as a hash reference whose keys are the
files' locations in the distributions, and whose values are
their logical locations based on their package name, i.e. where
they would be found in a "normal" Module::Build-style
distribution. This parameter is mainly intended to support
alternative layouts of files.
For instance, if you have an old-style "MakeMaker" distribution
for a module called "Foo::Bar" and a Bar.pm file at the top
level of the distribution, you could specify your layout in
your "Build.PL" like this:
my $build = Module::Build->new
(
module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
...
pm_files => { 'Bar.pm' => 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm' },
);
Note that the values should include "lib/", because this is
where they would be found in a "normal" Module::Build-style
distribution.
Note also that the path specifications are always given in
Unix-like format, not in the style of the local system.
pod_files
[version 0.19]
Just like "pm_files", but used for specifying the set of ".pod"
files in your distribution.
recommends
[version 0.08]
This is just like the "requires" argument, except that modules
listed in this section aren't essential, just a good idea.
We'll just print a friendly warning if one of these modules
aren't found, but we'll continue running.
If a module is recommended but not required, all tests should
still pass if the module isn't installed. This may mean that
some tests may be skipped if recommended dependencies aren't
present.
Automated tools like CPAN.pm should inform the user when
recommended modules aren't installed, and it should offer to
install them if it wants to be helpful.
See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements
can be specified.
recursive_test_files
[version 0.28]
Normally, "Module::Build" does not search subdirectories when
looking for tests to run. When this options is set it will
search recursively in all subdirectories of the standard 't'
test directory.
release_status
[version 0.37]
The CPAN Meta Spec version 2 adds "release_status" to allow
authors to specify how a distribution should be indexed.
Consistent with the spec, this parameter can only have one
three values: 'stable', 'testing' or 'unstable'.
Unless explicitly set by the author, "release_status" will
default to 'stable' unless "dist_version" contains an
underscore, in which case it will default to 'testing'.
It is an error to specify a "release_status" of 'stable' when
"dist_version" contains an underscore character.
requires
[version 0.07]
An optional "requires" argument specifies any module
prerequisites that the current module depends on.
One note: currently "Module::Build" doesn't actually require
the user to have dependencies installed, it just strongly
urges. In the future we may require it. There's also a
"recommends" section for things that aren't absolutely
required.
Automated tools like CPAN.pm should refuse to install a module
if one of its dependencies isn't satisfied, unless a "force"
command is given by the user. If the tools are helpful, they
should also offer to install the dependencies.
A synonym for "requires" is "prereq", to help succour people
transitioning from "ExtUtils::MakeMaker". The "requires" term
is preferred, but the "prereq" term will remain valid in future
distributions.
See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements
can be specified.
script_files
[version 0.18]
An optional parameter specifying a set of files that should be
installed as executable Perl scripts when the module is
installed. May be given as an array reference of the files, as
a hash reference whose keys are the files (and whose values
will currently be ignored), as a string giving the name of a
directory in which to find scripts, or as a string giving the
name of a single script file.
The default is to install any scripts found in a bin directory
at the top level of the distribution, minus any keys of
PL_files.
For backward compatibility, you may use the parameter "scripts"
instead of "script_files". Please consider this usage
deprecated, though it will continue to exist for several
version releases.
share_dir
[version 0.36]
An optional parameter specifying directories of static data
files to be installed as read-only files for use with
File::ShareDir. The "share_dir" property supports both
distribution-level and module-level share files.
The simplest use of "share_dir" is to set it to a directory
name or an arrayref of directory names containing files to be
installed in the distribution-level share directory.
share_dir => 'share'
Alternatively, if "share_dir" is a hashref, it may have "dist"
or "module" keys providing full flexibility in defining how
share directories should be installed.
share_dir => {
dist => [ 'examples', 'more_examples' ],
module => {
Foo::Templates => ['share/html', 'share/text'],
Foo::Config => 'share/config',
}
}
If "share_dir" is set, then File::ShareDir will automatically
be added to the "requires" hash.
sign
[version 0.16]
If a true value is specified for this parameter,
Module::Signature will be used (via the 'distsign' action) to
create a SIGNATURE file for your distribution during the
'distdir' action, and to add the SIGNATURE file to the MANIFEST
(therefore, don't add it yourself).
The default value is false. In the future, the default may
change to true if you have "Module::Signature" installed on
your system.
tap_harness_args
[version 0.2808_03]
An optional parameter specifying parameters to be passed to
TAP::Harness when running tests. Must be given as a hash
reference of parameters; see the TAP::Harness documentation for
details. Note that specifying this parameter will implicitly
set "use_tap_harness" to a true value. You must therefore be
sure to add TAP::Harness as a requirement for your module in
"build_requires".
test_files
[version 0.23]
An optional parameter specifying a set of files that should be
used as "Test::Harness"-style regression tests to be run during
the "test" action. May be given as an array reference of the
files, or as a hash reference whose keys are the files (and
whose values will currently be ignored). If the argument is
given as a single string (not in an array reference), that
string will be treated as a "glob()" pattern specifying the
files to use.
The default is to look for a test.pl script in the top-level
directory of the distribution, and any files matching the glob
pattern "*.t" in the t/ subdirectory. If the
"recursive_test_files" property is true, then the "t/"
directory will be scanned recursively for "*.t" files.
use_tap_harness
[version 0.2808_03]
An optional parameter indicating whether or not to use
TAP::Harness for testing rather than Test::Harness. Defaults to
false. If set to true, you must therefore be sure to add
TAP::Harness as a requirement for your module in
"build_requires". Implicitly set to a true value if
"tap_harness_args" is specified.
xs_files
[version 0.19]
Just like "pm_files", but used for specifying the set of ".xs"
files in your distribution.
new_from_context(%args)
[version 0.28]
When called from a directory containing a Build.PL script (in other
words, the base directory of a distribution), this method will run
the Build.PL and call "resume()" to return the resulting
"Module::Build" object to the caller. Any key-value arguments
given to "new_from_context()" are essentially like command line
arguments given to the Build.PL script, so for example you could
pass "verbose => 1" to this method to turn on verbosity.
resume()
[version 0.03]
You'll probably never call this method directly, it's only called
from the auto-generated "Build" script (and the "new_from_context"
method). The "new()" method is only called once, when the user
runs "perl Build.PL". Thereafter, when the user runs "Build test"
or another action, the "Module::Build" object is created using the
"resume()" method to re-instantiate with the settings given earlier
to "new()".
subclass()
[version 0.06]
This creates a new "Module::Build" subclass on the fly, as
described in the "SUBCLASSING" in Module::Build::Authoring section.
The caller must provide either a "class" or "code" parameter, or
both. The "class" parameter indicates the name to use for the new
subclass, and defaults to "MyModuleBuilder". The "code" parameter
specifies Perl code to use as the body of the subclass.
add_property
[version 0.31]
package 'My::Build';
use base 'Module::Build';
__PACKAGE__->add_property( 'pedantic' );
__PACKAGE__->add_property( answer => 42 );
__PACKAGE__->add_property(
'epoch',
default => sub { time },
check => sub {
return 1 if /^\d+$/;
shift->property_error( "'$_' is not an epoch time" );
return 0;
},
);
Adds a property to a Module::Build class. Properties are those
attributes of a Module::Build object which can be passed to the
constructor and which have accessors to get and set them. All of
the core properties, such as "module_name" and "license", are
defined using this class method.
The first argument to "add_property()" is always the name of the
property. The second argument can be either a default value for
the property, or a list of key/value pairs. The supported keys are:
"default"
The default value. May optionally be specified as a code
reference, in which case the return value from the execution of
the code reference will be used. If you need the default to be
a code reference, just use a code reference to return it, e.g.:
default => sub { sub { ... } },
"check"
A code reference that checks that a value specified for the
property is valid. During the execution of the code reference,
the new value will be included in the $_ variable. If the value
is correct, the "check" code reference should return true. If
the value is not correct, it sends an error message to
"property_error()" and returns false.
When this method is called, a new property will be installed in the
Module::Build class, and an accessor will be built to allow the
property to be get or set on the build object.
print $build->pedantic, $/;
$build->pedantic(0);
If the default value is a hash reference, this generates a special-
case accessor method, wherein individual key/value pairs may be set
or fetched:
print "stuff{foo} is: ", $build->stuff( 'foo' ), $/;
$build->stuff( foo => 'bar' );
print $build->stuff( 'foo' ), $/; # Outputs "bar"
Of course, you can still set the entire hash reference at once, as
well:
$build->stuff( { foo => 'bar', baz => 'yo' } );
In either case, if a "check" has been specified for the property,
it will be applied to the entire hash. So the check code reference
should look something like:
check => sub {
return 1 if defined $_ && exists $_->{foo};
shift->property_error(qq{Property "stuff" needs "foo"});
return 0;
},
property_error
[version 0.31]
METHODS
add_build_element($type)
[version 0.26]
Adds a new type of entry to the build process. Accepts a single
string specifying its type-name. There must also be a method
defined to process things of that type, e.g. if you add a build
element called 'foo', then you must also define a method called
"process_foo_files()".
See also "Adding new file types to the build process" in
Module::Build::Cookbook.
add_to_cleanup(@files)
[version 0.03]
You may call "$self->add_to_cleanup(@patterns)" to tell
"Module::Build" that certain files should be removed when the user
performs the "Build clean" action. The arguments to the method are
patterns suitable for passing to Perl's "glob()" function,
specified in either Unix format or the current machine's native
format. It's usually convenient to use Unix format when you hard-
code the filenames (e.g. in Build.PL) and the native format when
the names are programmatically generated (e.g. in a testing
script).
I decided to provide a dynamic method of the $build object, rather
than just use a static list of files named in the Build.PL, because
these static lists can get difficult to manage. I usually prefer
to keep the responsibility for registering temporary files close to
the code that creates them.
args()
[version 0.26]
my $args_href = $build->args;
my %args = $build->args;
my $arg_value = $build->args($key);
$build->args($key, $value);
This method is the preferred interface for retrieving the arguments
passed via command line options to Build.PL or Build, minus the
Module-Build specific options.
When called in in a scalar context with no arguments, this method
returns a reference to the hash storing all of the arguments; in an
array context, it returns the hash itself. When passed a single
argument, it returns the value stored in the args hash for that
option key. When called with two arguments, the second argument is
assigned to the args hash under the key passed as the first
argument.
autosplit_file($from, $to)
[version 0.28]
Invokes the AutoSplit module on the $from file, sending the output
to the "lib/auto" directory inside $to. $to is typically the
"blib/" directory.
base_dir()
[version 0.14]
Returns a string containing the root-level directory of this build,
i.e. where the "Build.PL" script and the "lib" directory can be
found. This is usually the same as the current working directory,
because the "Build" script will "chdir()" into this directory as
soon as it begins execution.
build_requires()
[version 0.21]
Returns a hash reference indicating the "build_requires"
prerequisites that were passed to the "new()" method.
can_action( $action )
Returns a reference to the method that defines $action, or false
otherwise. This is handy for actions defined (or maybe not!) in
subclasses.
[version 0.32_xx]
cbuilder()
[version 0.2809]
Returns the internal ExtUtils::CBuilder object that can be used for
compiling & linking C code. If no such object is available (e.g.
if the system has no compiler installed) an exception will be
thrown.
check_installed_status($module, $version)
[version 0.11]
This method returns a hash reference indicating whether a version
dependency on a certain module is satisfied. The $module argument
is given as a string like "Data::Dumper" or "perl", and the
$version argument can take any of the forms described in "requires"
above. This allows very fine-grained version checking.
The returned hash reference has the following structure:
{
ok => $whether_the_dependency_is_satisfied,
have => $version_already_installed,
need => $version_requested, # Same as incoming $version argument
message => $informative_error_message,
}
If no version of $module is currently installed, the "have" value
will be the string "<none>". Otherwise the "have" value will
simply be the version of the installed module. Note that this
means that if $module is installed but doesn't define a version
number, the "have" value will be "undef" - this is why we don't use
"undef" for the case when $module isn't installed at all.
This method may be called either as an object method
("$build->check_installed_status($module, $version)") or as a class
method ("Module::Build->check_installed_status($module,
$version)").
check_installed_version($module, $version)
[version 0.05]
Like check_installed_status(), but simply returns true or false
depending on whether module $module satisfies the dependency
$version.
If the check succeeds, the return value is the actual version of
$module installed on the system. This allows you to do the
following:
my $installed = $build->check_installed_version('DBI', '1.15');
if ($installed) {
print "Congratulations, version $installed of DBI is installed.\n";
} else {
die "Sorry, you must install DBI.\n";
}
If the check fails, we return false and set $@ to an informative
error message.
If $version is any non-true value (notably zero) and any version of
$module is installed, we return true. In this case, if $module
doesn't define a version, or if its version is zero, we return the
special value "0 but true", which is numerically zero, but
logically true.
In general you might prefer to use "check_installed_status" if you
need detailed information, or this method if you just need a yes/no
answer.
compare_versions($v1, $op, $v2)
[version 0.28]
Compares two module versions $v1 and $v2 using the operator $op,
which should be one of Perl's numeric operators like "!=" or ">="
or the like. We do at least a halfway-decent job of handling
versions that aren't strictly numeric, like "0.27_02", but exotic
stuff will likely cause problems.
In the future, the guts of this method might be replaced with a
call out to "version.pm".
config($key)
config($key, $value)
config() [deprecated]
[version 0.22]
With a single argument $key, returns the value associated with that
key in the "Config.pm" hash, including any changes the author or
user has specified.
With $key and $value arguments, sets the value for future callers
of "config($key)".
With no arguments, returns a hash reference containing all such
key-value pairs. This usage is deprecated, though, because it's a
resource hog and violates encapsulation.
config_data($name)
config_data($name => $value)
[version 0.26]
With a single argument, returns the value of the configuration
variable $name. With two arguments, sets the given configuration
variable to the given value. The value may be any Perl scalar
that's serializable with "Data::Dumper". For instance, if you
write a module that can use a MySQL or PostgreSQL back-end, you
might create configuration variables called "mysql_connect" and
"postgres_connect", and set each to an array of connection
parameters for "DBI->connect()".
Configuration values set in this way using the Module::Build object
will be available for querying during the build/test process and
after installation via the generated "...::ConfigData" module, as
"...::ConfigData->config($name)".
The feature() and "config_data()" methods represent Module::Build's
main support for configuration of installed modules. See also
"SAVING CONFIGURATION INFORMATION" in Module::Build::Authoring.
conflicts()
[version 0.21]
Returns a hash reference indicating the "conflicts" prerequisites
that were passed to the "new()" method.
contains_pod($file) [deprecated]
[version 0.20]
[Deprecated] Please see Module::Build::ModuleInfo instead.
Returns true if the given file appears to contain POD
documentation. Currently this checks whether the file has a line
beginning with '=pod', '=head', or '=item', but the exact semantics
may change in the future.
copy_if_modified(%parameters)
[version 0.19]
Takes the file in the "from" parameter and copies it to the file in
the "to" parameter, or the directory in the "to_dir" parameter, if
the file has changed since it was last copied (or if it doesn't
exist in the new location). By default the entire directory
structure of "from" will be copied into "to_dir"; an optional
"flatten" parameter will copy into "to_dir" without doing so.
Returns the path to the destination file, or "undef" if nothing
needed to be copied.
Any directories that need to be created in order to perform the
copying will be automatically created.
The destination file is set to read-only. If the source file has
the executable bit set, then the destination file will be made
executable.
create_build_script()
[version 0.05]
Creates an executable script called "Build" in the current
directory that will be used to execute further user actions. This
script is roughly analogous (in function, not in form) to the
Makefile created by "ExtUtils::MakeMaker". This method also
creates some temporary data in a directory called "_build/". Both
of these will be removed when the "realclean" action is performed.
Among the files created in "_build/" is a _build/prereqs file
containing the set of prerequisites for this distribution, as a
hash of hashes. This file may be "eval()"-ed to obtain the
authoritative set of prerequisites, which might be different from
the contents of META.yml (because Build.PL might have set them
dynamically). But fancy developers take heed: do not put any fancy
custom runtime code in the _build/prereqs file, leave it as a
static declaration containing only strings and numbers. Similarly,
do not alter the structure of the internal
"$self->{properties}{requires}" (etc.) data members, because
that's where this data comes from.
current_action()
[version 0.28]
Returns the name of the currently-running action, such as "build"
or "test". This action is not necessarily the action that was
originally invoked by the user. For example, if the user invoked
the "test" action, current_action() would initially return "test".
However, action "test" depends on action "code", so
current_action() will return "code" while that dependency is being
executed. Once that action has completed, current_action() will
again return "test".
If you need to know the name of the original action invoked by the
user, see "invoked_action()" below.
depends_on(@actions)
[version 0.28]
Invokes the named action or list of actions in sequence. Using
this method is preferred to calling the action explicitly because
it performs some internal record-keeping, and it ensures that the
same action is not invoked multiple times (note: in future versions
of Module::Build it's conceivable that this run-only-once mechanism
will be changed to something more intelligent).
Note that the name of this method is something of a misnomer; it
should really be called something like
"invoke_actions_unless_already_invoked()" or something, but for
better or worse (perhaps better!) we were still thinking in
"make"-like dependency terms when we created this method.
See also dispatch(). The main distinction between the two is that
"depends_on()" is meant to call an action from inside another
action, whereas "dispatch()" is meant to set the very top action in
motion.
dir_contains($first_dir, $second_dir)
[version 0.28]
Returns true if the first directory logically contains the second
directory. This is just a convenience function because
"File::Spec" doesn't really provide an easy way to figure this out
(but "Path::Class" does...).
dispatch($action, %args)
[version 0.03]
Invokes the build action $action. Optionally, a list of options
and their values can be passed in. This is equivalent to invoking
an action at the command line, passing in a list of options.
Custom options that have not been registered must be passed in as a
hash reference in a key named "args":
$build->dispatch('foo', verbose => 1, args => { my_option => 'value' });
This method is intended to be used to programmatically invoke build
actions, e.g. by applications controlling Module::Build-based
builds rather than by subclasses.
See also depends_on(). The main distinction between the two is
that "depends_on()" is meant to call an action from inside another
action, whereas "dispatch()" is meant to set the very top action in
motion.
dist_dir()
[version 0.28]
Returns the name of the directory that will be created during the
"dist" action. The name is derived from the "dist_name" and
"dist_version" properties.
dist_name()
[version 0.21]
Returns the name of the current distribution, as passed to the
"new()" method in a "dist_name" or modified "module_name"
parameter.
dist_version()
[version 0.21]
Returns the version of the current distribution, as determined by
the "new()" method from a "dist_version", "dist_version_from", or
"module_name" parameter.
do_system($cmd, @args)
[version 0.21]
This is a fairly simple wrapper around Perl's "system()" built-in
command. Given a command and an array of optional arguments, this
method will print the command to "STDOUT", and then execute it
using Perl's "system()". It returns true or false to indicate
success or failure (the opposite of how "system()" works, but more
intuitive).
Note that if you supply a single argument to "do_system()", it
will/may be processed by the system's shell, and any special
characters will do their special things. If you supply multiple
arguments, no shell will get involved and the command will be
executed directly.
extra_compiler_flags()
extra_compiler_flags(@flags)
[version 0.25]
Set or retrieve the extra compiler flags. Returns an arrayref of
flags.
extra_linker_flags()
extra_linker_flags(@flags)
[version 0.25]
Set or retrieve the extra linker flags. Returns an arrayref of
flags.
feature($name)
feature($name => $value)
[version 0.26]
With a single argument, returns true if the given feature is set.
With two arguments, sets the given feature to the given boolean
value. In this context, a "feature" is any optional functionality
of an installed module. For instance, if you write a module that
could optionally support a MySQL or PostgreSQL backend, you might
create features called "mysql_support" and "postgres_support", and
set them to true/false depending on whether the user has the proper
databases installed and configured.
Features set in this way using the Module::Build object will be
available for querying during the build/test process and after
installation via the generated "...::ConfigData" module, as
"...::ConfigData->feature($name)".
The "feature()" and "config_data()" methods represent
Module::Build's main support for configuration of installed
modules. See also "SAVING CONFIGURATION INFORMATION" in
Module::Build::Authoring.
fix_shebang_line(@files)
[version 0.??]
Modify any "shebang" line in the specified files to use the path to
the perl executable being used for the current build. Files are
modified in-place. The existing shebang line must have a command
that contains ""perl""; arguments to the command do not count. In
particular, this means that the use of "#!/usr/bin/env perl" will
not be changed.
For an explanation of shebang lines, see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebang_%28Unix%29>.
have_c_compiler()
[version 0.21]
Returns true if the current system seems to have a working C
compiler. We currently determine this by attempting to compile a
simple C source file and reporting whether the attempt was
successful.
install_base_relpaths()
install_base_relpaths($type)
install_base_relpaths($type => $path)
[version 0.28]
Set or retrieve the relative paths that are appended to
"install_base" for any installable element. This is useful if you
want to set the relative install path for custom build elements.
With no argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing all
elements and their respective values. This hash should not be
modified directly; use the multiple argument below form to change
values.
The single argument form returns the value associated with the
element $type.
The multiple argument form allows you to set the paths for element
types. $value must be a relative path using Unix-like paths. (A
series of directories separated by slashes, e.g. "foo/bar".) The
return value is a localized path based on $value.
Assigning the value "undef" to an element causes it to be removed.
install_destination($type)
[version 0.28]
Returns the directory in which items of type $type (e.g. "lib",
"arch", "bin", or anything else returned by the "install_types()"
method) will be installed during the "install" action. Any
settings for "install_path", "install_base", and "prefix" are taken
into account when determining the return value.
install_path()
install_path($type)
install_path($type => $path)
[version 0.28]
Set or retrieve paths for specific installable elements. This is
useful when you want to examine any explicit install paths
specified by the user on the command line, or if you want to set
the install path for a specific installable element based on
another attribute like "install_base()".
With no argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing all
elements and their respective values. This hash should not be
modified directly; use the multiple argument below form to change
values.
The single argument form returns the value associated with the
element $type.
The multiple argument form allows you to set the paths for element
types. The supplied $path should be an absolute path to install
elements of $type. The return value is $path.
Assigning the value "undef" to an element causes it to be removed.
install_types()
[version 0.28]
Returns a list of installable types that this build knows about.
These types each correspond to the name of a directory in blib/,
and the list usually includes items such as "lib", "arch", "bin",
"script", "libdoc", "bindoc", and if HTML documentation is to be
built, "libhtml" and "binhtml". Other user-defined types may also
exist.
invoked_action()
[version 0.28]
This is the name of the original action invoked by the user. This
value is set when the user invokes Build.PL, the Build script, or
programmatically through the dispatch() method. It does not change
as sub-actions are executed as dependencies are evaluated.
To get the name of the currently executing dependency, see
"current_action()" above.
notes()
notes($key)
notes($key => $value)
[version 0.20]
The "notes()" value allows you to store your own persistent
information about the build, and to share that information among
different entities involved in the build. See the example in the
"current()" method.
The "notes()" method is essentially a glorified hash access. With
no arguments, "notes()" returns the entire hash of notes. With one
argument, "notes($key)" returns the value associated with the given
key. With two arguments, "notes($key, $value)" sets the value
associated with the given key to $value and returns the new value.
The lifetime of the "notes" data is for "a build" - that is, the
"notes" hash is created when "perl Build.PL" is run (or when the
"new()" method is run, if the Module::Build Perl API is being used
instead of called from a shell), and lasts until "perl Build.PL" is
run again or the "clean" action is run.
orig_dir()
[version 0.28]
Returns a string containing the working directory that was in
effect before the Build script chdir()-ed into the "base_dir".
This might be useful for writing wrapper tools that might need to
chdir() back out.
os_type()
[version 0.04]
If you're subclassing Module::Build and some code needs to alter
its behavior based on the current platform, you may only need to
know whether you're running on Windows, Unix, MacOS, VMS, etc., and
not the fine-grained value of Perl's $^O variable. The "os_type()"
method will return a string like "Windows", "Unix", "MacOS", "VMS",
or whatever is appropriate. If you're running on an unknown
platform, it will return "undef" - there shouldn't be many unknown
platforms though.
is_vmsish()
is_windowsish()
is_unixish()
Convenience functions that return a boolean value indicating
whether this platform behaves respectively like VMS, Windows, or
Unix. For arbitrary reasons other platforms don't get their own
such functions, at least not yet.
prefix_relpaths()
prefix_relpaths($installdirs)
prefix_relpaths($installdirs, $type)
prefix_relpaths($installdirs, $type => $path)
[version 0.28]
Set or retrieve the relative paths that are appended to "prefix"
for any installable element. This is useful if you want to set the
relative install path for custom build elements.
With no argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing all
elements and their respective values as defined by the current
"installdirs" setting.
With a single argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing
all elements and their respective values as defined by
$installdirs.
The hash returned by the above calls should not be modified
directly; use the three-argument below form to change values.
The two argument form returns the value associated with the element
$type.
The multiple argument form allows you to set the paths for element
types. $value must be a relative path using Unix-like paths. (A
series of directories separated by slashes, e.g. "foo/bar".) The
return value is a localized path based on $value.
Assigning the value "undef" to an element causes it to be removed.
get_metadata()
[version 0.36]
This method returns a hash reference of metadata that can be used
to create a YAML datastream. It is provided for authors to override
or customize the fields of META.yml. E.g.
package My::Builder;
use base 'Module::Build';
sub get_metadata {
my $self, @args = @_;
my $data = $self->SUPER::get_metadata(@args);
$data->{custom_field} = 'foo';
return $data;
}
Valid arguments include:
o "fatal" -- indicates whether missing required metadata fields
should be a fatal error or not. For META creation, it
generally should, but for MYMETA creation for end-users, it
should not be fatal.
o "auto" -- indicates whether any necessary configure_requires
should be automatically added. This is used in META creation.
This method is a wrapper around the old prepare_metadata API now
that we no longer use YAML::Node to hold metadata.
prepare_metadata() [deprecated]
[version 0.36]
[Deprecated] As of 0.36, authors should use "get_metadata" instead.
This method is preserved for backwards compatibility only.
It takes three positional arguments: a hashref (to which metadata
will be added), an optional arrayref (to which metadata keys will
be added in order if the arrayref exists), and a hashref of
arguments (as provided to get_metadata). The latter argument is
new as of 0.36. Earlier versions are always fatal on errors.
Prior to version 0.36, this method took a YAML::Node as an argument
to hold assembled metadata.
prereq_failures()
[version 0.11]
Returns a data structure containing information about any failed
prerequisites (of any of the types described above), or "undef" if
all prerequisites are met.
The data structure returned is a hash reference. The top level
keys are the type of prerequisite failed, one of "requires",
"build_requires", "conflicts", or "recommends". The associated
values are hash references whose keys are the names of required (or
conflicting) modules. The associated values of those are hash
references indicating some information about the failure. For
example:
{
have => '0.42',
need => '0.59',
message => 'Version 0.42 is installed, but we need version 0.59',
}
or
{
have => '<none>',
need => '0.59',
message => 'Prerequisite Foo isn't installed',
}
This hash has the same structure as the hash returned by the
"check_installed_status()" method, except that in the case of
"conflicts" dependencies we change the "need" key to "conflicts"
and construct a proper message.
Examples:
# Check a required dependency on Foo::Bar
if ( $build->prereq_failures->{requires}{Foo::Bar} ) { ...
# Check whether there were any failures
if ( $build->prereq_failures ) { ...
# Show messages for all failures
my $failures = $build->prereq_failures;
while (my ($type, $list) = each %$failures) {
while (my ($name, $hash) = each %$list) {
print "Failure for $name: $hash->{message}\n";
}
}
prereq_data()
[version 0.32]
Returns a reference to a hash describing all prerequisites. The
keys of the hash will be the various prerequisite types
('requires', 'build_requires', 'test_requires',
'configure_requires', 'recommends', or 'conflicts') and the values
will be references to hashes of module names and version numbers.
Only prerequisites types that are defined will be included. The
"prereq_data" action is just a thin wrapper around the
"prereq_data()" method and dumps the hash as a string that can be
loaded using "eval()".
prereq_report()
[version 0.28]
Returns a human-readable (table-form) string showing all
prerequisites, the versions required, and the versions actually
installed. This can be useful for reviewing the configuration of
your system prior to a build, or when compiling data to send for a
bug report. The "prereq_report" action is just a thin wrapper
around the "prereq_report()" method.
prompt($message, $default)
[version 0.12]
Asks the user a question and returns their response as a string.
The first argument specifies the message to display to the user
(for example, "Where do you keep your money?"). The second
argument, which is optional, specifies a default answer (for
example, "wallet"). The user will be asked the question once.
If "prompt()" detects that it is not running interactively and
there is nothing on STDIN or if the PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT environment
variable is set to true, the $default will be used without
prompting.
To prevent automated processes from blocking, the user must either
set PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT or attach something to STDIN (this can be a
pipe/file containing a scripted set of answers or /dev/null.)
If no $default is provided an empty string will be used instead.
In non-interactive mode, the absence of $default is an error
(though explicitly passing "undef()" as the default is valid as of
0.27.)
This method may be called as a class or object method.
recommends()
[version 0.21]
Returns a hash reference indicating the "recommends" prerequisites
that were passed to the "new()" method.
requires()
[version 0.21]
Returns a hash reference indicating the "requires" prerequisites
that were passed to the "new()" method.
rscan_dir($dir, $pattern)
[version 0.28]
Uses "File::Find" to traverse the directory $dir, returning a
reference to an array of entries matching $pattern. $pattern may
either be a regular expression (using "qr//" or just a plain
string), or a reference to a subroutine that will return true for
wanted entries. If $pattern is not given, all entries will be
returned.
Examples:
# All the *.pm files in lib/
$m->rscan_dir('lib', qr/\.pm$/)
# All the files in blib/ that aren't *.html files
$m->rscan_dir('blib', sub {-f $_ and not /\.html$/});
# All the files in t/
$m->rscan_dir('t');
runtime_params()
runtime_params($key)
[version 0.28]
The "runtime_params()" method stores the values passed on the
command line for valid properties (that is, any command line
options for which "valid_property()" returns a true value). The
value on the command line may override the default value for a
property, as well as any value specified in a call to "new()".
This allows you to programmatically tell if "perl Build.PL" or any
execution of "./Build" had command line options specified that
override valid properties.
The "runtime_params()" method is essentially a glorified read-only
hash. With no arguments, "runtime_params()" returns the entire
hash of properties specified on the command line. With one
argument, "runtime_params($key)" returns the value associated with
the given key.
The lifetime of the "runtime_params" data is for "a build" - that
is, the "runtime_params" hash is created when "perl Build.PL" is
run (or when the "new()" method is called, if the Module::Build
Perl API is being used instead of called from a shell), and lasts
until "perl Build.PL" is run again or the "clean" action is run.
script_files()
[version 0.18]
Returns a hash reference whose keys are the perl script files to be
installed, if any. This corresponds to the "script_files"
parameter to the "new()" method. With an optional argument, this
parameter may be set dynamically.
For backward compatibility, the "scripts()" method does exactly the
same thing as "script_files()". "scripts()" is deprecated, but it
will stay around for several versions to give people time to
transition.
up_to_date($source_file, $derived_file)
up_to_date(\@source_files, \@derived_files)
[version 0.20]
This method can be used to compare a set of source files to a set
of derived files. If any of the source files are newer than any of
the derived files, it returns false. Additionally, if any of the
derived files do not exist, it returns false. Otherwise it returns
true.
The arguments may be either a scalar or an array reference of file
names.
y_n($message, $default)
[version 0.12]
Asks the user a yes/no question using "prompt()" and returns true
or false accordingly. The user will be asked the question
repeatedly until they give an answer that looks like "yes" or "no".
The first argument specifies the message to display to the user
(for example, "Shall I invest your money for you?"), and the second
argument specifies the default answer (for example, "y").
Note that the default is specified as a string like "y" or "n", and
the return value is a Perl boolean value like 1 or 0. I thought
about this for a while and this seemed like the most useful way to
do it.
This method may be called as a class or object method.
Autogenerated Accessors
In addition to the aforementioned methods, there are also some get/set
accessor methods for the following properties:
PL_files()
allow_mb_mismatch()
allow_pureperl()
auto_configure_requires()
autosplit()
base_dir()
bindoc_dirs()
blib()
build_bat()
build_class()
build_elements()
build_requires()
build_script()
bundle_inc()
bundle_inc_preload()
c_source()
config_dir()
configure_requires()
conflicts()
cpan_client()
create_license()
create_makefile_pl()
create_packlist()
create_readme()
debug()
debugger()
destdir()
dynamic_config()
get_options()
html_css()
include_dirs()
install_base()
installdirs()
libdoc_dirs()
license()
magic_number()
mb_version()
meta_add()
meta_merge()
metafile()
metafile2()
module_name()
mymetafile()
mymetafile2()
needs_compiler()
orig_dir()
perl()
pm_files()
pod_files()
pollute()
prefix()
prereq_action_types()
program_name()
pureperl_only()
quiet()
recommends()
recurse_into()
recursive_test_files()
requires()
scripts()
sign()
tap_harness_args()
test_file_exts()
test_requires()
use_rcfile()
use_tap_harness()
verbose()
xs_files()
MODULE METADATA
If you would like to add other useful metadata, "Module::Build"
supports this with the "meta_add" and "meta_merge" arguments to
"new()". The authoritative list of supported metadata can be found at
CPAN::META::Spec but for convenience - here are a few of the more
useful ones:
keywords
For describing the distribution using keyword (or "tags") in order
to make CPAN.org indexing and search more efficient and useful.
resources
A list of additional resources available for users of the
distribution. This can include links to a homepage on the web, a
bug tracker, the repository location, and even a subscription page
for the distribution mailing list.
AUTHOR
Ken Williams <kwilliams AT cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Ken Williams. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
SEE ALSO
perl(1), Module::Build(3), Module::Build::Authoring(3),
Module::Build::Cookbook(3), ExtUtils::MakeMaker(3)
META.yml Specification: CPAN::META::Spec
perl v5.16.3 2014-06-10 Module::Build::API(3)
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