libmodule-install-perl 1.17-1 / usr / share / perl5 / Module / Install.pod

=pod

=head1 NAME

Module::Install - Standalone, extensible Perl module installer

=head1 SYNOPSIS

In your F<Makefile.PL>: (Recommended Usage)

  use inc::Module::Install;

  # Define metadata
  name           'Your-Module';
  all_from       'lib/Your/Module.pm';

  # Specific dependencies
  requires       'File::Spec'  => '0.80';
  test_requires  'Test::More'  => '0.42';
  recommends     'Text::CSV_XS'=> '0.50';
  no_index       'directory'   => 'demos';
  install_script 'myscript';

  WriteAll;

Quickly upgrade a legacy L<ExtUtil::MakeMaker> installer:

  use inc::Module::Install;
  WriteMakefile( ... );

=head1 WARNING

Please note that while B<Module::Install> pioneered many great ideas in its
time, its primary benefits have been better achieved by the authoring tool
L<Dist::Zilla>, and its spinoffs L<Dist::Milla> and L<Minilla>. These tools
allow the author to build and maintain distributions with DWIM convenience,
while the distribution is installed directly by L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker> or
similar installation tools, avoiding the complexity of bundling the installer.
L<Dist::Zilla> additionally has a more robust plugin system which makes it
easier to keep up with changes to the L<CPAN::Meta::Spec> and add other new
functionality. Use of B<Module::Install> for new distributions is therefore
discouraged by the maintainers.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<Module::Install> is a package for writing installers for CPAN (or
CPAN-like) distributions that are clean, simple, minimalist, act in a
strictly correct manner with L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>, and will run on
any Perl installation version 5.005 or newer.

The intent is to make it as easy as possible for CPAN authors (and
especially for first-time CPAN authors) to have installers that follow
all the best practices for distribution installation, but involve as
much DWIM (Do What I Mean) as possible when writing them.

=head2 Writing Module::Install Installers

The quickest way to get started with Module::Install is to copy the
L</SYNOPSIS> from above and save it as your own F<Makefile.PL>. Then
modify the file to suit your own particular case, using the list of
commands documented in L</COMMON COMMANDS> below.

If all you want to do is write an installer, go and do that now. You
don't really need the rest of this description unless you are
interested in the details.

=head1 How it Works

The motivation behind B<Module::Install> is that distributions need
to interact with a large number of different versions of L<perl> and
module installers infrastructure, primarily L<CPAN.pm>, L<CPANPLUS.pm>,
L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker> and L<Module::Build>.

These have accumulated B<greatly> varying feature and bug profiles over
the years, and it is now very difficult to write an installer that will
work properly using only the installed versions of these modules,

For example, the L<CPAN.pm> version shipped with Perl 5.005 is now 5+
years old and considered highly buggy, yet it still exists on quite a
number of legacy machines.

Rather than try to target one specific installer and/or make you add
twisty workaround expressions to every piece of install code you write,
B<Module::Install> will copy part of itself into each module distribution
it creates.

This allows new improvements to be used in your installers regardless of
the age of the system a distribution is being installed on, at the cost
of a small increase in the size of your distribution.

=head2 History

This module was originally written by Brian Ingerson as a smart drop-in
replacement for L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>.

For more information, see Brian's I<Creating Module Distributions with
Module::Install> in June 2003 issue of The Perl Journal
(L<http://www.drdobbs.com/web-development/creating-module-distributions-with-modul/184416018>)

For a B<lot> more information, and some personal opinions on the module
and its creation, see L<Module::Install::Philosophy>.

=head1 COMMON COMMANDS

The following are the most common commands generally used in installers.

It is far from an exhaustive list, as many of the plugins provide commands
to work in more details that you would normally need.

=head2 name

  name 'My-Module';

The B<name> command is compulsory command, generally the first.

It provides the name of your distribution, which for a module like
B<Your::Module> would normally be C<Your-Module>.

This naming scheme is not hard and fast and you should note that
distributions are actually a separate naming scheme from modules.

For example the L<LWP> modules come in a distribution called
C<libwww-perl>.

=head2 all_from

  all_from 'lib/My/Module.pm';

For most simple Perl distributions that feature one dominant module or
class as the base, you can get the most Do What I Mean functionality by
using the B<all_from> command, which will try to extract as much
metadata as possible from the Perl code and POD in that primary module.

Functionally, C<all_from> is equivalent to C<abstract_from> +
C<author_from> + C<version_from> + C<license_from> +
C<perl_version_from>. See below for details.

If any of these values are set already B<before> C<all_from> is used,
they will kept and B<not> be overwritten.

=head2 abstract

  abstract 'This distribution does something';

All distributions have an abstract, a short description of the
distribution as a whole. It is usually around 30-70 characters long.

The C<abstract> command is used to explicitly set the abstract for the
distribution, at least as far as the metadata file for the distribution
is concerned.

=head2 abstract_from

  abstract_from 'lib/My/Module.pm';

The C<abstract_from> command retrieves the abstract from a particular
file contained in the distribution package. Most often this is done
from the main module, where C<Module::Install> will read the POD and
use whatever is in the C<=head1 NAME> section (with module name stripped
if needed)

C<abstract_from> is set as part of C<all_from>.

=head2 author

  author 'Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>';

The distribution metadata contains information on the primary author
or the distribution, or the primary maintainer if the original author
is no longer involved. It should generally be specified in the form
of an email address.

It you don't want to give away a real email address, you should use
the C<CPANID@cpan.org> address you receive automatically when you
got your PAUSE account.

The C<author> command is used to explicitly set this value.

=head2 author_from

  author_from 'lib/My/Module.pm';

The C<author_from> command retrieves the author from a particular
file contained in the distribution package. Most often this is done
using the main module, where L<Module::Install> will read the POD
and use whatever it can find in the C<=head1 AUTHOR> section.

=head2 version

  version '0.01';

The C<version> command is used to specify the version of the
distribution, as distinct from the version of any single module within
the distribution.

Of course, in almost all cases you want it to match the version of the
primary module within the distribution, which you can do using
C<version_from>.

=head2 version_from

  version_from 'lib/My/Module.pm';

The C<version_from> command retrieves the distribution version from a
particular file contained in the distribution package. Most often this is
done from the main module.

C<version_from> will look for the first time you set C<$VERSION> and use
the same value, using a technique consistent with various other module
version scanning tools.

=head2 license

  license 'perl';

The C<license> command specifies the license for the distribution.

Most often this value will be C<'perl'>, meaning I<"the same as for Perl
itself">. Other allowed values include C<'gpl'>, C<'lgpl'>, C<'bsd'>,
C<'MIT'>, and C<'artistic'>.

This value is always considered a summary, and it is normal for authors
to include a F<LICENSE> file in the distribution, containing the full
license for the distribution.

You are also reminded that if the distribution is intended to be uploaded
to the CPAN, it B<must> be an OSI-approved open source license. Commercial
software is not permitted on the CPAN.

=head2 license_from

  license_from 'lib/My/Module.pm';

The C<license_from> command retrieves the distribution license from a
particular file contained in the distribution package. Most often this
is done from the main module.

C<license_from> will look inside the POD within the indicated file for
a licensing or copyright-related section and scan for a variety of
strings that identify the general class of license.

At this time it supports only the 6 values mentioned above in the
C<license> command summary.

=head2 perl_version

  perl_version '5.006';

The C<perl_version> command is used to specify the minimum version of the
perl interpreter your distribution requires.

When specifying the version, you should try to use the normalized version
string. Perl version segments are 3 digits long, so a dependency on Perl
5.6 will become C<'5.006'> and Perl 5.10.2 will become C<'5.010002'>.

=head2 perl_version_from

  perl_version_from 'lib/My/Module.pm'

The C<perl_version_from> command retrieves the minimum F<perl> interpreter
version from a particular file contained in the distribution package. Most
often this is done from the main module.

The minimum version is detected by scanning the file for C<use 5.xxx>
pragma calls in the module file.

=head2 recommends

  recommends 'Text::CSV_XS' => '0.50'

The C<recommends> command indicates an optional run-time module that
provides extra functionality.  Recommended dependencies are not
needed to build or test your distribution, but are considered "nice
to have".

As with L</requires>, the dependency is on a B<module> and not
a distribution.  A version of zero indicates that any version of
the module is recommended.

=head2 requires

  requires 'List::Util' => 0;
  requires 'LWP'        => '5.69';

The C<requires> command indicates a normal run-time dependency of your
distribution on another module. Most distributions will have one or
more of these commands, indicating which CPAN (or otherwise) modules
your distribution needs.

A C<requires> dependency can be verbalised as I<"If you wish to install
and use this distribution, you must first install these modules first">.

Note that the dependency is on a B<module> and not a distribution. This
is to ensure that your dependency stays correct, even if the module is
moved or merged into a different distribution, as is occasionally the
case.

A dependency on version zero indicates B<any> version of module is
sufficient. Versions should generally be quoted for clarity.

=head2 test_requires

  test_requires 'Test::More' => '0.47';

The C<test_requires> command indicates a test script dependency for
the distribution. The specification format is identical to that of
the C<requires> command.

The C<test_requires> command is distinct from the C<requires> command
in that it indicates a module that is needed B<only> during the
testing of the distribution (often a period of only a few seconds)
but will B<not> be needed after the distribution is installed.

The C<testrequires> command is used to allow the installer some
flexibility in how it provides the module, and to allow downstream
packagers (Debian, FreeBSD, ActivePerl etc) to retain only the
dependencies needed for run-time operation.

The C<include> command is sometimes used by some authors along with
C<test_requires> to bundle a small well-tested module into the
distribution package itself rather than inflict yet another module
installation on users installing from CPAN directly.

=head2 configure_requires

  configure_requires 'File::Spec' => '0.80';

The C<configure_requires> command indicates a configure-time dependency
for the distribution. The specification format is identical to that of
the C<requires> command.

The C<configure_requires> command is used to get around the conundrum
of how to use a CPAN module in your Makefile.PL, when you have to load
Makefile.PL (and thus the CPAN module) in order to know that you need it.

Traditionally, this circular logic could not be broken and so Makefile.PL
scripts needed to rely on lowest-common-denominator approaches, or to
bundle those dependencies using something like the C<include> command.

The C<configure_requires> command creates an entry in the special
configure_requires: key in the distribution's F<META.yml> file.

Although most of F<META.yml> is considered advisory only, a L<CPAN>
client will treat the contents of configure_requires: as authoritative,
and install the listed modules B<before> it executes the F<Makefile.PL>
(from which it then determines the other dependencies).

Please note that support for configure_requires: in CPAN clients is not
100% complete at time of writing, and still cannot be relied upon.

Because B<Module::Install> itself only supports 5.005, it will silently
add the equivalent of a C<< configure_requires( perl => '5.005' ); >>
command to your distribution.

=head2 requires_external_bin

  requires_external_bin 'cvs';

As part of its role as the dominant "glue" language, a lot of Perl
modules run commands or programs on the host system.

The C<requires_external_bin> command is used to verify that a particular
command is available on the host system.

Unlike a missing Perl module, a missing external binary is unresolvable
at make-time, and so the F<Makefile.PL> run will abort with a "NA"
(Not Applicable) result.

In future, this command will also add additional information to the
metadata for the dist, so that auto-packagers for particular operating
system are more-easily able to auto-discover the appropriate non-Perl
packages needed as a dependency.

=head2 install_script

  # The following are equivalent
  install_script 'script/scriptname'

The C<install_script> command provides support for the installation of
scripts that will become available at the console on both Unix and
Windows (in the later case by wrapping it up as a .bat file).

Note that is it normal practice to B<not> put a .pl on the end of such
scripts, so that they feel more natural when being used.

In the example above, the F<script/scriptname> program could be run after
the installation just by doing the following.

  > scriptname
  Running scriptname 0.01...

  >

By convention, scripts should be placed in a /script directory within your
distribution. To support less typing, if a script is located in the script
directory, you need refer to it by name only.

  # The following are equivalent
  install_script 'foo';
  install_script 'script/foo';

=head2 no_index

  no_index directory => 'examples';
  no_index package   => 'DB';

Quite often a distribution will provide example scripts or testing
modules (.pm files) as well as the actual library modules.

In almost all situations, you do B<not> want these indexed in the CPAN
index, the master Perl packages list, or displayed on L<https://metacpan.org/>
or L<http://search.cpan.org/> websites, you just want them along for the
ride.

The C<no_index> command is used to indicate directories or files where
there might be non-library .pm files or other files that the CPAN
indexer and websites such as L<https://metacpan.org/>
or L<http://search.cpan.org/> should explicitly ignore.

The most common situation is to ignore example or demo directories,
but a variety of different situations may require a C<no_index> entry.

Another common use for C<no_index> is to prevent the PAUSE indexer
complaining when your module makes changes inside a "package DB" block.
This is used to interact with the debugger in some specific ways.

See the F<META.yml> documentation for more details on what C<no_index>
values are allowed.

The F<inc>, F<t> and F<share> (if C<install_share> is used) directories
are automatically C<no_index>'ed for you if found and do not require
an explicit command.

To summarize, if you can see it on L<https://metacpan.org/>
or L<http://search.cpan.org/> and you shouldn't be able to, you need
a C<no_index> entry to remove it.

=head2 installdirs, install_as_*

  installdirs 'site'; # the default

  install_as_core;    # alias for installdirs 'perl'
  install_as_cpan;    # alias for installdirs 'site'
  install_as_site;    # alias for installdirs 'site'
  install_as_vendor;  # alias for installdirs 'vendor'

The C<installdirs> and C<install_as> commands specify the location
where the module should be installed; this is the equivalent to
L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>'s C<INSTALLDIRS> option.  For almost all
regular modules, the default is recommended, and need not be
changed.  Dual-life (core and CPAN) modules, as well as
vendor-specific modules, may need to use the other options.

If unsure, do not use this option.

=head2 WriteAll

The C<WriteAll> command is generally the last command in the file;
it writes out F<META.yml> and F<Makefile> so the user can run the
C<make>, C<make test>, C<make install> install sequence.

=head1 EXTENSIONS

All extensions belong to the B<Module::Install::*> namespace, and
inherit from B<Module::Install::Base>.  There are three categories
of extensions:

=head2 Standard Extensions

Methods defined by a standard extension may be called as plain functions
inside F<Makefile.PL>; a corresponding singleton object will be spawned
automatically.  Other extensions may also invoke its methods just like
their own methods:

    # delegates to $other_extension_obj->method_name(@args)
    $self->method_name(@args);

At the first time an extension's method is invoked, a POD-stripped
version of it will be included under the F<inc/Module/Install/>
directory, and becomes I<fixed> -- i.e., even if the user had installed a
different version of the same extension, the included one will still be
used instead.

If the author wish to upgrade extensions in F<inc/> with installed ones,
simply run C<perl Makefile.PL> again; B<Module::Install> determines
whether you are an author by the existence of the F<inc/.author/>
directory.  End-users can reinitialize everything and become the author
by typing C<make realclean> and C<perl Makefile.PL>.

=head2 Private Extensions

Those extensions take the form of B<Module::Install::PRIVATE> and
B<Module::Install::PRIVATE::*>.

Authors are encouraged to put all existing F<Makefile.PL> magics into
such extensions (e.g. F<Module::Install::PRIVATE> for common bits;
F<Module::Install::PRIVATE::DISTNAME> for functions specific to a
distribution).

Private extensions should not to be released on CPAN; simply put them
somewhere in your C<@INC>, under the C<Module/Install/> directory, and
start using their functions in F<Makefile.PL>.  Like standard
extensions, they will never be installed on the end-user's machine,
and therefore never conflict with other people's private extensions.

=head2 Administrative Extensions

Extensions under the B<Module::Install::Admin::*> namespace are never
included with the distribution.  Their methods are not directly
accessible from F<Makefile.PL> or other extensions; they are invoked
like this:

    # delegates to $other_admin_extension_obj->method_name(@args)
    $self->admin->method_name(@args);

These methods only take effect during the I<initialization> run, when
F<inc/> is being populated; they are ignored for end-users.  Again,
to re-initialize everything, just run C<perl Makefile.PL> as the author.

Scripts (usually one-liners in F<Makefile>) that wish to dispatch
B<AUTOLOAD> functions into administrative extensions (instead of
standard extensions) should use the B<Module::Install::Admin> module
directly.  See L<Module::Install::Admin> for details.

=head1 EXTENSIONS

Detailed information is provided for all (some) of the relevant
modules via their own POD documentation.

=head2 Module::Install::AutoInstall

Provides C<auto_install()> to automatically fetch and install
prerequisites.

=head2 Module::Install::Base

The base class for all extensions

=head2 Module::Install::Bundle

Provides the C<bundle> family of commands, allowing you to bundle
another CPAN distribution within your distribution.

=head2 Module::Install::Fetch

Handles install-time fetching of files from remote servers via
FTP and HTTP.

=head2 Module::Install::Include

Provides the C<include> family of commands for embedding modules
that are only need at build-time in your distribution and won't
be installed.

=head2 Module::Install::Inline

Provides C<&Inline-E<gt>write> to replace B<Inline::MakeMaker>'s
functionality for making B<Inline>-based modules (and cleaning up).

However, you should invoke this with C<< WriteAll( inline => 1 ) >>.

=head2 Module::Install::Makefile

Provides C<&Makefile-E<gt>write> to generate a F<Makefile> for you
distribution.

=head2 Module::Install::Metadata

Provides C<&Meta-E<gt>write> to generate a F<META.yml> file for your
distribution.

=head2 Module::Install::PAR

Makes pre-compiled module binary packages from the built F<blib>
directory, and download existing ones to save recompiling.

=head2 Module::Install::Run

Determines if commands are available on the user's machine, and runs
them via B<IPC::Run3>.

=head2 Module::Install::Scripts

Handles packaging and installation of scripts to various bin dirs.

=head2 Module::Install::Win32

Functions for installing modules on Win32 and finding/installing
F<nmake.exe> for users that need it.

=head2 Module::Install::WriteAll

Provides the C<WriteAll>, which writes all the requires files,
such as F<META.yml> and F<Makefile>.

C<WriteAll> takes four optional named parameters:

=over 4

=item C<check_nmake> (defaults to true)

If true, invokes functions with the same name.

I<The use of this param is no longer recommended.>

=item C<inline> (defaults to false)

If true, invokes C<&Inline-E<gt>write> L<Inline> modules.

=item C<meta> (defaults to true)

If true, writes a C<META.yml> file.

=item C<sign> (defaults to false)

If true, invokes C<sign> command to digitally sign erm... something.

=back

=head2 Module::Install::Admin::Find

Package-time functions for finding extensions, installed packages
and files in subdirectories.

=head2 Module::Install::Admin::Manifest

Package-time functions for manipulating and updating the
F<MANIFEST> file.

=head2 Module::Install::Admin::Metadata

Package-time functions for manipulating and updating the
F<META.yml> file.

=head2 Module::Install::Admin::ScanDeps

Package-time scanning for non-core dependencies via B<Module::ScanDeps>
and B<Module::CoreList>.

=head1 FAQ

=head2 What are the benefits of using B<Module::Install>?

Here is a brief overview of the reasons:

=over 4

=item * Extremely easy for beginners to learn

=item * Does everything ExtUtils::MakeMaker does.

=item * Does it with a dramatically simpler syntax.

=item * Automatically scans for metadata for you.

=item * Requires no installation for end-users.

=item * Guaranteed forward-compatibility.

=item * Automatically updates your MANIFEST.

=item * Distributing scripts is easy.

=item * Include prerequisite modules (less dependencies to install)

=item * Auto-installation of prerequisites.

=item * Support for L<Inline>-based modules.

=item * Support for L<File::ShareDir> shared data files

=item * Support for precompiled L<PAR> binaries.

=item * Deals with Win32 install issues for you.

=back

By greatly shrinking and simplifying the syntax, B<Module::Install>
keeps the amount of work required to maintain your F<Makefile.PL>
files to an absolute minimum.

And if you maintain more than one module than needs to do unusual
installation tricks, you can create a specific module to abstract
away this complexity.

=head2 Module::Install isn't at 1.00 yet, is it safe to use yet?

As long as you are going to periodically do incremental releases
to get any bug fixes and new functionality, yes.

If you don't plan to do incremental releases, it might be a good
idea to continue to wait for a while.

=head1 COOKBOOK / EXAMPLES

The following are some real-life examples of F<Makefile.PL> files
using B<Module::Install>.

=head2 Method::Alias

L<Method::Alias> is a trivially-small utility module, with almost the
smallest possible F<Makefile.PL>.

  use inc::Module::Install;

  name          'Method-Alias';
  all_from      'lib/Method/Alias.pm';
  test_requires 'Test::More' => '0.42';

=head2 File::HomeDir

L<File::HomeDir> locates your home directory on any platform. It needs
an installer that can handle different dependencies on different platforms.

  use inc::Module::Install;

  name          'File-HomeDir';
  all_from      'lib/File/HomeDir.pm';
  requires      'File::Spec' => '0.80';
  test_requires 'Test::More' => '0.47';

  if ( $MacPerl::Version ) {
      # Needed on legacy Mac OS 9
      requires 'Mac::Files' => 0;
  }

  if ( $^O eq 'MXWin32' ) {
      # Needed on Windows platforms
      requires 'Win32::TieRegistry' => 0;
  }

  WriteAll;

=head1 TO DO

Implement L<Module::Install::Compiled> and Module::Install::Admin::Compiled
to integrate the L<Module::Compiled> "perl 6 to perl 5" functionality with
Module::Install.
Because this would add SIGNIFICANT dependencies (i.e. pugs!) this should
almost certainly be distributed as a separate distribution.

Go over POD docs in detail.

Test recursive Makefile directories

The test suite needs a great deal more test scripts.

Dependencies on shared libraries (libxml/libxml.dll etc) and binary files
so that debian/Win32/etc autopackaging applications can create the
appropriate package-level dependencies there.

EU::MM 6.06_03+ supports META.yml natively.  Maybe probe for that?

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<Module::Install::Philosophy>

L<inc::Module::Install>

L<Module::Install::AutoInstall>

L<Module::Install::Base>

L<Module::Install::Bundle>

L<Module::Install::MakeMaker>

L<Module::Install::Share>

L<Module::Install::Admin>

L<Module::Install::Admin::Include>

L<Module::Install::Admin::Manifest>

L<CPAN::MakeMaker>, L<Inline::MakeMaker>

L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>

=head1 SUPPORT

Bugs should be reported via the CPAN bug tracker at

L<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Module-Install>

For other issues, contact the (topmost) author.

=head1 AUTHORS

Adam Kennedy E<lt>adamk@cpan.orgE<gt>

Audrey Tang E<lt>autrijus@autrijus.orgE<gt>

Brian Ingerson E<lt>ingy@cpan.orgE<gt>

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2002 - 2012 Brian Ingerson, Audrey Tang and Adam Kennedy.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

=cut