NAME
Module::Build::Compat - Compatibility with ExtUtils::MakeMaker
SYNOPSIS
# In a Build.PL :
use
Module::Build;
my
$build
= Module::Build->new
(
module_name
=>
'Foo::Bar'
,
license
=>
'perl'
,
create_makefile_pl
=>
'traditional'
);
...
DESCRIPTION
Because ExtUtils::MakeMaker
has been the standard way to distribute modules for a long time, many tools (CPAN.pm, or your system administrator) may expect to find a working Makefile.PL in every distribution they download from CPAN. If you want to throw them a bone, you can use Module::Build::Compat
to automatically generate a Makefile.PL for you, in one of several different styles.
Module::Build::Compat
also provides some code that helps out the Makefile.PL at runtime.
WARNING
Note that Module::Build::Compat
more often causes installation issues than solves them, and each of the three Makefile.PL generation styles has unique compatibility or functionality issues that are unlikely to be fixed. Thus, the use of this module and create_makefile_pl
is discouraged.
METHODS
- create_makefile_pl($style, $build)
-
Creates a Makefile.PL in the current directory in one of several styles, based on the supplied
Module::Build
object$build
. This is typically controlled by passing the desired style as thecreate_makefile_pl
parameter toModule::Build
'snew()
method; the Makefile.PL will then be automatically created during thedistdir
action.The currently supported styles are:
- traditional
-
A Makefile.PL will be created in the "traditional" style, i.e. it will use
ExtUtils::MakeMaker
and won't rely onModule::Build
at all. In order to create the Makefile.PL, we'll include therequires
andbuild_requires
dependencies as thePREREQ_PM
parameter.You don't want to use this style if during the
perl Build.PL
stage you ask the user questions, or do some auto-sensing about the user's environment, or if you subclassModule::Build
to do some customization, because the vanilla Makefile.PL won't do any of that. Many standardModule::Build
features such astest_requires
are also not supported. - small
-
A small Makefile.PL will be created that passes all functionality through to the Build.PL script in the same directory. The user must already have
Module::Build
installed in order to use this, or else they'll get a module-not-found error.This style attempts (with varying success) to translate the Makefile.PL protocol to Build.PL, and is unnecessary on any modern toolchain that recognizes
configure_requires
metadata described below, as Build.PL will be run by default in this case. See https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=75936 for an example of the issues it may cause. - passthrough (DEPRECATED)
-
This is just like the
small
option above, but ifModule::Build
is not already installed on the user's system, the script will offer to useCPAN.pm
to download it and install it before continuing with the build.This option has been deprecated and may be removed in a future version of Module::Build. Modern CPAN.pm and CPANPLUS will recognize the
configure_requires
metadata property and install Module::Build before running Build.PL if Module::Build is listed and Module::Build now adds itself to configure_requires by default.Perl 5.10.1 includes
configure_requires
support. In the future, whenconfigure_requires
support is deemed sufficiently widespread, thepassthrough
style will be removed.
- run_build_pl(args => \@ARGV)
-
This method runs the Build.PL script, passing it any arguments the user may have supplied to the
perl Makefile.PL
command. BecauseExtUtils::MakeMaker
andModule::Build
accept different arguments, this method also performs some translation between the two.run_build_pl()
accepts the following named parameters: - write_makefile()
-
This method writes a 'dummy' Makefile that will pass all commands through to the corresponding
Module::Build
actions.write_makefile()
accepts the following named parameters:
SCENARIOS
So, some common scenarios are:
Just include a Build.PL script (without a Makefile.PL script), and give installation directions in a README or INSTALL document explaining how to install the module. In particular, explain that the user must install
Module::Build
before installing your module.Note that if you do this, you may make things easier for yourself, but harder for people with older versions of CPAN or CPANPLUS on their system, because those tools generally only understand the Makefile.PL/
ExtUtils::MakeMaker
way of doing things.Include a Build.PL script and a "traditional" Makefile.PL, created either manually or with
create_makefile_pl()
. Users won't ever have to installModule::Build
if they use the Makefile.PL, but they won't get to take advantage ofModule::Build
's extra features either.For good measure, of course, test both the Makefile.PL and the Build.PL before shipping.
Include a Build.PL script and a "pass-through" Makefile.PL built using
Module::Build::Compat
. This will mean that people can continue to use the "old" installation commands, and they may never notice that it's actually doing something else behind the scenes. It will also mean that your installation process is compatible with older versions of tools like CPAN and CPANPLUS.
AUTHOR
Ken Williams <kwilliams@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
Module::Build(3), ExtUtils::MakeMaker(3)