NAME¶
Module::Implementation - Loads one of several alternate underlying
implementations for a module
VERSION¶
version 0.09
SYNOPSIS¶
package Foo::Bar;
use Module::Implementation;
BEGIN {
my $loader = Module::Implementation::build_loader_sub(
implementations => [ 'XS', 'PurePerl' ],
symbols => [ 'run', 'check' ],
);
$loader->();
}
package Consumer;
# loads the first viable implementation
use Foo::Bar;
DESCRIPTION¶
This module abstracts out the process of choosing one of several underlying
implementations for a module. This can be used to provide XS and pure Perl
implementations of a module, or it could be used to load an implementation for
a given OS or any other case of needing to provide multiple implementations.
This module is only useful when you know all the implementations ahead of time.
If you want to load arbitrary implementations then you probably want something
like a plugin system, not this module.
API¶
This module provides two subroutines, neither of which are exported.
Module::Implementation::build_loader_sub(...)¶
This subroutine takes the following arguments.
- •
- implementations
This should be an array reference of implementation names. Each name should
correspond to a module in the caller's namespace.
In other words, using the example in the "SYNOPSIS", this module
will look for the "Foo::Bar::XS" and
"Foo::Bar::PurePerl" modules.
This argument is required.
- •
- symbols
A list of symbols to copy from the implementation package to the calling
package.
These can be prefixed with a variable type: "$", "@",
"%", "&", or "*)". If no prefix is
given, the symbol is assumed to be a subroutine.
This argument is optional.
This subroutine
returns the implementation loader as a sub reference.
It is up to you to call this loader sub in your code.
I recommend that you
do not call this loader in an "import()"
sub. If a caller explicitly requests no imports, your "import()" sub
will not be run at all, which can cause weird breakage.
Module::Implementation::implementation_for($package)¶
Given a package name, this subroutine returns the implementation that was loaded
for the package. This is not a full package name, just the suffix that
identifies the implementation. For the "SYNOPSIS" example, this
subroutine would be called as
"Module::Implementation::implementation_for('Foo::Bar')", and it
would return "XS" or "PurePerl".
HOW THE IMPLEMENTATION LOADER WORKS¶
The implementation loader works like this ...
First, it checks for an %ENV var specifying the implementation to load. The env
var is based on the package name which loads the implementations. The
"::" package separator is replaced with "_", and made
entirely upper-case. Finally, we append "_IMPLEMENTATION" to this
name.
So in our "SYNOPSIS" example, the corresponding %ENV key would be
"FOO_BAR_IMPLEMENTATION".
If this is set, then the loader will
only try to load this one
implementation.
If the env var requests an implementation which doesn't match one of the
implementations specified when the loader was created, an error is thrown.
If this one implementation fails to load then loader throws an error. This is
useful for testing. You can request a specific implementation in a test file
by writing something like this:
BEGIN { $ENV{FOO_BAR_IMPLEMENTATION} = 'XS' }
use Foo::Bar;
If the environment variable is
not set, then the loader simply tries the
implementations originally passed to "Module::Implementation". The
implementations are tried in the order in which they were originally passed.
The loader will use the first implementation that loads without an error. It
will copy any requested symbols from this implementation.
If none of the implementations can be loaded, then the loader throws an
exception.
The loader returns the name of the package it loaded.
AUTHOR¶
Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE¶
This software is Copyright (c) 2014 by Dave Rolsky.
This is free software, licensed under:
The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible)