.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 4.07 (Pod::Simple 3.32) .\" .\" Standard preamble: .\" ======================================================================== .de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP) .if t .sp .5v .if n .sp .. .de Vb \" Begin verbatim text .ft CW .nf .ne \\$1 .. .de Ve \" End verbatim text .ft R .fi .. .\" Set up some character translations and predefined strings. \*(-- will .\" give an unbreakable dash, \*(PI will give pi, \*(L" will give a left .\" double quote, and \*(R" will give a right double quote. \*(C+ will .\" give a nicer C++. Capital omega is used to do unbreakable dashes and .\" therefore won't be available. \*(C` and \*(C' expand to `' in nroff, .\" nothing in troff, for use with C<>. .tr \(*W- .ds C+ C\v'-.1v'\h'-1p'\s-2+\h'-1p'+\s0\v'.1v'\h'-1p' .ie n \{\ . ds -- \(*W- . ds PI pi . if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=24u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-12u'-\" diablo 10 pitch . if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=20u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-8u'-\" diablo 12 pitch . ds L" "" . ds R" "" . ds C` "" . ds C' "" 'br\} .el\{\ . ds -- \|\(em\| . ds PI \(*p . ds L" `` . ds R" '' . ds C` . ds C' 'br\} .\" .\" Escape single quotes in literal strings from groff's Unicode transform. .ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq .el .ds Aq ' .\" .\" If the F register is >0, we'll generate index entries on stderr for .\" titles (.TH), headers (.SH), subsections (.SS), items (.Ip), and index .\" entries marked with X<> in POD. Of course, you'll have to process the .\" output yourself in some meaningful fashion. .\" .\" Avoid warning from groff about undefined register 'F'. .de IX .. .if !\nF .nr F 0 .if \nF>0 \{\ . de IX . tm Index:\\$1\t\\n%\t"\\$2" .. . if !\nF==2 \{\ . nr % 0 . nr F 2 . \} .\} .\" ======================================================================== .\" .IX Title "CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_1 3pm" .TH CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_1 3pm "2017-07-03" "perl v5.24.1" "User Contributed Perl Documentation" .\" For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it makes .\" way too many mistakes in technical documents. .if n .ad l .nh .SH "NAME" CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_1 \- Version 1.1 metadata specification for META.yml .SH "PREFACE" .IX Header "PREFACE" This is a historical copy of the version 1.1 specification for \fI\s-1META\s0.yml\fR files, copyright by Ken Williams and licensed under the same terms as Perl itself. .PP Modifications from the original: .IP "\(bu" 4 Conversion from the original \s-1HTML\s0 to \s-1POD\s0 format .IP "\(bu" 4 Include list of valid licenses from Module::Build 0.18 rather than linking to the module, with minor updates to text and links to reflect versions at the time of publication. .IP "\(bu" 4 Fixed some dead links to point to active resources. .SH "DESCRIPTION" .IX Header "DESCRIPTION" This document describes version 1.1 of the \fI\s-1META\s0.yml\fR specification. .PP The \fI\s-1META\s0.yml\fR file describes important properties of contributed Perl distributions such as the ones found on \s-1CPAN\s0 . It is typically created by tools like Module::Build and ExtUtils::MakeMaker. .PP The fields in the \fI\s-1META\s0.yml\fR file are meant to be helpful to people maintaining module collections (like \s-1CPAN\s0), for people writing installation tools (like \s-1CPAN\s0 or \s-1CPANPLUS\s0), or just people who want to know some stuff about a distribution before downloading it and starting to install it. .SH "Format" .IX Header "Format" \&\fI\s-1META\s0.yml\fR files are written in the \s-1YAML\s0 format. The reasons we chose \s-1YAML\s0 instead of, say, \s-1XML\s0 or Data::Dumper are discussed in this thread on the MakeMaker mailing list. .PP The first line of a \fI\s-1META\s0.yml\fR file should be a valid \&\s-1YAML\s0 document header like \f(CW"\-\-\- #YAML:1.0"\fR .SH "Fields" .IX Header "Fields" The rest of the \s-1META\s0.yml file is one big \s-1YAML \&\s0mapping , whose keys are described here. .IP "name" 4 .IX Item "name" Example: \f(CW\*(C`Module\-Build\*(C'\fR .Sp The name of the distribution. Often created by taking the \*(L"main module\*(R" in the distribution and changing \*(L"::\*(R" to \*(L"\-\*(R". Sometimes it's completely different, however, as in the case of the libwww-perl distribution. .IP "version" 4 .IX Item "version" Example: \f(CW0.16\fR .Sp The version of the distribution to which the \s-1META\s0.yml file refers. This is a mandatory field. .Sp The version is essentially an arbitrary string, but \fImust\fR be only \s-1ASCII\s0 characters, and \fIstrongly should\fR be of the format integer-dot-digit-digit, i.e. \f(CW25.57\fR, optionally followed by underscore-digit-digit, i.e. \f(CW\*(C`25.57_04\*(C'\fR. .Sp The standard tools that deal with module distribution (\s-1PAUSE, CPAN,\s0 etc.) form an identifier for each distribution by joining the 'name' and 'version' attributes with a dash (\f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR) character. Tools who are prepared to deal with distributions that have no version numbers generally omit the dash as well. .IP "license" 4 .IX Item "license" Example: \f(CW\*(C`perl\*(C'\fR .Sp a descriptive term for the licenses ... not authoritative, but must be consistent with licensure statements in the READMEs, documentation, etc. .Sp The license under which this distribution may be used and redistributed. .Sp Must be one of the following licenses: .RS 4 .IP "perl" 4 .IX Item "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 \s-1CPAN\s0). This is a dual license, in which the user may choose between either the \s-1GPL\s0 version 1 or the Artistic version 1 license. .IP "gpl" 4 .IX Item "gpl" The distribution is distributed under the terms of the \s-1GNU\s0 General Public License version 2 (). .IP "lgpl" 4 .IX Item "lgpl" The distribution is distributed under the terms of the \s-1GNU\s0 Lesser General Public License version 2 (). .IP "artistic" 4 .IX Item "artistic" The distribution is licensed under the Artistic License version 1, as specified by the Artistic file in the standard perl distribution (). .IP "bsd" 4 .IX Item "bsd" The distribution is licensed under the \s-1BSD\s0 3\-Clause License (). .IP "open_source" 4 .IX Item "open_source" The distribution is licensed under some other Open Source Initiative-approved license listed at . .IP "unrestricted" 4 .IX Item "unrestricted" The distribution is licensed under a license that is \fBnot\fR approved by www.opensource.org but that allows distribution without restrictions. .IP "restrictive" 4 .IX Item "restrictive" The distribution may not be redistributed without special permission from the author and/or copyright holder. .RE .RS 4 .RE .IP "license_uri" 4 .IX Item "license_uri" This should contain a \s-1URI\s0 where the exact terms of the license may be found. .Sp (change \*(L"unrestricted\*(R" to \*(L"redistributable\*(R"?) .IP "distribution_type" 4 .IX Item "distribution_type" Example: \f(CW\*(C`module\*(C'\fR .Sp What kind of stuff is contained in this distribution. Most things on \&\s-1CPAN\s0 are \f(CW\*(C`module\*(C'\fRs (which can also mean a collection of modules), but some things are \f(CW\*(C`script\*(C'\fRs. .Sp This field is basically meaningless, and tools (like Module::Build or MakeMaker) will likely stop generating it in the future. .IP "private" 4 .IX Item "private" \&\s-1WTF\s0 is going on here? .Sp index_ignore: any application that indexes the contents of distributions (\s-1PAUSE,\s0 search.cpan.org) ought to ignore the items (packages, files, directories, namespace hierarchies). .IP "requires" 4 .IX Item "requires" Example: .Sp .Vb 2 \& Data::Dumper: 0 \& File::Find: 1.03 .Ve .Sp A \s-1YAML \s0mapping indicating the Perl modules this distribution requires for proper operation. The keys are the module names, and the values are version specifications as described in the documentation for Module::Build's \*(L"requires\*(R" parameter. .Sp \&\fINote: the exact nature of the fancy specifications like \&\f(CI">= 1.2, != 1.5, < 2.0"\fI is subject to change. Advance notice will be given here. The simple specifications like \f(CI"1.2"\fI will not change in format.\fR .IP "recommends" 4 .IX Item "recommends" Example: .Sp .Vb 2 \& Data::Dumper: 0 \& File::Find: 1.03 .Ve .Sp A \s-1YAML \s0mapping indicating the Perl modules this distribution recommends for enhanced operation. .IP "build_requires" 4 .IX Item "build_requires" Example: .Sp .Vb 2 \& Data::Dumper: 0 \& File::Find: 1.03 .Ve .Sp A \s-1YAML \s0mapping indicating the Perl modules required for building and/or testing of this distribution. These dependencies are not required after the module is installed. .IP "conflicts" 4 .IX Item "conflicts" Example: .Sp .Vb 2 \& Data::Dumper: 0 \& File::Find: 1.03 .Ve .Sp A \s-1YAML \s0mapping indicating the Perl modules that cannot be installed while this distribution is installed. This is a pretty uncommon situation. .Sp \&\- possibly separate out test-time prereqs, complications include: can tests be meaningfully preserved for later running? are test-time prereqs in addition to build-time, or exclusive? .Sp \&\- make official location for installed *distributions*, which can contain tests, etc. .IP "dynamic_config" 4 .IX Item "dynamic_config" Example: \f(CW0\fR .Sp A boolean flag indicating whether a \fIBuild.PL\fR or \&\fIMakefile.PL\fR (or similar) 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 if that your module performs some dynamic configuration (asking questions, sensing the environment, etc.) as part of its build/install process. .Sp Currently Module::Build doesn't actually do anything with this flag \- it's probably going to be up to higher-level tools like \&\s-1CPAN\s0.pm to do something useful with it. It can potentially bring lots of security, packaging, and convenience improvements. .IP "generated_by" 4 .IX Item "generated_by" Example: \f(CW\*(C`Module::Build version 0.16\*(C'\fR .Sp Indicates the tool that was used to create this \fI\s-1META\s0.yml\fR file. It's good form to include both the name of the tool and its version, but this field is essentially opaque, at least for the moment. .SS "Ingy's suggestions" .IX Subsection "Ingy's suggestions" .IP "short_description" 4 .IX Item "short_description" add as field, containing abstract, maximum 80 characters, suggested minimum 40 characters .IP "description" 4 .IX Item "description" long version of abstract, should add? .IP "maturity" 4 .IX Item "maturity" alpha, beta, gamma, mature, stable .IP "author_id, owner_id" 4 .IX Item "author_id, owner_id" .PD 0 .IP "categorization, keyword, chapter_id" 4 .IX Item "categorization, keyword, chapter_id" .IP "\s-1URL\s0 for further information" 4 .IX Item "URL for further information" .PD could default to search.cpan.org on \s-1PAUSE\s0 .IP "namespaces" 4 .IX Item "namespaces" can be specified for single elements by prepending dotted-form, i.e. \*(L"com.example.my_application.my_property\*(R". Default namespace for \s-1META\s0.yml is probably \*(L"org.cpan.meta_author\*(R" or something. Precedent for this is Apple's Carbon namespaces, I think. .SH "History" .IX Header "History" .IP "\(bu" 4 \&\fBMarch 14, 2003\fR (Pi day) \- created version 1.0 of this document. .IP "\(bu" 4 \&\fBMay 8, 2003\fR \- added the \*(L"dynamic_config\*(R" field, which was missing from the initial version.