NAME¶
ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Tutorial - Writing a module with MakeMaker
SYNOPSIS¶
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile(
NAME => 'Your::Module',
VERSION_FROM => 'lib/Your/Module.pm'
);
DESCRIPTION¶
This is a short tutorial on writing a simple module with MakeMaker. Its really
not that hard.
The Mantra¶
MakeMaker modules are installed using this simple mantra
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
There are lots more commands and options, but the above will do it.
The Layout¶
The basic files in a module look something like this.
Makefile.PL
MANIFEST
lib/Your/Module.pm
That's all that's strictly necessary. There's additional files you might want:
lib/Your/Other/Module.pm
t/some_test.t
t/some_other_test.t
Changes
README
INSTALL
MANIFEST.SKIP
bin/some_program
- Makefile.PL
- When you run Makefile.PL, it makes a Makefile. That's the
whole point of MakeMaker. The Makefile.PL is a simple program which loads
ExtUtils::MakeMaker and runs the WriteMakefile() function to
generate a Makefile.
Here's an example of what you need for a simple module:
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile(
NAME => 'Your::Module',
VERSION_FROM => 'lib/Your/Module.pm'
);
NAME is the top-level namespace of your module. VERSION_FROM is the file
which contains the $VERSION variable for the entire distribution.
Typically this is the same as your top-level module.
- MANIFEST
- A simple listing of all the files in your distribution.
Makefile.PL
MANIFEST
lib/Your/Module.pm
File paths in a MANIFEST always use Unix conventions (ie. /) even if you're
not on Unix.
You can write this by hand or generate it with 'make manifest'.
See ExtUtils::Manifest for more details.
- lib/
- This is the directory where your .pm and .pod files you
wish to have installed go. They are layed out according to namespace. So
Foo::Bar is lib/Foo/Bar.pm.
- t/
- Tests for your modules go here. Each test filename ends
with a .t. So t/foo.t/ 'make test' will run these tests. The
directory is flat, you cannot, for example, have t/foo/bar.t run by 'make
test'.
Tests are run from the top level of your distribution. So inside a test you
would refer to ./lib to enter the lib directory, for example.
- Changes
- A log of changes you've made to this module. The layout is
free-form. Here's an example:
1.01 Fri Apr 11 00:21:25 PDT 2003
- thing() does some stuff now
- fixed the wiggy bug in withit()
1.00 Mon Apr 7 00:57:15 PDT 2003
- "Rain of Frogs" now supported
- README
- A short description of your module, what it does, why
someone would use it and its limitations. CPAN automatically pulls your
README file out of the archive and makes it available to CPAN users, it is
the first thing they will read to decide if your module is right for
them.
- INSTALL
- Instructions on how to install your module along with any
dependencies. Suggested information to include here:
any extra modules required for use
the minimum version of Perl required
if only works on certain operating systems
- MANIFEST.SKIP
- A file full of regular expressions to exclude when using
'make manifest' to generate the MANIFEST. These regular expressions are
checked against each file path found in the distribution (so you're
matching against "t/foo.t" not "foo.t").
Here's a sample:
~$ # ignore emacs and vim backup files
.bak$ # ignore manual backups
\# # ignore CVS old revision files and emacs temp files
Since # can be used for comments, # must be escaped.
MakeMaker comes with a default MANIFEST.SKIP to avoid things like version
control directories and backup files. Specifying your own will override
this default.
- bin/
SEE ALSO¶
perlmodstyle gives stylistic help writing a module.
perlnewmod gives more information about how to write a module.
There are modules to help you through the process of writing a module:
ExtUtils::ModuleMaker, Module::Install, PAR