Module::Build::Authoring - Authoring Module::Build modules When creating a "Build.PL" script for a module, something like the following code will typically be used: use Module::Build; my $build = Module::Build->new ( module_name => 'Foo::Bar', license => 'perl', requires => { 'perl' => '5.6.1', 'Some::Module' => '1.23', 'Other::Module' => '>= 1.2, != 1.5, < 2.0', }, ); $build->create_build_script; A simple module could get away with something as short as this for its "Build.PL" script: use Module::Build; Module::Build->new( module_name => 'Foo::Bar', license => 'perl', )->create_build_script; The model used by "Module::Build" is a lot like the "MakeMaker" metaphor, with the following correspondences: In Module::Build In ExtUtils::MakeMaker --------------------------- ------------------------ Build.PL (initial script) Makefile.PL (initial script) Build (a short perl script) Makefile (a long Makefile) _build/ (saved state info) various config text in the Makefile Any customization can be done simply by subclassing "Module::Build" and adding a method called (for example) "ACTION_test", overriding the default 'test' action. You could also add a method called "ACTION_whatever", and then you could perform the action "Build whatever". For information on providing compatibility with "ExtUtils::MakeMaker", see Module::Build::Compat and <http://www.makemaker.org/wiki/index.cgi?ModuleBuildConversionGuide>. Module::Build creates a class hierarchy conducive to customization. Here is the parent-child class hierarchy in classy ASCII art: /--------------------\ | Your::Parent | (If you subclass Module::Build) \--------------------/ | | /--------------------\ (Doesn't define any functionality | Module::Build | of its own - just figures out what \--------------------/ other modules to load.) | | /-----------------------------------\ (Some values of $^O may | Module::Build::Platform::$^O | define specialized functionality. \-----------------------------------/ Otherwise it's ...::Default, a | pass-through class.) | /--------------------------\ | Module::Build::Base | (Most of the functionality of \--------------------------/ Module::Build is defined here.) Right now, there are two ways to subclass Module::Build. The first way is to create a regular module (in a ".pm" file) that inherits from Module::Build, and use that module's class instead of using Module::Build directly: ------ in Build.PL: ---------- #!/usr/bin/perl use lib q(/nonstandard/library/path); use My::Builder; # Or whatever you want to call it my $build = My::Builder->new ( module_name => 'Foo::Bar', # All the regular args... license => 'perl', dist_author => 'A N Other <me@here.net.au>', requires => { Carp => 0 } ); $build->create_build_script; This is relatively straightforward, and is the best way to do things if your My::Builder class contains lots of code. The "create_build_script()" method will ensure that the current value of @INC (including the "/nonstandard/library/path") is propogated to the Build script, so that My::Builder can be found when running build actions. For very small additions, Module::Build provides a "subclass()" method that lets you subclass Module::Build more conveniently, without creating a separate file for your module: ------ in Build.PL: ---------- #!/usr/bin/perl use Module::Build; my $class = Module::Build->subclass ( class => 'My::Builder', code => q{ sub ACTION_foo { print "I'm fooing to death!\n"; } }, ); my $build = $class->new ( module_name => 'Foo::Bar', # All the regular args... license => 'perl', dist_author => 'A N Other <me@here.net.au>', requires => { Carp => 0 } ); $build->create_build_script; Behind the scenes, this actually does create a ".pm" file, since the code you provide must persist after Build.PL is run if it is to be very useful. See also the documentation for the "subclass()" in Module::Build::API method. There are three basic types of prerequisites that can be defined: 1) "requires" - are versions of modules that are required for certain functionality to be available; 2) "recommends" - are versions of modules that are recommended to provide enhanced functionality; and 3) "conflicts" - are versions of modules that conflict with, and that can cause problems with the distribution. Each of the three types of prerequisites listed above can be applied to different aspects of the Build process. For the module distribution itself you simply define "requires", "recommends", or "conflicts". The types can also apply to other aspects of the Build process. Currently, only "build_requires" is defined which is used for modules which are required during the Build process.

Format of prerequisites
The prerequisites are given in a hash reference, where the keys are the module names and the values are version specifiers: requires => { Foo::Module => '2.4', Bar::Module => 0, Ken::Module => '>= 1.2, != 1.5, < 2.0', perl => '5.6.0' }, These four version specifiers have different effects. The value '2.4' means that at least version 2.4 of "Foo::Module" must be installed. The value 0 means that any version of "Bar::Module" is acceptable, even if "Bar::Module" doesn't define a version. The more verbose value '>= 1.2, != 1.5, < 2.0' means that "Ken::Module"'s version must be at least 1.2, less than 2.0, and not equal to 1.5. The list of criteria is separated by commas, and all criteria must be satisfied. A special "perl" entry lets you specify the versions of the Perl interpreter that are supported by your module. The same version dependency-checking semantics are available, except that we also understand perl's new double-dotted version numbers. Module::Build provides a very convenient way to save configuration information that your installed modules (or your regression tests) can access. If your Build process calls the "feature()" or "config_data()" methods, then a "Foo::Bar::ConfigData" module will automatically be created for you, where "Foo::Bar" is the "module_name" parameter as passed to "new()". This module provides access to the data saved by these methods, and a way to update the values. There is also a utility script called "config_data" distributed with Module::Build that provides a command line interface to this same functionality. See also the generated "Foo::Bar::ConfigData" documentation, and the "config_data" script's documentation, for more information. When starting development on a new module, it's rarely worth your time to create a tree of all the files by hand. Some automatic module-creators are available: the oldest is "h2xs", which has shipped with perl itself for a long time. Its name reflects the fact that modules were originally conceived of as a way to wrap up a C library (thus the "h" part) into perl extensions (thus the "xs" part). These days, "h2xs" has largely been superseded by modules like "ExtUtils::ModuleMaker", "Module::Starter", and "Module::Maker". They have varying degrees of support for "Module::Build". One advantage of Module::Build is that since it's implemented as Perl methods, you can invoke these methods directly if you want to install a module non-interactively. For instance, the following Perl script will invoke the entire build/install procedure: my $build = Module::Build->new(module_name => 'MyModule'); $build->dispatch('build'); $build->dispatch('test'); $build->dispatch('install'); If any of these steps encounters an error, it will throw a fatal exception. You can also pass arguments as part of the build process: my $build = Module::Build->new(module_name => 'MyModule'); $build->dispatch('build'); $build->dispatch('test', verbose => 1); $build->dispatch('install', sitelib => '/my/secret/place/'); Building and installing modules in this way skips creating the "Build" script. Note that if you want to provide both a Makefile.PL and a Build.PL for your distribution, you probably want to add the following to "WriteMakefile" in your Makefile.PL so that MakeMaker doesn't try to run your Build.PL as a normal .PL file: PL_FILES => {}, You may also be interested in looking at the "Module::Build::Compat" module, which can automatically create various kinds of Makefile.PL compatibility layers. Ken Williams <kwilliams@cpan.org> Development questions, bug reports, and patches should be sent to the Module-Build mailing list at <module-build@perl.org>. Bug reports are also welcome at <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Module-Build>. The latest development version is available from the Subversion repository at <https://svn.perl.org/modules/Module-Build/trunk/> perl(1), Module::Build(3), Module::Build::API(3), Module::Build::Cookbook(3), ExtUtils::MakeMaker(3), YAML(3) META.yml Specification: <http://module-build.sourceforge.net/META-spec-current.html> <http://www.dsmit.com/cons/> <http://search.cpan.org/dist/PerlBuildSystem/>