1package ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Tutorial; 2 3our $VERSION = '7.10_01'; 4 5 6=head1 NAME 7 8ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Tutorial - Writing a module with MakeMaker 9 10=head1 SYNOPSIS 11 12 use ExtUtils::MakeMaker; 13 14 WriteMakefile( 15 NAME => 'Your::Module', 16 VERSION_FROM => 'lib/Your/Module.pm' 17 ); 18 19=head1 DESCRIPTION 20 21This is a short tutorial on writing a simple module with MakeMaker. 22It's really not that hard. 23 24 25=head2 The Mantra 26 27MakeMaker modules are installed using this simple mantra 28 29 perl Makefile.PL 30 make 31 make test 32 make install 33 34There are lots more commands and options, but the above will do it. 35 36 37=head2 The Layout 38 39The basic files in a module look something like this. 40 41 Makefile.PL 42 MANIFEST 43 lib/Your/Module.pm 44 45That's all that's strictly necessary. There's additional files you might 46want: 47 48 lib/Your/Other/Module.pm 49 t/some_test.t 50 t/some_other_test.t 51 Changes 52 README 53 INSTALL 54 MANIFEST.SKIP 55 bin/some_program 56 57=over 4 58 59=item Makefile.PL 60 61When you run Makefile.PL, it makes a Makefile. That's the whole point of 62MakeMaker. The Makefile.PL is a simple program which loads 63ExtUtils::MakeMaker and runs the WriteMakefile() function to generate a 64Makefile. 65 66Here's an example of what you need for a simple module: 67 68 use ExtUtils::MakeMaker; 69 70 WriteMakefile( 71 NAME => 'Your::Module', 72 VERSION_FROM => 'lib/Your/Module.pm' 73 ); 74 75NAME is the top-level namespace of your module. VERSION_FROM is the file 76which contains the $VERSION variable for the entire distribution. Typically 77this is the same as your top-level module. 78 79 80=item MANIFEST 81 82A simple listing of all the files in your distribution. 83 84 Makefile.PL 85 MANIFEST 86 lib/Your/Module.pm 87 88File paths in a MANIFEST always use Unix conventions (ie. /) even if you're 89not on Unix. 90 91You can write this by hand or generate it with 'make manifest'. 92 93See L<ExtUtils::Manifest> for more details. 94 95 96=item lib/ 97 98This is the directory where the .pm and .pod files you wish to have 99installed go. They are laid out according to namespace. So Foo::Bar 100is F<lib/Foo/Bar.pm>. 101 102 103=item t/ 104 105Tests for your modules go here. Each test filename ends with a .t. 106So F<t/foo.t>/ 'make test' will run these tests. The directory is flat, 107you cannot, for example, have t/foo/bar.t run by 'make test'. 108 109Tests are run from the top level of your distribution. So inside a test 110you would refer to ./lib to enter the lib directory, for example. 111 112 113=item Changes 114 115A log of changes you've made to this module. The layout is free-form. 116Here's an example: 117 118 1.01 Fri Apr 11 00:21:25 PDT 2003 119 - thing() does some stuff now 120 - fixed the wiggy bug in withit() 121 122 1.00 Mon Apr 7 00:57:15 PDT 2003 123 - "Rain of Frogs" now supported 124 125 126=item README 127 128A short description of your module, what it does, why someone would use it 129and its limitations. CPAN automatically pulls your README file out of 130the archive and makes it available to CPAN users, it is the first thing 131they will read to decide if your module is right for them. 132 133 134=item INSTALL 135 136Instructions on how to install your module along with any dependencies. 137Suggested information to include here: 138 139 any extra modules required for use 140 the minimum version of Perl required 141 if only works on certain operating systems 142 143 144=item MANIFEST.SKIP 145 146A file full of regular expressions to exclude when using 'make 147manifest' to generate the MANIFEST. These regular expressions 148are checked against each file path found in the distribution (so 149you're matching against "t/foo.t" not "foo.t"). 150 151Here's a sample: 152 153 ~$ # ignore emacs and vim backup files 154 .bak$ # ignore manual backups 155 \# # ignore CVS old revision files and emacs temp files 156 157Since # can be used for comments, # must be escaped. 158 159MakeMaker comes with a default MANIFEST.SKIP to avoid things like 160version control directories and backup files. Specifying your own 161will override this default. 162 163 164=item bin/ 165 166 167=back 168 169=head1 SEE ALSO 170 171L<perlmodstyle> gives stylistic help writing a module. 172 173L<perlnewmod> gives more information about how to write a module. 174 175There are modules to help you through the process of writing a module: 176L<ExtUtils::ModuleMaker>, L<Module::Install>, L<PAR> 177 178=cut 179 1801; 181