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1 | This is a short set of guidelines for those patching |
2 | ExtUtils::MakeMaker. Its not an iron-clad set of rules, but just |
3 | things which make life easier when reading and integrating a patch. |
4 | |
5 | Lots of information can be found in makemaker.org. |
6 | |
7 | MakerMaker is being maintained until something else can replace it. |
8 | Bugs will be fixed and compatibility improved, but I would like to |
9 | avoid new features. If you want to add something to MakeMaker, |
10 | consider instead working on Module::Build, MakeMaker's heir apparent. |
11 | |
12 | |
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13 | Reporting bugs |
14 | |
15 | - Often the only information we have for fixing a bug is contained in your |
16 | report. So... |
17 | |
18 | - Please report your bugs via http://rt.cpan.org or by mailing to |
19 | makemaker@perl.org. RT is preferred. |
20 | |
21 | - Please report your bug immediately upon encountering it. Do not wait |
22 | until you have a patch to fix the bug. Patches are good, but not at |
23 | the expense of timely bug reports. |
24 | |
25 | - Please be as verbose as possible. Include the complete output of |
26 | your 'make test' or even 'make test TEST_VERBOSE=1' and a copy of the |
27 | generated Makefile. Err on the side of verbosity. The more data we |
28 | have to work with, the faster we can diagnose the problem. |
29 | |
30 | - If you find an undocumented feature, or if a feature has changed/been |
31 | added which causes a problem, report it. Do not assume it was done |
32 | deliberately. Even if it was done deliberately, we still want to hear |
33 | if it caused problems. |
34 | |
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35 | - If you're testing MakeMaker against a development version of Perl, |
36 | please also check it against the latest stable version. This makes it |
37 | easier to figure out if its MakeMaker or Perl at fault. |
38 | |
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39 | |
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40 | Patching details |
41 | |
42 | - Please use unified diffs. (diff -u) |
43 | |
44 | - Patches against the latest development snapshot from makemaker.org are |
45 | preferred. Patches against the latest CPAN version are ok, too. |
46 | |
47 | - Post your patch to makemaker@perl.org. |
48 | |
49 | |
50 | Code formatting |
51 | |
52 | - No literal tabs (except where necessary inside Makefile code, obviously). |
53 | |
54 | - 4 character indentation. |
55 | |
56 | - this_style is prefered instead of studlyCaps. |
57 | |
58 | - Private subroutine names (ie. those used only in the same package |
59 | they're declared in) should start with an underscore (_sekret_method). |
60 | |
61 | - Protected subroutines (ie. ones intended to be used by other modules in |
62 | ExtUtils::*) should be named normally (no leading underscore) but |
63 | documented as protected (see Documentation below). |
64 | |
65 | - Do not use indirect object syntax (ie. new Foo::Bar (@args)) |
66 | |
67 | - make variables use dollar signs like Perl scalars. This causes problems |
68 | when you have to mix them both in a string. If you find yourself |
69 | backwacking lots of dollar signs because you have one interpolated |
70 | perl variable, like this: |
71 | |
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72 | return <<EOT; |
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73 | subdirs :: |
74 | \$(NOECHO)cd $subdir && \$(MAKE) -f \$(FIRST_MAKEFILE) all \$(PASTHRU) |
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75 | |
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76 | EOT |
77 | |
78 | or are switching quoting contexts: |
79 | |
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80 | return q{ |
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81 | subdirs :: |
82 | $(NOECHO)cd }.$subdir.q{ && $(MAKE) -f $(FIRST_MAKEFILE) all $(PASTHRU) |
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83 | |
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84 | }; |
85 | |
86 | consider using sprintf instead. |
87 | |
88 | return sprintf <<'EOT', $subdir; |
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89 | subdirs :: |
90 | $(NOECHO)cd %s && $(MAKE) -f $(FIRST_MAKEFILE) all $(PASTHRU) |
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91 | |
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92 | EOT |
93 | |
94 | |
95 | Refactoring and Cleanup |
96 | |
97 | - MakeMaker is a mess. We like patches which clean things up. |
98 | |
99 | |
100 | Backwards Compatibility |
101 | |
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102 | - MakeMaker must be backwards compatible to 5.5.4 (5.005_04). Avoid any |
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103 | obvious 5.6-isms (threads, warnings.pm, Unicode, our, v1.2.3, attributes |
104 | open my $fh, lvalue subroutines, any new core modules, etc...). |
105 | |
106 | - MakeMaker should avoid having module dependencies. Avoid using modules |
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107 | which didn't come with 5.5.4 and avoid using features from newer |
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108 | versions. Sometimes this is unavoidable. |
109 | |
110 | |
111 | Cross-Platform Compatibility |
112 | |
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113 | - With the exception of MacOS Classic, MakeMaker must work on all |
114 | architectures Perl works on (see perlport.pod). This means all Unixen |
115 | (including Cygwin and MacOS X), Windows (including Win9x and DOS), and VMS. |
116 | |
117 | - Use the available macros rather than shell commands $(MV), $(CP), |
118 | $(TOUCH), etc... |
119 | |
120 | - MakeMaker must work on many makes. GNU, BSD, Solaris, nmake, dmake, MMS |
121 | and MMK to name the most common. Keep your make code as simple as |
122 | possible. |
123 | |
124 | - Avoid special variables (even $@). |
125 | |
126 | - Format targets as "target : dependency", the spacing is important. |
127 | |
128 | - Use $(NOECHO) instead of @. |
129 | |
130 | - Always put a space between $(NOECHO) and the command. |
131 | |
132 | - Always put a space between - (ignore) and the command. |
133 | |
134 | - Always put $(NOECHO) and - together, no space between them. |
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135 | |
136 | - Often when you patch ExtUtils::MM_Unix, similar patches must be done |
137 | to the other MM_* modules. If you can, please do this extra work |
138 | otherwise I have to. If you can't, that's ok. We can help. |
139 | |
140 | - If possible, please test your patch on two Very Different architectures. |
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141 | Unix, Windows and VMS being Very Different. Note: Cygwin and OS X are |
142 | Unixen for our purposes. |
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143 | |
144 | - If nothing else, at least try it on two different Unixen or Windows |
145 | machines (ie. Linux and IRIX or WinNT and Win95). |
146 | |
147 | - HP's TestDrive (www.testdrive.compaq.com) and SourceForge's |
148 | compile farm (www.sourceforge.net) are good sources of testing |
149 | machines of many different architectures and platforms. Accounts are |
150 | free. |
151 | |
152 | - If you find yourself writing "do_this if $^O eq 'That'" (ie. checks on |
153 | the OS type) perhaps your code belongs in one of the non-Unix MM_* |
154 | modules (ie. MM_Win32, MM_VMS, etc...). If one does not exist, consider |
155 | creating one. Its ok to have an MM_* module with only one method. |
156 | |
157 | - Some shells have very small buffers. This means command lines must |
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158 | be as small as possible. If your command is just too long, consider |
159 | making it an ExtUtils::Command::MM function. If your command might |
160 | receive many arguments (such as pod2man or pm_to_blib) consider |
161 | using split_command() to split it into several, shorter calls. |
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162 | |
163 | - Most shells quote differently. If you need to put a perl one-liner |
164 | in the Makefile, please use oneliner() to generate it. |
165 | |
166 | |
167 | Tests |
168 | |
169 | - Tests would be nice, but I'm not going to pretend testing MakeMaker |
170 | is easy. If nothing else, let us know how you tested your patch by |
171 | hand. |
172 | |
173 | |
174 | Documentation |
175 | |
176 | - Documentation would be nice. |
177 | |
178 | - If the new feature/method is private, please document it with POD |
179 | wrapped in "=begin/end private" tags. That way it will be documented, |
180 | but won't be displayed (future versions of perldoc may have options |
181 | to display). |
182 | |
183 | =begin private |
184 | |
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185 | =head3 _foo_bar |
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186 | |
187 | $mm->_foo_bar |
188 | |
189 | Blah blah blah |
190 | |
191 | =end private |
192 | |
193 | =cut |
194 | |
195 | sub _foo_bar { |
196 | ... |
197 | |
198 | - If you're overriding a method, document that its an override and |
199 | *why* its being overridden. Don't repeat the original documentation. |