1 package ExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ;
3 (our $VERSION) = sprintf "%03d", q$Revision: 1.10 $ =~ /Revision:\s+(\S+)/;
10 ExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions About MakeMaker
14 FAQs, tricks and tips for C<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>.
17 =head2 Module Installation
21 =item How do I keep from installing man pages?
23 Recent versions of MakeMaker will only install man pages on Unix like
26 For an individual module:
28 perl Makefile.PL INSTALLMAN1DIR=none INSTALLMAN3DIR=none
30 If you want to suppress man page installation for all modules you have
31 to reconfigure Perl and tell it 'none' when it asks where to install
35 =item How do I use a module without installing it?
37 Two ways. One is to build the module normally...
42 ...and then set the PERL5LIB environment variable to point at the
43 blib/lib and blib/arch directories.
45 The other is to install the module in a temporary location.
47 perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~/tmp LIB=~/tmp/lib/perl
49 And then set PERL5LIB to F<~/tmp/lib/perl>. This works well when you have
50 multiple modules to work with. It also ensures that the module goes
51 through its full installation process which may modify it.
56 =head2 Philosophy and History
60 =item Why not just use <insert other build config tool here>?
62 Why did MakeMaker reinvent the build configuration wheel? Why not
63 just use autoconf or automake or ppm or Ant or ...
65 There are many reasons, but the major one is cross-platform
68 Perl is one of the most ported pieces of software ever. It works on
69 operating systems I've never even heard of (see perlport for details).
70 It needs a build tool that can work on all those platforms and with
71 any wacky C compilers and linkers they might have.
73 No such build tool exists. Even make itself has wildly different
74 dialects. So we have to build our own.
77 =item What is Module::Build and how does it relate to MakeMaker?
79 Module::Build is a project by Ken Williams to supplant MakeMaker.
80 Its primary advantages are:
84 =item * pure perl. no make, no shell commands
86 =item * easier to customize
88 =item * cleaner internals
94 Module::Build is the official heir apparent to MakeMaker and we
95 encourage people to work on M::B rather than spending time adding features
101 =head2 Module Writing
105 =item How do I keep my $VERSION up to date without resetting it manually?
107 Often you want to manually set the $VERSION in the main module
108 distribution because this is the version that everybody sees on CPAN
109 and maybe you want to customize it a bit. But for all the other
110 modules in your dist, $VERSION is really just bookkeeping and all that's
111 important is it goes up every time the module is changed. Doing this
112 by hand is a pain and you often forget.
114 Simplest way to do it automatically is to use your version control
115 system's revision number (you are using version control, right?).
117 In CVS and RCS you use $Z<>Revision$ writing it like so:
119 $VERSION = sprintf "%d.%03d", q$Revision: 1.10 $ =~ /(\d+)/g;
121 Every time the file is checked in the $Z<>Revision$ will be updated,
122 updating your $VERSION.
124 In CVS version 1.9 is followed by 1.10. Since CPAN compares version
125 numbers numerically we use a sprintf() to convert 1.9 to 1.009 and
126 1.10 to 1.010 which compare properly.
128 If branches are involved (ie. $Z<>Revision: 1.5.3.4) its a little more
131 # must be all on one line or MakeMaker will get confused.
132 $VERSION = do { my @r = (q$Revision: 1.10 $ =~ /\d+/g); sprintf "%d."."%03d" x $#r, @r };
134 =item What's this F<META.yml> thing and how did it get in my F<MANIFEST>?!
136 F<META.yml> is a module meta-data file pioneered by Module::Build and
137 automatically generated as part of the 'distdir' target (and thus
138 'dist'). See L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker/"Module Meta-Data">.
140 To shut off its generation, pass the C<NO_META> flag to C<WriteMakefile()>.
148 =item How to I prevent "object version X.XX does not match bootstrap parameter Y.YY" errors?
150 XS code is very sensitive to the module version number and will
151 complain if the version number in your Perl module doesn't match. If
152 you change your module's version # without reruning Makefile.PL the old
153 version number will remain in the Makefile causing the XS code to be built
154 with the wrong number.
156 To avoid this, you can force the Makefile to be rebuilt whenever you
157 change the module containing the version number by adding this to your
158 WriteMakefile() arguments.
160 depend => { '$(FIRST_MAKEFILE)' => '$(VERSION_FROM)' }
163 =item How do I make two or more XS files coexist in the same directory?
165 Sometimes you need to have two and more XS files in the same package.
166 One way to go is to put them into separate directories, but sometimes
167 this is not the most suitable solution. The following technique allows
168 you to put two (and more) XS files in the same directory.
170 Let's assume that we have a package C<Cool::Foo>, which includes
171 C<Cool::Foo> and C<Cool::Bar> modules each having a separate XS
172 file. First we use the following I<Makefile.PL>:
174 use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
178 VERSION_FROM => 'Foo.pm',
179 OBJECT => q/$(O_FILES)/,
180 # ... other attrs ...
183 Notice the C<OBJECT> attribute. MakeMaker generates the following
184 variables in I<Makefile>:
186 # Handy lists of source code files:
194 Therefore we can use the C<O_FILES> variable to tell MakeMaker to use
195 these objects into the shared library.
197 That's pretty much it. Now write I<Foo.pm> and I<Foo.xs>, I<Bar.pm>
198 and I<Bar.xs>, where I<Foo.pm> bootstraps the shared library and
199 I<Bar.pm> simply loading I<Foo.pm>.
201 The only issue left is to how to bootstrap I<Bar.xs>. This is done
204 MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo
207 # boot the second XS file
208 boot_Cool__Bar(aTHX_ cv);
210 If you have more than two files, this is the place where you should
211 boot extra XS files from.
213 The following four files sum up all the details discussed so far.
221 our @ISA = qw(DynaLoader);
222 our $VERSION = '0.01';
223 bootstrap Cool::Foo $VERSION;
231 use Cool::Foo; # bootstraps Bar.xs
241 MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo
244 # boot the second XS file
245 boot_Cool__Bar(aTHX_ cv);
247 MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo PREFIX = cool_foo_
250 cool_foo_perl_rules()
253 fprintf(stderr, "Cool::Foo says: Perl Rules\n");
261 MODULE = Cool::Bar PACKAGE = Cool::Bar PREFIX = cool_bar_
264 cool_bar_perl_rules()
267 fprintf(stderr, "Cool::Bar says: Perl Rules\n");
269 And of course a very basic test:
274 BEGIN { plan tests => 1 };
277 Cool::Foo::perl_rules();
278 Cool::Bar::perl_rules();
281 This tip has been brought to you by Nick Ing-Simmons and Stas Bekman.
287 If you have a question you'd like to see added to the FAQ (whether or
288 not you have the answer) please send it to makemaker@perl.org.
292 The denizens of makemaker@perl.org.
296 L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>