1 package ExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ;
11 ExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions About MakeMaker
15 FAQs, tricks and tips for C<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>.
18 =head2 Module Installation
22 =item How do I keep from installing man pages?
24 Recent versions of MakeMaker will only install man pages on Unix like
27 For an individual module:
29 perl Makefile.PL INSTALLMAN1DIR=none INSTALLMAN3DIR=none
31 If you want to suppress man page installation for all modules you have
32 to reconfigure Perl and tell it 'none' when it asks where to install
36 =item How do I use a module without installing it?
38 Two ways. One is to build the module normally...
43 ...and then set the PERL5LIB environment variable to point at the
44 blib/lib and blib/arch directories.
46 The other is to install the module in a temporary location.
48 perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~/tmp LIB=~/tmp/lib/perl
50 And then set PERL5LIB to F<~/tmp/lib/perl>. This works well when you have
51 multiple modules to work with. It also ensures that the module goes
52 through its full installation process which may modify it.
57 =head2 Philosophy and History
61 =item Why not just use <insert other build config tool here>?
63 Why did MakeMaker reinvent the build configuration wheel? Why not
64 just use autoconf or automake or ppm or Ant or ...
66 There are many reasons, but the major one is cross-platform
69 Perl is one of the most ported pieces of software ever. It works on
70 operating systems I've never even heard of (see perlport for details).
71 It needs a build tool that can work on all those platforms and with
72 any wacky C compilers and linkers they might have.
74 No such build tool exists. Even make itself has wildly different
75 dialects. So we have to build our own.
78 =item What is Module::Build and how does it relate to MakeMaker?
80 Module::Build is a project by Ken Williams to supplant MakeMaker.
81 Its primary advantages are:
85 =item * pure perl. no make, no shell commands
87 =item * easier to customize
89 =item * cleaner internals
95 Module::Build is the official heir apparent to MakeMaker and we
96 encourage people to work on M::B rather than spending time adding features
102 =head2 Module Writing
106 =item How do I keep my $VERSION up to date without resetting it manually?
108 Often you want to manually set the $VERSION in the main module
109 distribution because this is the version that everybody sees on CPAN
110 and maybe you want to customize it a bit. But for all the other
111 modules in your dist, $VERSION is really just bookkeeping and all that's
112 important is it goes up every time the module is changed. Doing this
113 by hand is a pain and you often forget.
115 Simplest way to do it automatically is to use your version control
116 system's revision number (you are using version control, right?).
118 In CVS, RCS and SVN you use $Revision$ (see the documentation of your
119 version control system for details) writing it like so:
121 $VERSION = sprintf "%d.%03d", q$Revision$ =~ /(\d+)/g;
123 Every time the file is checked in the $Revision$ will be updated,
124 updating your $VERSION.
126 In CVS version 1.9 is followed by 1.10. Since CPAN compares version
127 numbers numerically we use a sprintf() to convert 1.9 to 1.009 and
128 1.10 to 1.010 which compare properly.
130 If branches are involved (ie. $Revision: 1.5.3.4$) its a little more
133 # must be all on one line or MakeMaker will get confused.
134 $VERSION = do { my @r = (q$Revision$ =~ /\d+/g); sprintf "%d."."%03d" x $#r, @r };
136 =item What's this F<META.yml> thing and how did it get in my F<MANIFEST>?!
138 F<META.yml> is a module meta-data file pioneered by Module::Build and
139 automatically generated as part of the 'distdir' target (and thus
140 'dist'). See L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker/"Module Meta-Data">.
142 To shut off its generation, pass the C<NO_META> flag to C<WriteMakefile()>.
150 =item How to I prevent "object version X.XX does not match bootstrap parameter Y.YY" errors?
152 XS code is very sensitive to the module version number and will
153 complain if the version number in your Perl module doesn't match. If
154 you change your module's version # without rerunning Makefile.PL the old
155 version number will remain in the Makefile causing the XS code to be built
156 with the wrong number.
158 To avoid this, you can force the Makefile to be rebuilt whenever you
159 change the module containing the version number by adding this to your
160 WriteMakefile() arguments.
162 depend => { '$(FIRST_MAKEFILE)' => '$(VERSION_FROM)' }
165 =item How do I make two or more XS files coexist in the same directory?
167 Sometimes you need to have two and more XS files in the same package.
168 One way to go is to put them into separate directories, but sometimes
169 this is not the most suitable solution. The following technique allows
170 you to put two (and more) XS files in the same directory.
172 Let's assume that we have a package C<Cool::Foo>, which includes
173 C<Cool::Foo> and C<Cool::Bar> modules each having a separate XS
174 file. First we use the following I<Makefile.PL>:
176 use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
180 VERSION_FROM => 'Foo.pm',
181 OBJECT => q/$(O_FILES)/,
182 # ... other attrs ...
185 Notice the C<OBJECT> attribute. MakeMaker generates the following
186 variables in I<Makefile>:
188 # Handy lists of source code files:
196 Therefore we can use the C<O_FILES> variable to tell MakeMaker to use
197 these objects into the shared library.
199 That's pretty much it. Now write I<Foo.pm> and I<Foo.xs>, I<Bar.pm>
200 and I<Bar.xs>, where I<Foo.pm> bootstraps the shared library and
201 I<Bar.pm> simply loading I<Foo.pm>.
203 The only issue left is to how to bootstrap I<Bar.xs>. This is done
206 MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo
209 # boot the second XS file
210 boot_Cool__Bar(aTHX_ cv);
212 If you have more than two files, this is the place where you should
213 boot extra XS files from.
215 The following four files sum up all the details discussed so far.
223 our @ISA = qw(DynaLoader);
224 our $VERSION = '0.01';
225 bootstrap Cool::Foo $VERSION;
233 use Cool::Foo; # bootstraps Bar.xs
243 MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo
246 # boot the second XS file
247 boot_Cool__Bar(aTHX_ cv);
249 MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo PREFIX = cool_foo_
252 cool_foo_perl_rules()
255 fprintf(stderr, "Cool::Foo says: Perl Rules\n");
263 MODULE = Cool::Bar PACKAGE = Cool::Bar PREFIX = cool_bar_
266 cool_bar_perl_rules()
269 fprintf(stderr, "Cool::Bar says: Perl Rules\n");
271 And of course a very basic test:
276 BEGIN { plan tests => 1 };
279 Cool::Foo::perl_rules();
280 Cool::Bar::perl_rules();
283 This tip has been brought to you by Nick Ing-Simmons and Stas Bekman.
289 If you have a question you'd like to see added to the FAQ (whether or
290 not you have the answer) please send it to makemaker@perl.org.
294 The denizens of makemaker@perl.org.
298 L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>