ExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAPerlmProgrammers ReferenceExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ(3pm)NAMEExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions About MakeMaker
DESCRIPTION
FAQs, tricks and tips for "ExtUtils::MakeMaker".
Module Installation
How do I keep from installing man pages?
Recent versions of MakeMaker will only install man pages on Unix
like operating systems.
For an individual module:
perl Makefile.PL INSTALLMAN1DIR=none INSTALLMAN3DIR=none
If you want to suppress man page installation for all modules you
have to reconfigure Perl and tell it 'none' when it asks where to
install man pages.
How do I use a module without installing it?
Two ways. One is to build the module normally...
perl Makefile.PL
make
...and then set the PERL5LIB environment variable to point at the
blib/lib and blib/arch directories.
The other is to install the module in a temporary location.
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~/tmp LIB=~/tmp/lib/perl
And then set PERL5LIB to ~/tmp/lib/perl. This works well when you
have multiple modules to work with. It also ensures that the mod‐
ule goes through its full installation process which may modify it.
Philosophy and History
Why not just use <insert other build config tool here>?
Why did MakeMaker reinvent the build configuration wheel? Why not
just use autoconf or automake or ppm or Ant or ...
There are many reasons, but the major one is cross-platform compat‐
ibility.
Perl is one of the most ported pieces of software ever. It works
on operating systems I've never even heard of (see perlport for
details). It needs a build tool that can work on all those plat‐
forms and with any wacky C compilers and linkers they might have.
No such build tool exists. Even make itself has wildly different
dialects. So we have to build our own.
What is Module::Build and how does it relate to MakeMaker?
Module::Build is a project by Ken Williams to supplant MakeMaker.
Its primary advantages are:
* pure perl. no make, no shell commands
* easier to customize
* cleaner internals
* less cruft
Module::Build is the official heir apparent to MakeMaker and we
encourage people to work on M::B rather than spending time adding
features to MakeMaker.
Module Writing
How do I keep my $VERSION up to date without resetting it manually?
Often you want to manually set the $VERSION in the main module dis‐
tribution because this is the version that everybody sees on CPAN
and maybe you want to customize it a bit. But for all the other
modules in your dist, $VERSION is really just bookkeeping and all
that's important is it goes up every time the module is changed.
Doing this by hand is a pain and you often forget.
Simplest way to do it automatically is to use your version control
system's revision number (you are using version control, right?).
In CVS, RCS and SVN you use $Revision$ (see the documentation of
your version control system for details) writing it like so:
$VERSION = sprintf "%d.%03d", q$Revision$ =~ /(\d+)/g;
Every time the file is checked in the $Revision$ will be updated,
updating your $VERSION.
In CVS version 1.9 is followed by 1.10. Since CPAN compares ver‐
sion numbers numerically we use a sprintf() to convert 1.9 to 1.009
and 1.10 to 1.010 which compare properly.
If branches are involved (ie. $Revision: 1.5.3.4$) its a little
more complicated.
# must be all on one line or MakeMaker will get confused.
$VERSION = do { my @r = (q$Revision$ =~ /\d+/g); sprintf "%d."."%03d" x $#r, @r };
What's this META.yml thing and how did it get in my MANIFEST?!
META.yml is a module meta-data file pioneered by Module::Build and
automatically generated as part of the 'distdir' target (and thus
'dist'). See "Module Meta-Data" in ExtUtils::MakeMaker.
To shut off its generation, pass the "NO_META" flag to "WriteMake‐
file()".
XS
How to I prevent "object version X.XX does not match bootstrap parame‐
ter Y.YY" errors?
XS code is very sensitive to the module version number and will
complain if the version number in your Perl module doesn't match.
If you change your module's version # without reruning Makefile.PL
the old version number will remain in the Makefile causing the XS
code to be built with the wrong number.
To avoid this, you can force the Makefile to be rebuilt whenever
you change the module containing the version number by adding this
to your WriteMakefile() arguments.
depend => { '$(FIRST_MAKEFILE)' => '$(VERSION_FROM)' }
How do I make two or more XS files coexist in the same directory?
Sometimes you need to have two and more XS files in the same pack‐
age. One way to go is to put them into separate directories, but
sometimes this is not the most suitable solution. The following
technique allows you to put two (and more) XS files in the same
directory.
Let's assume that we have a package "Cool::Foo", which includes
"Cool::Foo" and "Cool::Bar" modules each having a separate XS file.
First we use the following Makefile.PL:
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile(
NAME => 'Cool::Foo',
VERSION_FROM => 'Foo.pm',
OBJECT => q/$(O_FILES)/,
# ... other attrs ...
);
Notice the "OBJECT" attribute. MakeMaker generates the following
variables in Makefile:
# Handy lists of source code files:
XS_FILES= Bar.xs \
Foo.xs
C_FILES = Bar.c \
Foo.c
O_FILES = Bar.o \
Foo.o
Therefore we can use the "O_FILES" variable to tell MakeMaker to
use these objects into the shared library.
That's pretty much it. Now write Foo.pm and Foo.xs, Bar.pm and
Bar.xs, where Foo.pm bootstraps the shared library and Bar.pm sim‐
ply loading Foo.pm.
The only issue left is to how to bootstrap Bar.xs. This is done
from Foo.xs:
MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo
BOOT:
# boot the second XS file
boot_Cool__Bar(aTHX_ cv);
If you have more than two files, this is the place where you should
boot extra XS files from.
The following four files sum up all the details discussed so far.
Foo.pm:
-------
package Cool::Foo;
require DynaLoader;
our @ISA = qw(DynaLoader);
our $VERSION = '0.01';
bootstrap Cool::Foo $VERSION;
1;
Bar.pm:
-------
package Cool::Bar;
use Cool::Foo; # bootstraps Bar.xs
1;
Foo.xs:
-------
#include "EXTERN.h"
#include "perl.h"
#include "XSUB.h"
MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo
BOOT:
# boot the second XS file
boot_Cool__Bar(aTHX_ cv);
MODULE = Cool::Foo PACKAGE = Cool::Foo PREFIX = cool_foo_
void
cool_foo_perl_rules()
CODE:
fprintf(stderr, "Cool::Foo says: Perl Rules\n");
Bar.xs:
-------
#include "EXTERN.h"
#include "perl.h"
#include "XSUB.h"
MODULE = Cool::Bar PACKAGE = Cool::Bar PREFIX = cool_bar_
void
cool_bar_perl_rules()
CODE:
fprintf(stderr, "Cool::Bar says: Perl Rules\n");
And of course a very basic test:
test.pl:
--------
use Test;
BEGIN { plan tests => 1 };
use Cool::Foo;
use Cool::Bar;
Cool::Foo::perl_rules();
Cool::Bar::perl_rules();
ok 1;
This tip has been brought to you by Nick Ing-Simmons and Stas Bek‐
man.
PATCHING
If you have a question you'd like to see added to the FAQ (whether or
not you have the answer) please send it to makemaker@perl.org.
AUTHOR
The denizens of makemaker@perl.org.
SEE ALSO
ExtUtils::MakeMaker
perl v5.8.8 2001-09-21 ExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ(3pm)
