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Building a CPAN-Worthy distribution with module and a script

rpaskudniak
User

Feb 21, 2011, 6:04 PM

Post #1 of 2 (3284 views)

Building a CPAN-Worthy distribution with module and a script	Can't Post

Greetings.

Although I am not (by own evaluation) and advanced Perl programmer, I am posting my question in this section because my post in the "Intermediate" section has yet to receive an answer.

The quick version of the story:
My dist contains a module and a script. When I install it, the module goes into a known place; the scripts seems to have been ignored.

Now the fuller story:

I have a Perl module for which I'd like to build a CPAN-worthy distribution. I also want to include a runnable script that uses the module, serving as both an example and a useful application. I started with h2xs to build the skeleton distribution and copied/edited my .pm file in there. What about the script that uses it? Taking what appears to be a cue in ExtUtils-ModuleMaker-0.51, I manually added a scripts directory parallel to the lib directory.

Here's what by directory structure looks like, with comments added:

Code

$ find UNLreport 
UNLreport                               # Top level directory 
UNLreport/lib                           # Subdir generated by h2xs 
UNLreport/lib/UNLreport.pm   # The star module of this dist 
UNLreport/Makefile                      # Generated by perl Makefile.PL 
UNLreport/Makefile.PL                   # Makefile builder generated by h2xs 
UNLreport/MANIFEST                      # See comments below 
UNLreport/README                        # Edited from the original skeleton 
UNLreport/scripts                       # I added this subdirectory 
UNLreport/scripts/beautify-unl.pl       # The script I was talking about 
UNLreport/t                             # The test stuff.  Leaving these 
UNLreport/t/UNLreport.t                 #  alone for now

Now about the MANIFEST file:

Code

Makefile.PL                      
MANIFEST                         
README 
t/UNLreport.t 
lib/UNLreport.pm 
scripts/beautify-unl.pl     # I added this entry to the MANIFEST

And, of course, I ran the appropriate:

Code

perl Makefile.pl 
make dist

The result was UNLreport-1.02.tar.gz.

Now, I built this all under Cygwin (Windows-7). I then booted Ubuntu, copied the gz to /Var/Downloads (my way of setting a private standard) and unpacked, untar'ed, ran the appropriate stuff through make install.

So where did my stuff end up? Well, the module ended up as:

Code

/usr/local/share/perl/5.10.1/UNLreport.pm

All fine and well for a simple module. Now what about the script I stuck into the scripts directory? Looks like my emulation of ExtUtils was misdirected.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure of where I did want the script to get installed. I think something like in /usr/local/share/scripts (which would have to create) but I was hoping there would be an attempt by the "make install" to put it someplace, get an error, and I would create the necessary directory.

BTW, here's the install session, as best as I could edit it from the messed up "scripts" output

Code

Script started on Mon 21 Feb 2011 07:45:19 PM EST 
rasputin@maxwell:/var/Downloads/UNLreport-1.02$ perl Makefile.PL 
Checking if your kit is complete... 
Looks good 
Writing Makefile for UNLreport 
 
rasputin@maxwell:/var/Downloads/UNLreport-1.02$ make 
cp lib/UNLreport.pm blib/lib/UNLreport.pm 
Manifying blib/man3/UNLreport.3pm 
 
rasputin@maxwell:/var/Downloads/UNLreport-1.02$ make test  
PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /usr/bin/perl "-MExtUtils::Command::MM" "-e" "test_harness(0, 'blib/lib', 'blib/arch')" t/*.t 
t/UNLreport.t ..  
t/UNLreport.t .. 1/1 
t/UNLreport.t .. ok 
All tests successful. 
Files=1, Tests=1,  0 wallclock secs ( 0.02 usr  0.01 sys +  0.02 cusr  0.00 csys =  0.05 CPU) 
Result: PASS 
 
rasputin@maxwell:/var/Downloads/UNLreport-1.02$ sudo make install 
[sudo] password for rasputin:  
Installing /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.1/UNLreport.pm 
Installing /usr/local/man/man3/UNLreport.3pm 
Appending installation info to /usr/local/lib/perl/5.10.1/perllocal.pod 
rasputin@maxwell: /var/Downloads/UNLreport-1.02  
rasputin@maxwell:/var/Downloads/UNLreport-1.02$ exit 
 
Script done on Mon 21 Feb 2011 07:46:35 PM EST

So now that you know what I'm up to:
- How do I get my distribution to include the script?
- How do I tell it where to put the script

Thank you, O Gurus, for your guidance here.
--------------------
-- Rasputin Paskudniak (In perpetual pursuit of undomesticated, semi-aquatic avians)

rpaskudniak
User

Feb 22, 2011, 9:18 PM

Post #2 of 2 (3260 views)

Re: [rpaskudniak] Building a CPAN-Worthy distribution with module and a script [In reply to]	Can't Post

Solution found! (It had been seen but overlooked.)

I edited makefile.PL, adding one parameter to the WriteMakefile() call:

Code

WriteMakefile( 
    NAME              => 'UNLreport', 
    VERSION_FROM      => 'lib/UNLreport.pm', # finds $VERSION 
    EXE_FILES         => [ 'scripts/beautify-unl.pl' ], 
    PREREQ_PM         => {}, # e.g., Module::Name => 1.1 
    ($] >= 5.005 ?     ## Add these new keywords supported since 5.005 
      (ABSTRACT_FROM  => 'lib/UNLreport.pm', # retrieve abstract from module 
       AUTHOR         => 'U-Maxwell\Rasputin <rpaskudniak@x-ray.at>') : ()), 
);

(Note: I have edited my name out of the AUTHOR hash to provide myself with token privacy.)

Result:

Code

$ sudo make install 
Installing /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.1/UNLreport.pm 
Installing /usr/local/man/man3/UNLreport.3pm 
Installing /usr/local/bin/beautify-unl.pl 
Appending installation info to /usr/local/lib/perl/5.10.1/perllocal.pod

I will start another thread on controlling where to install the script. But right now I just want to celebrate!

--------------------
-- Rasputin Paskudniak (In perpetual pursuit of undomesticated, semi-aquatic avians)

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