Intermediate Perl

16.1. There's More Than One Way To Do It A distribution contains the module (or collection of related modules), plus all the support files required to document, test, ship, and install the module. While you could p...

16.2. Using h2xs We'll explain the Makefile.PL process using the awkwardly named h2xs.[] We use h2xs to create a set of template files that are a starting point for our distribution files. We simply need to say H2xs -XAn, followed by the nam...

16.3. Embedded Documentation Immediately following the mandatory true value in the file, you'll find the _ _END_ _ marker. That's double underscore followed by END followed by another double underscore. It's at the beginning of the ...

16.4. Controlling the Distribution with Makefile.PL The Perl developers have chosen to rely on the standard Unix make utility to build and install Perl itself, and that same mechanism is used for additional modules. If you have a...

16.5. Alternate Installation Locations (PREFIX=) The Makefile built by the default invocation of Makefile.PL presumes that the module will be installed in the system-wide Perl directory that all Perl programs can access directly with t...

16.6. Trivial make test Testing. Testing. Testing. We talk more about testing in depth in Chapters 17 and 18, but here's a brief introduction. Testing is important. First, you should at least ensure that the code you've written even comp...

16.7. Trivial make install Since you know the module can at least compile, let's be daring and install it. Of course, you're installing it only into the path specified by the PREFIX in the earlier step, but that's enough to show how it would...

16.8. Trivial make dist After some testing, you may decide it's time to share your work with friends and associates. To do this, make a single distribution file. Many mechanisms are available to do this, but the most common one on most moder...

16.9. Using the Alternate Library Location The libraries are installed relative to the PREFIX specified earlier. If Ginger used a PREFIX of /home/ginger/Testing, you need to add the appropriate directory below it to the search path. The u...

16.10. Exercise You can find the answer to this exercise in "Answer for Chapter 16" in the Appendix. 16.10.1. Exercise [30 min] Package up the Animal and Horse classes from Chapter 12 as a distribution. Be sure to add the proper POD documentat...