MAN page from PLD perl-modules-5.6.1-72.i586.rpm

ExtUtils::MakeMaker

Section: Perl Programmers Reference Guide (3pm)
Updated: perl v5.6.1
Index

NAME

ExtUtils::MakeMaker - create an extension Makefile

SYNOPSIS

"use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;"

"WriteMakefile( ATTRIBUTE => VALUE [, ...] );"

which is really

"MM->new(\%att)->flush;"

DESCRIPTION

This utility is designed to write a Makefile for an extension modulefrom a Makefile.PL. It is based on the Makefile.SH model provided byAndy Dougherty and the perl5-porters.

It splits the task of generating the Makefile into several subroutinesthat can be individually overridden. Each subroutine returns the textit wishes to have written to the Makefile.

MakeMaker is object oriented. Each directory below the currentdirectory that contains a Makefile.PL. Is treated as a separateobject. This makes it possible to write an unlimited number ofMakefiles with a single invocation of WriteMakefile().

How To Write A Makefile.PL

The short answer is: Don't.

        Always begin with h2xs.        Always begin with h2xs!        ALWAYS BEGIN WITH H2XS!

even if you're not building around a header file, and even if youdon't have an XS component.

Run h2xs(1) before you start thinking about writing a module. For socalled pm-only modules that consist of "*.pm" files only, h2xs hasthe "-X" switch. This will generate dummy files of all kinds that areuseful for the module developer.

The medium answer is:

    use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;    WriteMakefile( NAME => "Foo::Bar" );

The long answer is the rest of the manpage :-)

Default Makefile Behaviour

The generated Makefile enables the user of the extension to invoke

  perl Makefile.PL # optionally "perl Makefile.PL verbose"  make  make test        # optionally set TEST_VERBOSE=1  make install     # See below

The Makefile to be produced may be altered by adding arguments of theform "KEY=VALUE". E.g.

  perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/tmp/myperl5

Other interesting targets in the generated Makefile are

  make config     # to check if the Makefile is up-to-date  make clean      # delete local temp files (Makefile gets renamed)  make realclean  # delete derived files (including ./blib)  make ci         # check in all the files in the MANIFEST file  make dist       # see below the Distribution Support section

make test

MakeMaker checks for the existence of a file named test.pl in thecurrent directory and if it exists it adds commands to the test targetof the generated Makefile that will execute the script with the properset of perl "-I" options.

MakeMaker also checks for any files matching glob(``t/*.t''). It willadd commands to the test target of the generated Makefile that executeall matching files via the the Test::Harness manpage module with the "-I"switches set correctly.

make testdb

A useful variation of the above is the target "testdb". It runs thetest under the Perl debugger (see the perldebug manpage). If the filetest.pl exists in the current directory, it is used for the test.

If you want to debug some other testfile, set "TEST_FILE" variablethusly:

  make testdb TEST_FILE=t/mytest.t

By default the debugger is called using "-d" option to perl. If youwant to specify some other option, set "TESTDB_SW" variable:

  make testdb TESTDB_SW=-Dx

make install

make alone puts all relevant files into directories that are named bythe macros INST_LIB, INST_ARCHLIB, INST_SCRIPT, INST_HTMLLIBDIR,INST_HTMLSCRIPTDIR, INST_MAN1DIR, and INST_MAN3DIR. All these defaultto something below ./blib if you are not building below the perlsource directory. If you are building below the perl source,INST_LIB and INST_ARCHLIB default to ../../lib, and INST_SCRIPT is notdefined.

The install target of the generated Makefile copies the files foundbelow each of the INST_* directories to their INSTALL*counterparts. Which counterparts are chosen depends on the setting ofINSTALLDIRS according to the following table:

                                 INSTALLDIRS set to                              perl                site

    INST_ARCHLIB        INSTALLARCHLIB        INSTALLSITEARCH    INST_LIB            INSTALLPRIVLIB        INSTALLSITELIB    INST_HTMLLIBDIR     INSTALLHTMLPRIVLIBDIR INSTALLHTMLSITELIBDIR    INST_HTMLSCRIPTDIR            INSTALLHTMLSCRIPTDIR    INST_BIN                      INSTALLBIN    INST_SCRIPT                   INSTALLSCRIPT    INST_MAN1DIR                  INSTALLMAN1DIR    INST_MAN3DIR                  INSTALLMAN3DIR

The INSTALL... macros in turn default to their %Config($Config{installprivlib}, $Config{installarchlib}, etc.) counterparts.

You can check the values of these variables on your system with

    perl '-V:install.*'

And to check the sequence in which the library directories aresearched by perl, run

    perl -le 'print join $/, @INC'

PREFIX and LIB attribute

PREFIX and LIB can be used to set several INSTALL* attributes in onego. The quickest way to install a module in a non-standard place mightbe

    perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/lib

This will install the module's architecture-independent files into~/lib, the architecture-dependent files into ~/lib/$archname.

Another way to specify many INSTALL directories with a singleparameter is PREFIX.

    perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~

This will replace the string specified by "$Config{prefix}" in all"$Config{install*}" values.

Note, that in both cases the tilde expansion is done by MakeMaker, notby perl by default, nor by make.

Conflicts between parameters LIB,PREFIX and the various INSTALL* arguments are resolved so that:

•

setting LIB overrides any setting of INSTALLPRIVLIB, INSTALLARCHLIB,INSTALLSITELIB, INSTALLSITEARCH (and they are not affected by PREFIX);

•

without LIB, setting PREFIX replaces the initial "$Config{prefix}"part of those INSTALL* arguments, even if the latter are explicitlyset (but are set to still start with "$Config{prefix}").

If the user has superuser privileges, and is not working on AFSor relatives, then the defaults forINSTALLPRIVLIB, INSTALLARCHLIB, INSTALLSCRIPT, etc. will be appropriate,and this incantation will be the best:

    perl Makefile.PL; make; make test    make install

make install per default writes some documentation of what has beendone into the file "$(INSTALLARCHLIB)/perllocal.pod". This featurecan be bypassed by calling make pure_install.

AFS users

will have to specify the installation directories as these mostprobably have changed since perl itself has been installed. They willhave to do this by calling

    perl Makefile.PL INSTALLSITELIB=/afs/here/today \        INSTALLSCRIPT=/afs/there/now INSTALLMAN3DIR=/afs/for/manpages    make

Be careful to repeat this procedure every time you recompile anextension, unless you are sure the AFS installation directories arestill valid.

Static Linking of a new Perl Binary

An extension that is built with the above steps is ready to use onsystems supporting dynamic loading. On systems that do not supportdynamic loading, any newly created extension has to be linked togetherwith the available resources. MakeMaker supports the linking processby creating appropriate targets in the Makefile whenever an extensionis built. You can invoke the corresponding section of the makefile with

    make perl

That produces a new perl binary in the current directory with allextensions linked in that can be found in INST_ARCHLIB , SITELIBEXP,and PERL_ARCHLIB. To do that, MakeMaker writes a new Makefile, onUNIX, this is called Makefile.aperl (may be system dependent). If youwant to force the creation of a new perl, it is recommended, that youdelete this Makefile.aperl, so the directories are searched-throughfor linkable libraries again.

The binary can be installed into the directory where perl normallyresides on your machine with

    make inst_perl

To produce a perl binary with a different name than "perl", either say

    perl Makefile.PL MAP_TARGET=myperl    make myperl    make inst_perl

or say

    perl Makefile.PL    make myperl MAP_TARGET=myperl    make inst_perl MAP_TARGET=myperl

In any case you will be prompted with the correct invocation of the"inst_perl" target that installs the new binary into INSTALLBIN.

make inst_perl per default writes some documentation of what has beendone into the file "$(INSTALLARCHLIB)/perllocal.pod". Thiscan be bypassed by calling make pure_inst_perl.

Warning: the inst_perl: target will most probably overwrite yourexisting perl binary. Use with care!

Sometimes you might want to build a statically linked perl althoughyour system supports dynamic loading. In this case you may explicitlyset the linktype with the invocation of the Makefile.PL or make:

    perl Makefile.PL LINKTYPE=static    # recommended

    make LINKTYPE=static                # works on most systems

Determination of Perl Library and Installation Locations

MakeMaker needs to know, or to guess, where certain things arelocated. Especially INST_LIB and INST_ARCHLIB (where to put the filesduring the make(1) run), PERL_LIB and PERL_ARCHLIB (where to readexisting modules from), and PERL_INC (header files and "libperl*.*").

Extensions may be built either using the contents of the perl sourcedirectory tree or from the installed perl library. The recommended wayis to build extensions after you have run 'make install' on perlitself. You can do that in any directory on your hard disk that is notbelow the perl source tree. The support for extensions below the extdirectory of the perl distribution is only good for the standardextensions that come with perl.

If an extension is being built below the "ext/" directory of the perlsource then MakeMaker will set PERL_SRC automatically (e.g.,"../.."). If PERL_SRC is defined and the extension is recognized asa standard extension, then other variables default to the following:

  PERL_INC     = PERL_SRC  PERL_LIB     = PERL_SRC/lib  PERL_ARCHLIB = PERL_SRC/lib  INST_LIB     = PERL_LIB  INST_ARCHLIB = PERL_ARCHLIB

If an extension is being built away from the perl source then MakeMakerwill leave PERL_SRC undefined and default to using the installed copyof the perl library. The other variables default to the following:

  PERL_INC     = $archlibexp/CORE  PERL_LIB     = $privlibexp  PERL_ARCHLIB = $archlibexp  INST_LIB     = ./blib/lib  INST_ARCHLIB = ./blib/arch

If perl has not yet been installed then PERL_SRC can be defined on thecommand line as shown in the previous section.

Which architecture dependent directory?

If you don't want to keep the defaults for the INSTALL* macros,MakeMaker helps you to minimize the typing needed: the usualrelationship between INSTALLPRIVLIB and INSTALLARCHLIB is determinedby Configure at perl compilation time. MakeMaker supports the user whosets INSTALLPRIVLIB. If INSTALLPRIVLIB is set, but INSTALLARCHLIB not,then MakeMaker defaults the latter to be the same subdirectory ofINSTALLPRIVLIB as Configure decided for the counterparts in %Config ,otherwise it defaults to INSTALLPRIVLIB. The same relationship holdsfor INSTALLSITELIB and INSTALLSITEARCH.

MakeMaker gives you much more freedom than needed to configureinternal variables and get different results. It is worth to mention,that make(1) also lets you configure most of the variables that areused in the Makefile. But in the majority of situations this will notbe necessary, and should only be done if the author of a packagerecommends it (or you know what you're doing).

Using Attributes and Parameters

The following attributes can be specified as arguments to WriteMakefile()or as NAME=VALUE pairs on the command line:

ABSTRACT

One line description of the module. Will be included in PPD file.

ABSTRACT_FROM

Name of the file that contains the package description. MakeMaker looksfor a line in the POD matching /^($package\s-\s)(.*)/. This is typicallythe first line in the ``=head1 NAME'' section. $2 becomes the abstract.

AUTHOR

String containing name (and email address) of package author(s). Is usedin PPD (Perl Package Description) files for PPM (Perl Package Manager).

BINARY_LOCATION

Used when creating PPD files for binary packages. It can be set to afull or relative path or URL to the binary archive for a particulararchitecture. For example:

        perl Makefile.PL BINARY_LOCATION=x86/Agent.tar.gz

builds a PPD package that references a binary of the "Agent" package,located in the "x86" directory relative to the PPD itself.

C

Ref to array of *.c file names. Initialised from a directory scanand the values portion of the XS attribute hash. This is notcurrently used by MakeMaker but may be handy in Makefile.PLs.

CAPI

[This attribute is obsolete in Perl 5.6. PERL_OBJECT builds are C-compatibleby default.]

Switch to force usage of the Perl C API even when compiling for PERL_OBJECT.

Note that this attribute is passed through to any recursive build,but if and only if the submodule's Makefile.PL itself makes no mentionof the 'CAPI' attribute.

CCFLAGS

String that will be included in the compiler call command line betweenthe arguments INC and OPTIMIZE.

CONFIG

Arrayref. E.g. [qw(archname manext)] defines ARCHNAME & MANEXT fromconfig.sh. MakeMaker will add to CONFIG the following values anyway:arcccccdlflagsccdlflagsdlextdlsrcldlddlflagsldflagslibclib_extobj_extranlibsitelibexpsitearchexpso

CONFIGURE

CODE reference. The subroutine should return a hash reference. Thehash may contain further attributes, e.g. {LIBS => ...}, that have tobe determined by some evaluation method.

DEFINE

Something like ""-DHAVE_UNISTD_H""

DIR

Ref to array of subdirectories containing Makefile.PLs e.g. [ 'sdbm'] in ext/SDBM_File

DISTNAME

Your name for distributing the package (by tar file). This defaults toNAME above.

DL_FUNCS

Hashref of symbol names for routines to be made available as universalsymbols. Each key/value pair consists of the package name and anarray of routine names in that package. Used only under AIX, OS/2,VMS and Win32 at present. The routine names supplied will be expandedin the same way as XSUB names are expanded by the XS() macro.Defaults to

  {"$(NAME)" => ["boot_$(NAME)" ] }

e.g.

  {"RPC" => [qw( boot_rpcb rpcb_gettime getnetconfigent )],   "NetconfigPtr" => [ 'DESTROY'] }

Please see the the ExtUtils::Mksymlists manpage documentation for more informationabout the DL_FUNCS, DL_VARS and FUNCLIST attributes.

DL_VARS

Array of symbol names for variables to be made available as universal symbols.Used only under AIX, OS/2, VMS and Win32 at present. Defaults to [].(e.g. [ qw(Foo_version Foo_numstreams Foo_tree ) ])

EXCLUDE_EXT

Array of extension names to exclude when doing a static build. Thisis ignored if INCLUDE_EXT is present. Consult INCLUDE_EXT for moredetails. (e.g. [ qw( Socket POSIX ) ] )

This attribute may be most useful when specified as a string on thecommand line: perl Makefile.PL EXCLUDE_EXT='Socket Safe'

EXE_FILES

Ref to array of executable files. The files will be copied to theINST_SCRIPT directory. Make realclean will delete them from thereagain.

FIRST_MAKEFILE

The name of the Makefile to be produced. Defaults to the contents ofMAKEFILE, but can be overridden. This is used for the second Makefilethat will be produced for the MAP_TARGET.

FULLPERL

Perl binary able to run this extension.

FUNCLIST

This provides an alternate means to specify function names to beexported from the extension. Its value is a reference to anarray of function names to be exported by the extension. Thesenames are passed through unaltered to the linker options file.

H

Ref to array of *.h file names. Similar to C.

HTMLLIBPODS

Hashref of .pm and .pod files. MakeMaker will default this to all
.pod and any .pm files that include POD directives. The files listedhere will be converted to HTML format and installed as was requestedat Configure time.

HTMLSCRIPTPODS

Hashref of pod-containing files. MakeMaker will default this to allEXE_FILES files that include POD directives. The files listedhere will be converted to HTML format and installed as was requestedat Configure time.

IMPORTS

This attribute is used to specify names to be imported into theextension. It is only used on OS/2 and Win32.

INC

Include file dirs eg: ""-I/usr/5include -I/path/to/inc""

INCLUDE_EXT

Array of extension names to be included when doing a static build.MakeMaker will normally build with all of the installed extensions whendoing a static build, and that is usually the desired behavior. IfINCLUDE_EXT is present then MakeMaker will build only with those extensionswhich are explicitly mentioned. (e.g. [ qw( Socket POSIX ) ])

It is not necessary to mention DynaLoader or the current extension whenfilling in INCLUDE_EXT. If the INCLUDE_EXT is mentioned but is empty thenonly DynaLoader and the current extension will be included in the build.

This attribute may be most useful when specified as a string on thecommand line: perl Makefile.PL INCLUDE_EXT='POSIX Socket Devel::Peek'

INSTALLARCHLIB

Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_ARCHLIB to thisdirectory if INSTALLDIRS is set to perl.

INSTALLBIN

Directory to install binary files (e.g. tkperl) into.

INSTALLDIRS

Determines which of the two sets of installation directories tochoose: installprivlib and installarchlib versus installsitelib andinstallsitearch. The first pair is chosen with INSTALLDIRS=perl, thesecond with INSTALLDIRS=site. Default is site.

INSTALLHTMLPRIVLIBDIR

This directory gets the HTML pages at 'make install' time. Defaults to$Config{installhtmlprivlibdir}.

INSTALLHTMLSCRIPTDIR

This directory gets the HTML pages at 'make install' time. Defaults to$Config{installhtmlscriptdir}.

INSTALLHTMLSITELIBDIR

This directory gets the HTML pages at 'make install' time. Defaults to$Config{installhtmlsitelibdir}.

INSTALLMAN1DIR

This directory gets the man pages at 'make install' time. Defaults to$Config{installman1dir}.

INSTALLMAN3DIR

This directory gets the man pages at 'make install' time. Defaults to$Config{installman3dir}.

INSTALLPRIVLIB

Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_LIB to thisdirectory if INSTALLDIRS is set to perl.

INSTALLSCRIPT

Used by 'make install' which copies files from INST_SCRIPT to thisdirectory.

INSTALLSITEARCH

Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_ARCHLIB to thisdirectory if INSTALLDIRS is set to site (default).

INSTALLSITELIB

Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_LIB to thisdirectory if INSTALLDIRS is set to site (default).

INST_ARCHLIB

Same as INST_LIB for architecture dependent files.

INST_BIN

Directory to put real binary files during 'make'. These will be copiedto INSTALLBIN during 'make install'

INST_EXE

Old name for INST_SCRIPT. Deprecated. Please use INST_SCRIPT if youneed to use it.

INST_HTMLLIBDIR

Directory to hold the man pages in HTML format at 'make' time

INST_HTMLSCRIPTDIR

Directory to hold the man pages in HTML format at 'make' time

INST_LIB

Directory where we put library files of this extension while buildingit.

INST_MAN1DIR

Directory to hold the man pages at 'make' time

INST_MAN3DIR

Directory to hold the man pages at 'make' time

INST_SCRIPT

Directory, where executable files should be installed during'make'. Defaults to ``./blib/script'', just to have a dummy location duringtesting. make install will copy the files in INST_SCRIPT toINSTALLSCRIPT.

LDFROM

defaults to ``$(OBJECT)'' and is used in the ld command to specifywhat files to link/load from (also see dynamic_lib below for how tospecify ld flags)

LIB

LIB should only be set at "perl Makefile.PL" time but is allowed as aMakeMaker argument. It has the effect ofsetting both INSTALLPRIVLIB and INSTALLSITELIB to that value regardless anyexplicit setting of those arguments (or of PREFIX). INSTALLARCHLIB and INSTALLSITEARCH are set to the corresponding architecture subdirectory.

LIBPERL_A

The filename of the perllibrary that will be used together with thisextension. Defaults to libperl.a.

LIBS

An anonymous array of alternative libraryspecifications to be searched for (in order) untilat least one library is found. E.g.

  'LIBS' => ["-lgdbm", "-ldbm -lfoo", "-L/path -ldbm.nfs"]

Mind, that any element of the arraycontains a complete set of arguments for the ldcommand. So do not specify

  'LIBS' => ["-ltcl", "-ltk", "-lX11"]

See ODBM_File/Makefile.PL for an example, where an array is needed. Ifyou specify a scalar as in

  'LIBS' => "-ltcl -ltk -lX11"

MakeMaker will turn it into an array with one element.

LINKTYPE

'static' or 'dynamic' (default unless usedl=undef inconfig.sh). Should only be used to force static linking (also seelinkext below).

MAKEAPERL

Boolean which tells MakeMaker, that it should include the rules tomake a perl. This is handled automatically as a switch byMakeMaker. The user normally does not need it.

MAKEFILE

The name of the Makefile to be produced.

MAN1PODS

Hashref of pod-containing files. MakeMaker will default this to allEXE_FILES files that include POD directives. The files listedhere will be converted to man pages and installed as was requestedat Configure time.

MAN3PODS

Hashref of .pm and .pod files. MakeMaker will default this to all
.pod and any .pm files that include POD directives. The files listedhere will be converted to man pages and installed as was requestedat Configure time.

MAP_TARGET

If it is intended, that a new perl binary be produced, this variablemay hold a name for that binary. Defaults to perl

MYEXTLIB

If the extension links to a library that it builds set this to thename of the library (see SDBM_File)

NAME

Perl module name for this extension (DBD::Oracle). This will defaultto the directory name but should be explicitly defined in theMakefile.PL.

NEEDS_LINKING

MakeMaker will figure out if an extension contains linkable codeanywhere down the directory tree, and will set this variableaccordingly, but you can speed it up a very little bit if you definethis boolean variable yourself.

NOECHO

Defaults to "@". By setting it to an empty string you can generate aMakefile that echos all commands. Mainly used in debugging MakeMakeritself.

NORECURS

Boolean. Attribute to inhibit descending into subdirectories.

NO_VC

In general, any generated Makefile checks for the current version ofMakeMaker and the version the Makefile was built under. If NO_VC isset, the version check is neglected. Do not write this into yourMakefile.PL, use it interactively instead.

OBJECT

List of object files, defaults to '$(BASEEXT)$(OBJ_EXT)', but can be a longstring containing all object files, e.g. ``tkpBind.otkpButton.o tkpCanvas.o''

(Where BASEEXT is the last component of NAME, and OBJ_EXT is $Config{obj_ext}.)

OPTIMIZE

Defaults to "-O". Set it to "-g" to turn debugging on. The flag ispassed to subdirectory makes.

PERL

Perl binary for tasks that can be done by miniperl

PERLMAINCC

The call to the program that is able to compile perlmain.c. Defaultsto $(CC).

PERL_ARCHLIB

Same as below, but for architecture dependent files.

PERL_LIB

Directory containing the Perl library to use.

PERL_MALLOC_OK

defaults to 0. Should be set to TRUE if the extension can work withthe memory allocation routines substituted by the Perl malloc() subsystem.This should be applicable to most extensions with exceptions of those

•: with bugs in memory allocations which are caught by Perl's malloc();
•: which interact with the memory allocator in other ways than viamalloc(), realloc(), free(), calloc(), sbrk() and brk();
•: which rely on special alignment which is not provided by Perl's malloc().

: NOTE. Negligence to set this flag in any one of loaded extensionnullifies many advantages of Perl's malloc(), such as better usage ofsystem resources, error detection, memory usage reporting, catchable failureof memory allocations, etc.

PERL_SRC

Directory containing the Perl source code (use of this should beavoided, it may be undefined)

PERM_RW

Desired permission for read/writable files. Defaults to "644".See also the perm_rw entry in the MM_Unix manpage.

PERM_RWX

Desired permission for executable files. Defaults to "755".See also the perm_rwx entry in the MM_Unix manpage.

PL_FILES

Ref to hash of files to be processed as perl programs. MakeMakerwill default to any found *.PL file (except Makefile.PL) being keysand the basename of the file being the value. E.g.

  {'foobar.PL' => 'foobar'}

The *.PL files are expected to produce output to the target filesthemselves. If multiple files can be generated from the same *.PLfile then the value in the hash can be a reference to an array oftarget file names. E.g.

  {'foobar.PL' => ['foobar1','foobar2']}

PM

Hashref of .pm files and *.pl files to be installed. e.g.

  {'name_of_file.pm' => '$(INST_LIBDIR)/install_as.pm'}

By default this will include *.pm and *.pl and the files found inthe PMLIBDIRS directories. Defining PM in theMakefile.PL will override PMLIBDIRS.

PMLIBDIRS

Ref to array of subdirectories containing library files. Defaults to[ 'lib', $(BASEEXT) ]. The directories will be scanned and any filesthey contain will be installed in the corresponding location in thelibrary. A libscan() method can be used to alter the behaviour.Defining PM in the Makefile.PL will override PMLIBDIRS.

(Where BASEEXT is the last component of NAME.)

PM_FILTER

A filter program, in the traditional Unix sense (input from stdin, outputto stdout) that is passed on each .pm file during the build (in thepm_to_blib() phase). It is empty by default, meaning no filtering is done.

Great care is necessary when defining the command if quoting needs to bedone. For instance, you would need to say:

  {'PM_FILTER' => 'grep -v \\"^\\#\\"'}

to remove all the leading coments on the fly during the build. Theextra \\ are necessary, unfortunately, because this variable is interpolatedwithin the context of a Perl program built on the command line, and doublequotes are what is used with the -e switch to build that command line. The# is escaped for the Makefile, since what is going to be generated will thenbe:

  PM_FILTER = grep -v \"^\#\"

Without the \\ before the #, we'd have the start of a Makefile comment,and the macro would be incorrectly defined.

POLLUTE

Release 5.005 grandfathered old global symbol names by providing preprocessormacros for extension source compatibility. As of release 5.6, thesepreprocessor definitions are not available by default. The POLLUTE flagspecifies that the old names should still be defined:

  perl Makefile.PL POLLUTE=1

Please inform the module author if this is necessary to successfully installa module under 5.6 or later.

PPM_INSTALL_EXEC

Name of the executable used to run "PPM_INSTALL_SCRIPT" below. (e.g. perl)

PPM_INSTALL_SCRIPT

Name of the script that gets executed by the Perl Package Manager afterthe installation of a package.

PREFIX

Can be used to set the three INSTALL* attributes in one go (except forprobably INSTALLMAN1DIR, if it is not below PREFIX according to%Config). They will have PREFIX as a common directory node and willbranch from that node into lib/, lib/ARCHNAME or whatever Configuredecided at the build time of your perl (unless you override one ofthem, of course).

PREREQ_PM

Hashref: Names of modules that need to be available to run thisextension (e.g. Fcntl for SDBM_File) are the keys of the hash and thedesired version is the value. If the required version number is 0, weonly check if any version is installed already.

SKIP

Arryref. E.g. [qw(name1 name2)] skip (do not write) sections of theMakefile. Caution! Do not use the SKIP attribute for the negligiblespeedup. It may seriously damage the resulting Makefile. Only use itif you really need it.

TYPEMAPS

Ref to array of typemap file names. Use this when the typemaps arein some directory other than the current directory or when they arenot named typemap. The last typemap in the list takesprecedence. A typemap in the current directory has highestprecedence, even if it isn't listed in TYPEMAPS. The default systemtypemap has lowest precedence.

VERSION

Your version number for distributing the package. This defaults to0.1.

VERSION_FROM

Instead of specifying the VERSION in the Makefile.PL you can letMakeMaker parse a file to determine the version number. The parsingroutine requires that the file named by VERSION_FROM contains onesingle line to compute the version number. The first line in the filethat contains the regular expression

    /([\$*])(([\w\:\']*)\bVERSION)\b.*\=/

will be evaluated with eval() and the value of the named variableafter the eval() will be assigned to the VERSION attribute of theMakeMaker object. The following lines will be parsed o.k.:

    $VERSION = '1.00';    *VERSION = \'1.01';    ( $VERSION ) = '$Revision: 1.222 $ ' =~ /\$Revision:\s+([^\s]+)/;    $FOO::VERSION = '1.10';    *FOO::VERSION = \'1.11';    our $VERSION = 1.2.3;       # new for perl5.6.0

but these will fail:

    my $VERSION = '1.01';    local $VERSION = '1.02';    local $FOO::VERSION = '1.30';

(Putting "my" or "local" on the preceding line will work o.k.)

The file named in VERSION_FROM is not added as a dependency toMakefile. This is not really correct, but it would be a major painduring development to have to rewrite the Makefile for any smallishchange in that file. If you want to make sure that the Makefilecontains the correct VERSION macro after any change of the file, youwould have to do something like

    depend => { Makefile => '$(VERSION_FROM)' }

See attribute "depend" below.

XS

Hashref of .xs files. MakeMaker will default this. e.g.

  {'name_of_file.xs' => 'name_of_file.c'}

The .c files will automatically be included in the list of filesdeleted by a make clean.

XSOPT

String of options to pass to xsubpp. This might include "-C++" or"-extern". Do not include typemaps here; the TYPEMAP parameter exists forthat purpose.

XSPROTOARG

May be set to an empty string, which is identical to "-prototypes", or"-noprototypes". See the xsubpp documentation for details. MakeMakerdefaults to the empty string.

XS_VERSION

Your version number for the .xs file of this package. This defaultsto the value of the VERSION attribute.

Additional lowercase attributes

can be used to pass parameters to the methods which implement thatpart of the Makefile.

clean

  {FILES => "*.xyz foo"}

depend

  {ANY_TARGET => ANY_DEPENDECY, ...}

(ANY_TARGET must not be given a double-colon rule by MakeMaker.)

dist

  {TARFLAGS => 'cvfF', COMPRESS => 'gzip', SUFFIX => '.gz',  SHAR => 'shar -m', DIST_CP => 'ln', ZIP => '/bin/zip',  ZIPFLAGS => '-rl', DIST_DEFAULT => 'private tardist' }

If you specify COMPRESS, then SUFFIX should also be altered, as it isneeded to tell make the target file of the compression. SettingDIST_CP to ln can be useful, if you need to preserve the timestamps onyour files. DIST_CP can take the values 'cp', which copies the file,'ln', which links the file, and 'best' which copies symbolic links andlinks the rest. Default is 'best'.

dynamic_lib

  {ARMAYBE => 'ar', OTHERLDFLAGS => '...', INST_DYNAMIC_DEP => '...'}

linkext

  {LINKTYPE => 'static', 'dynamic' or ''}

NB: Extensions that have nothing but *.pm files had to say

  {LINKTYPE => ''}

with Pre-5.0 MakeMakers. Since version 5.00 of MakeMaker such a linecan be deleted safely. MakeMaker recognizes when there's nothing tobe linked.

macro

  {ANY_MACRO => ANY_VALUE, ...}

realclean

  {FILES => '$(INST_ARCHAUTODIR)/*.xyz'}

test

  {TESTS => 't/*.t'}

tool_autosplit

  {MAXLEN => 8}

Overriding MakeMaker Methods

If you cannot achieve the desired Makefile behaviour by specifyingattributes you may define private subroutines in the Makefile.PL.Each subroutines returns the text it wishes to have written tothe Makefile. To override a section of the Makefile you caneither say:

        sub MY::c_o { "new literal text" }

or you can edit the default by saying something like:

        sub MY::c_o {            package MY; # so that "SUPER" works right            my $inherited = shift->SUPER::c_o(@_);            $inherited =~ s/old text/new text/;            $inherited;        }

If you are running experiments with embedding perl as a library intoother applications, you might find MakeMaker is not sufficient. You'dbetter have a look at ExtUtils::Embed which is a collection of utilitiesfor embedding.

If you still need a different solution, try to develop anothersubroutine that fits your needs and submit the diffs toperl5-portersAATTperl.org or comp.lang.perl.moderated as appropriate.

For a complete description of all MakeMaker methods see the ExtUtils::MM_Unix manpage.

Here is a simple example of how to add a new target to the generatedMakefile:

    sub MY::postamble {        '    $(MYEXTLIB): sdbm/Makefile            cd sdbm && $(MAKE) all    ';    }

Hintsfile support

MakeMaker.pm uses the architecture specific information fromConfig.pm. In addition it evaluates architecture specific hints filesin a "hints/" directory. The hints files are expected to be namedlike their counterparts in "PERL_SRC/hints", but with an ".pl" filename extension (eg. "next_3_2.pl"). They are simply "eval"ed byMakeMaker within the WriteMakefile() subroutine, and can be used toexecute commands as well as to include special variables. The ruleswhich hintsfile is chosen are the same as in Configure.

The hintsfile is eval()ed immediately after the arguments given toWriteMakefile are stuffed into a hash reference $self but before thisreference becomes blessed. So if you want to do the equivalent tooverride or create an attribute you would say something like

    $self->{LIBS} = ['-ldbm -lucb -lc'];

Distribution Support

For authors of extensions MakeMaker provides several Makefiletargets. Most of the support comes from the ExtUtils::Manifest module,where additional documentation can be found.

make distcheck: reports which files are below the build directory but not in theMANIFEST file and vice versa. (See ExtUtils::Manifest::fullcheck() fordetails)
make skipcheck: reports which files are skipped due to the entries in the"MANIFEST.SKIP" file (See ExtUtils::Manifest::skipcheck() fordetails)
make distclean: does a realclean first and then the distcheck. Note that this is notneeded to build a new distribution as long as you are sure that theMANIFEST file is ok.
make manifest: rewrites the MANIFEST file, adding all remaining files found (SeeExtUtils::Manifest::mkmanifest() for details)
make distdir: Copies all the files that are in the MANIFEST file to a newly createddirectory with the name "$(DISTNAME)-$(VERSION)". If that directoryexists, it will be removed first.
make disttest: Makes a distdir first, and runs a "perl Makefile.PL", a make, anda make test in that directory.
make tardist: First does a distdir. Then a command $(PREOP) which defaults to a nullcommand, followed by $(TOUNIX), which defaults to a null command underUNIX, and will convert files in distribution directory to UNIX formatotherwise. Next it runs "tar" on that directory into a tarfile anddeletes the directory. Finishes with a command $(POSTOP) whichdefaults to a null command.
make dist: Defaults to $(DIST_DEFAULT) which in turn defaults to tardist.
make uutardist: Runs a tardist first and uuencodes the tarfile.
make shdist: First does a distdir. Then a command $(PREOP) which defaults to a nullcommand. Next it runs "shar" on that directory into a sharfile anddeletes the intermediate directory again. Finishes with a command$(POSTOP) which defaults to a null command. Note: For shdist to workproperly a "shar" program that can handle directories is mandatory.
make zipdist: First does a distdir. Then a command $(PREOP) which defaults to a nullcommand. Runs "$(ZIP) $(ZIPFLAGS)" on that directory into azipfile. Then deletes that directory. Finishes with a command$(POSTOP) which defaults to a null command.
make ci: Does a $(CI) and a $(RCS_LABEL) on all files in the MANIFEST file.

Customization of the dist targets can be done by specifying a hashreference to the dist attribute of the WriteMakefile call. Thefollowing parameters are recognized:

    CI           ('ci -u')    COMPRESS     ('gzip --best')    POSTOP       ('@ :')    PREOP        ('@ :')    TO_UNIX      (depends on the system)    RCS_LABEL    ('rcs -q -Nv$(VERSION_SYM):')    SHAR         ('shar')    SUFFIX       ('.gz')    TAR          ('tar')    TARFLAGS     ('cvf')    ZIP          ('zip')    ZIPFLAGS     ('-r')

An example:

    WriteMakefile( 'dist' => { COMPRESS=>"bzip2", SUFFIX=>".bz2" })

Disabling an extension

If some events detected in Makefile.PL imply that there is no wayto create the Module, but this is a normal state of things, then youcan create a Makefile which does nothing, but succeeds on all the``usual'' build targets. To do so, use

   ExtUtils::MakeMaker::WriteEmptyMakefile();

instead of WriteMakefile().

This may be useful if other modules expect this module to be builtOK, as opposed to work OK (say, this system-dependent module buildsin a subdirectory of some other distribution, or is listed as adependency in a CPAN::Bundle, but the functionality is supported bydifferent means on the current architecture).

ENVIRONMENT

PERL_MM_OPT

Command line options used by "MakeMaker->new()", and thus by"WriteMakefile()". The string is split on whitespace, and the resultis processed before any actual command line arguments are processed.

AUTHORS

Andy Dougherty <dougheraAATTlafcol.lafayette.edu>, Andreas Ko.nig<A.Koenig@franz.ww.TU-Berlin.DE>, Tim Bunce <Tim.BunceAATTig.co.uk>.VMS support by Charles Bailey <baileyAATTnewman.upenn.edu>. OS/2support by Ilya Zakharevich <ilyaAATTmath.ohio-state.edu>. Contact themakemaker mailing list "mailto:makemakerAATTfranz.ww.tu-berlin.de", ifyou have any questions.

This document was created byman2html,using the manual pages.