ExtUtils::MakeMakPerlpProgrammers ReferencExtUtils::MakeMaker(3p)NAMEExtUtils::MakeMaker - Create a module Makefile
SYNOPSIS
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile( ATTRIBUTE => VALUE [, ...] );
DESCRIPTION
This utility is designed to write a Makefile for an exten-
sion module from a Makefile.PL. It is based on the
Makefile.SH model provided by Andy Dougherty and the
perl5-porters.
It splits the task of generating the Makefile into several
subroutines that can be individually overridden. Each sub-
routine returns the text it wishes to have written to the
Makefile.
MakeMaker is object oriented. Each directory below the
current directory that contains a Makefile.PL is treated as
a separate object. This makes it possible to write an unlim-
ited number of Makefiles with a single invocation of Wri-
teMakefile().
How To Write A Makefile.PL
See ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Tutorial.
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 argu-
ments of the form "KEY=VALUE". E.g.
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~
Other interesting targets in the generated Makefile are
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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 the current directory and if it exists it execute the
script with the proper set of perl "-I" options.
MakeMaker also checks for any files matching glob("t/*.t").
It will execute all matching files in alphabetical order via
the Test::Harness module with the "-I" switches set
correctly.
If you'd like to see the raw output of your tests, set the
"TEST_VERBOSE" variable to true.
make test TEST_VERBOSE=1
make testdb
A useful variation of the above is the target "testdb". It
runs the test under the Perl debugger (see perldebug). If
the file test.pl exists in the current directory, it is used
for the test.
If you want to debug some other testfile, set the
"TEST_FILE" variable thusly:
make testdb TEST_FILE=t/mytest.t
By default the debugger is called using "-d" option to perl.
If you want to specify some other option, set the
"TESTDB_SW" variable:
make testdb TESTDB_SW=-Dx
make install
make alone puts all relevant files into directories that are
named by the macros INST_LIB, INST_ARCHLIB, INST_SCRIPT,
INST_MAN1DIR and INST_MAN3DIR. All these default to some-
thing below ./blib if you are not building below the perl
source directory. If you are building below the perl source,
INST_LIB and INST_ARCHLIB default to ../../lib, and
INST_SCRIPT is not defined.
The install target of the generated Makefile copies the
files found below each of the INST_* directories to their
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INSTALL* counterparts. Which counterparts are chosen depends
on the setting of INSTALLDIRS according to the following
table:
INSTALLDIRS set to
perl site vendor
PERLPREFIX SITEPREFIX VENDORPREFIX
INST_ARCHLIB INSTALLARCHLIB INSTALLSITEARCH INSTALLVENDORARCH
INST_LIB INSTALLPRIVLIB INSTALLSITELIB INSTALLVENDORLIB
INST_BIN INSTALLBIN INSTALLSITEBIN INSTALLVENDORBIN
INST_SCRIPT INSTALLSCRIPT INSTALLSCRIPT INSTALLSCRIPT
INST_MAN1DIR INSTALLMAN1DIR INSTALLSITEMAN1DIR INSTALLVENDORMAN1DIR
INST_MAN3DIR INSTALLMAN3DIR INSTALLSITEMAN3DIR INSTALLVENDORMAN3DIR
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
are searched by perl, run
perl -le 'print join $/, @INC'
Sometimes older versions of the module you're installing
live in other directories in @INC. Because Perl loads the
first version of a module it finds, not the newest, you
might accidentally get one of these older versions even
after installing a brand new version. To delete all other
versions of the module you're installing (not simply older
ones) set the "UNINST" variable.
make install UNINST=1
PREFIX and LIB attribute
PREFIX and LIB can be used to set several INSTALL* attri-
butes in one go. The quickest way to install a module in a
non-standard place might be
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~
This will install all files in the module under your home
directory, with man pages and libraries going into an
appropriate place (usually ~/man and ~/lib).
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Another way to specify many INSTALL directories with a sin-
gle parameter is LIB.
perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/lib
This will install the module's architecture-independent
files into ~/lib, the architecture-dependent files into
~/lib/$archname.
Note, that in both cases the tilde expansion is done by Mak-
eMaker, not by 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 explicitly set (but are set to still
start with $Config{prefix}).
If the user has superuser privileges, and is not working on
AFS or relatives, then the defaults for INSTALLPRIVLIB,
INSTALLARCHLIB, INSTALLSCRIPT, etc. will be appropriate, and
this incantation will be the best:
perl Makefile.PL;
make;
make test
make install
make install per default writes some documentation of what
has been done into the file
"$(INSTALLARCHLIB)/perllocal.pod". This feature can be
bypassed by calling make pure_install.
AFS users
will have to specify the installation directories as these
most probably have changed since perl itself has been
installed. They will have 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
an extension, unless you are sure the AFS installation
directories are still valid.
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Static Linking of a new Perl Binary
An extension that is built with the above steps is ready to
use on systems supporting dynamic loading. On systems that
do not support dynamic loading, any newly created extension
has to be linked together with the available resources. Mak-
eMaker supports the linking process by creating appropriate
targets in the Makefile whenever an extension is built. You
can invoke the corresponding section of the makefile with
make perl
That produces a new perl binary in the current directory
with all extensions linked in that can be found in
INST_ARCHLIB, SITELIBEXP, and PERL_ARCHLIB. To do that, Mak-
eMaker writes a new Makefile, on UNIX, this is called
Makefile.aperl (may be system dependent). If you want to
force the creation of a new perl, it is recommended, that
you delete this Makefile.aperl, so the directories are
searched-through for linkable libraries again.
The binary can be installed into the directory where perl
normally resides 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 been done into the file
"$(INSTALLARCHLIB)/perllocal.pod". This can be bypassed by
calling make pure_inst_perl.
Warning: the inst_perl: target will most probably overwrite
your existing perl binary. Use with care!
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Sometimes you might want to build a statically linked perl
although your system supports dynamic loading. In this case
you may explicitly set the linktype with the invocation of
the Makefile.PL or make:
perl Makefile.PL LINKTYPE=static # recommended
or
make LINKTYPE=static # works on most systems
Determination of Perl Library and Installation Locations
MakeMaker needs to know, or to guess, where certain things
are located. Especially INST_LIB and INST_ARCHLIB (where to
put the files during the make(1) run), PERL_LIB and
PERL_ARCHLIB (where to read existing modules from), and
PERL_INC (header files and "libperl*.*").
Extensions may be built either using the contents of the
perl source directory tree or from the installed perl
library. The recommended way is to build extensions after
you have run 'make install' on perl itself. You can do that
in any directory on your hard disk that is not below the
perl source tree. The support for extensions below the ext
directory of the perl distribution is only good for the
standard extensions that come with perl.
If an extension is being built below the "ext/" directory of
the perl source then MakeMaker will set PERL_SRC automati-
cally (e.g., "../.."). If PERL_SRC is defined and the
extension is recognized as a 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 MakeMaker will leave PERL_SRC undefined and default to
using the installed copy of the perl library. The other
variables default to the following:
PERL_INC = $archlibexp/CORE
PERL_LIB = $privlibexp
PERL_ARCHLIB = $archlibexp
INST_LIB = ./blib/lib
INST_ARCHLIB = ./blib/arch
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If perl has not yet been installed then PERL_SRC can be
defined on the command line as shown in the previous sec-
tion.
Which architecture dependent directory?
If you don't want to keep the defaults for the INSTALL* mac-
ros, MakeMaker helps you to minimize the typing needed: the
usual relationship between INSTALLPRIVLIB and INSTALLARCHLIB
is determined by Configure at perl compilation time. Mak-
eMaker supports the user who sets INSTALLPRIVLIB. If
INSTALLPRIVLIB is set, but INSTALLARCHLIB not, then Mak-
eMaker defaults the latter to be the same subdirectory of
INSTALLPRIVLIB as Configure decided for the counterparts in
%Config , otherwise it defaults to INSTALLPRIVLIB. The same
relationship holds for INSTALLSITELIB and INSTALLSITEARCH.
MakeMaker gives you much more freedom than needed to config-
ure internal variables and get different results. It is
worth to mention, that make(1) also lets you configure most
of the variables that are used in the Makefile. But in the
majority of situations this will not be necessary, and
should only be done if the author of a package recommends it
(or you know what you're doing).
Using Attributes and Parameters
The following attributes may be specified as arguments to
WriteMakefile() or as NAME=VALUE pairs on the command line.
ABSTRACT
One line description of the module. Will be included in
PPD file.
ABSTRACT_FROM
Name of the file that contains the package description.
MakeMaker looks for a line in the POD matching
/^($package\s-\s)(.*)/. This is typically the first line
in the "=head1 NAME" section. $2 becomes the abstract.
AUTHOR
String containing name (and email address) of package
author(s). Is used in 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 a full or relative path or URL to the binary
archive for a particular architecture. For example:
perl Makefile.PL BINARY_LOCATION=x86/Agent.tar.gz
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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 direc-
tory scan and the values portion of the XS attribute hash.
This is not currently used by MakeMaker but may be handy
in Makefile.PLs.
CCFLAGS
String that will be included in the compiler call command
line between the arguments INC and OPTIMIZE.
CONFIG
Arrayref. E.g. [qw(archname manext)] defines ARCHNAME &
MANEXT from config.sh. MakeMaker will add to CONFIG the
following values anyway: ar cc cccdlflags ccdlflags dlext
dlsrc ld lddlflags ldflags libc lib_ext obj_ext ranlib
sitelibexp sitearchexp so
CONFIGURE
CODE reference. The subroutine should return a hash refer-
ence. The hash may contain further attributes, e.g. {LIBS
=> ...}, that have to be determined by some evaluation
method.
DEFINE
Something like "-DHAVE_UNISTD_H"
DESTDIR
This is the root directory into which the code will be
installed. It prepends itself to the normal prefix. For
example, if your code would normally go into
/usr/local/lib/perl you could set DESTDIR=~/tmp/ and
installation would go into ~/tmp/usr/local/lib/perl.
This is primarily of use for people who repackage Perl
modules.
NOTE: Due to the nature of make, it is important that you
put the trailing slash on your DESTDIR. ~/tmp/ not ~/tmp.
DIR
Ref to array of subdirectories containing Makefile.PLs
e.g. [ 'sdbm' ] in ext/SDBM_File
DISTNAME
A safe filename for the package.
Defaults to NAME above but with :: replaced with -.
For example, Foo::Bar becomes Foo-Bar.
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DISTVNAME
Your name for distributing the package with the version
number included. This is used by 'make dist' to name the
resulting archive file.
Defaults to DISTNAME-VERSION.
For example, version 1.04 of Foo::Bar becomes
Foo-Bar-1.04.
On some OS's where . has special meaning VERSION_SYM may
be used in place of VERSION.
DL_FUNCS
Hashref of symbol names for routines to be made available
as universal symbols. Each key/value pair consists of the
package name and an array of routine names in that pack-
age. Used only under AIX, OS/2, VMS and Win32 at present.
The routine names supplied will be expanded in 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 ExtUtils::Mksymlists documentation for more
information about 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. This is ignored if INCLUDE_EXT is present. Con-
sult INCLUDE_EXT for more details. (e.g. [ qw( Socket
POSIX ) ] )
This attribute may be most useful when specified as a
string on the command line: perl Makefile.PL
EXCLUDE_EXT='Socket Safe'
EXE_FILES
Ref to array of executable files. The files will be copied
to the INST_SCRIPT directory. Make realclean will delete
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them from there again.
If your executables start with something like #!perl or
#!/usr/bin/perl MakeMaker will change this to the path of
the perl 'Makefile.PL' was invoked with so the programs
will be sure to run properly even if perl is not in
/usr/bin/perl.
FIRST_MAKEFILE
The name of the Makefile to be produced. This is used for
the second Makefile that will be produced for the
MAP_TARGET.
Defaults to 'Makefile' or 'Descrip.MMS' on VMS.
(Note: we couldn't use MAKEFILE because dmake uses this
for something else).
FULLPERL
Perl binary able to run this extension, load XS modules,
etc...
FULLPERLRUN
Like PERLRUN, except it uses FULLPERL.
FULLPERLRUNINST
Like PERLRUNINST, except it uses FULLPERL.
FUNCLIST
This provides an alternate means to specify function names
to be exported from the extension. Its value is a refer-
ence to an array of function names to be exported by the
extension. These names are passed through unaltered to
the linker options file.
H Ref to array of *.h file names. Similar to C.
IMPORTS
This attribute is used to specify names to be imported
into the extension. Takes a hash ref.
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 when doing a static build, and
that is usually the desired behavior. If INCLUDE_EXT is
present then MakeMaker will build only with those
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extensions which are explicitly mentioned. (e.g. [ qw(
Socket POSIX ) ])
It is not necessary to mention DynaLoader or the current
extension when filling in INCLUDE_EXT. If the INCLUDE_EXT
is mentioned but is empty then only DynaLoader and the
current extension will be included in the build.
This attribute may be most useful when specified as a
string on the command line: perl Makefile.PL
INCLUDE_EXT='POSIX Socket Devel::Peek'
INSTALLARCHLIB
Used by 'make install', which copies files from
INST_ARCHLIB to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to
perl.
INSTALLBIN
Directory to install binary files (e.g. tkperl) into if
INSTALLDIRS=perl.
INSTALLDIRS
Determines which of the sets of installation directories
to choose: perl, site or vendor. Defaults to site.
INSTALLMAN1DIR
INSTALLMAN3DIR
These directories get the man pages at 'make install' time
if INSTALLDIRS=perl. Defaults to $Config{installman*dir}.
If set to 'none', no man pages will be installed.
INSTALLPRIVLIB
Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_LIB
to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to perl.
Defaults to $Config{installprivlib}.
INSTALLSCRIPT
Used by 'make install' which copies files from INST_SCRIPT
to this directory.
INSTALLSITEARCH
Used by 'make install', which copies files from
INST_ARCHLIB to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to
site (default).
INSTALLSITEBIN
Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_BIN
to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to site (default).
INSTALLSITELIB
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Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_LIB
to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to site (default).
INSTALLSITEMAN1DIR
INSTALLSITEMAN3DIR
These directories get the man pages at 'make install' time
if INSTALLDIRS=site (default). Defaults to
$(SITEPREFIX)/man/man$(MAN*EXT).
If set to 'none', no man pages will be installed.
INSTALLVENDORARCH
Used by 'make install', which copies files from
INST_ARCHLIB to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to
vendor.
INSTALLVENDORBIN
Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_BIN
to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to vendor.
INSTALLVENDORLIB
Used by 'make install', which copies files from INST_LIB
to this directory if INSTALLDIRS is set to vendor.
INSTALLVENDORMAN1DIR
INSTALLVENDORMAN3DIR
These directories get the man pages at 'make install' time
if INSTALLDIRS=vendor. Defaults to
$(VENDORPREFIX)/man/man$(MAN*EXT).
If set to 'none', no man pages will be installed.
INST_ARCHLIB
Same as INST_LIB for architecture dependent files.
INST_BIN
Directory to put real binary files during 'make'. These
will be copied to INSTALLBIN during 'make install'
INST_LIB
Directory where we put library files of this extension
while building it.
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 dur-
ing 'make'. Defaults to "./blib/script", just to have a
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dummy location during testing. make install will copy the
files in INST_SCRIPT to INSTALLSCRIPT.
LD
Program to be used to link libraries for dynamic loading.
Defaults to $Config{ld}.
LDDLFLAGS
Any special flags that might need to be passed to ld to
create a shared library suitable for dynamic loading. It
is up to the makefile to use it. (See "lddlflags" in Con-
fig)
Defaults to $Config{lddlflags}.
LDFROM
Defaults to "$(OBJECT)" and is used in the ld command to
specify what files to link/load from (also see dynamic_lib
below for how to specify ld flags)
LIB
LIB should only be set at "perl Makefile.PL" time but is
allowed as a MakeMaker argument. It has the effect of set-
ting both INSTALLPRIVLIB and INSTALLSITELIB to that value
regardless any explicit 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 this extension. Defaults to libperl.a.
LIBS
An anonymous array of alternative library specifications
to be searched for (in order) until at least one library
is found. E.g.
'LIBS' => ["-lgdbm", "-ldbm -lfoo", "-L/path -ldbm.nfs"]
Mind, that any element of the array contains a complete
set of arguments for the ld command. So do not specify
'LIBS' => ["-ltcl", "-ltk", "-lX11"]
See ODBM_File/Makefile.PL for an example, where an array
is needed. If you specify a scalar as in
'LIBS' => "-ltcl -ltk -lX11"
MakeMaker will turn it into an array with one element.
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LINKTYPE
'static' or 'dynamic' (default unless usedl=undef in
config.sh). Should only be used to force static linking
(also see linkext below).
MAKEAPERL
Boolean which tells MakeMaker, that it should include the
rules to make a perl. This is handled automatically as a
switch by MakeMaker. The user normally does not need it.
MAKEFILE_OLD
When 'make clean' or similar is run, the $(FIRST_MAKEFILE)
will be backed up at this location.
Defaults to $(FIRST_MAKEFILE).old or $(FIRST_MAKEFILE)_old
on VMS.
MAN1PODS
Hashref of pod-containing files. MakeMaker will default
this to all EXE_FILES files that include POD directives.
The files listed here will be converted to man pages and
installed as was requested at Configure time.
MAN3PODS
Hashref that assigns to *.pm and *.pod files the files
into which the manpages are to be written. MakeMaker
parses all *.pod and *.pm files for POD directives. Files
that contain POD will be the default keys of the MAN3PODS
hashref. These will then be converted to man pages during
"make" and will be installed during "make install".
MAP_TARGET
If it is intended, that a new perl binary be produced,
this variable may hold a name for that binary. Defaults to
perl
MYEXTLIB
If the extension links to a library that it builds set
this to the name of the library (see SDBM_File)
NAME
Perl module name for this extension (DBD::Oracle). This
will default to the directory name but should be expli-
citly defined in the Makefile.PL.
NEEDS_LINKING
MakeMaker will figure out if an extension contains link-
able code anywhere down the directory tree, and will set
this variable accordingly, but you can speed it up a very
little bit if you define this boolean variable yourself.
NOECHO
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Command so make does not print the literal commands its
running.
By setting it to an empty string you can generate a
Makefile that prints all commands. Mainly used in debug-
ging MakeMaker itself.
Defaults to "@".
NORECURS
Boolean. Attribute to inhibit descending into subdirec-
tories.
NO_META
When true, suppresses the generation and addition to the
MANIFEST of the META.yml module meta-data file during
'make distdir'.
Defaults to false.
NO_VC
In general, any generated Makefile checks for the current
version of MakeMaker and the version the Makefile was
built under. If NO_VC is set, the version check is
neglected. Do not write this into your Makefile.PL, use it
interactively instead.
OBJECT
List of object files, defaults to '$(BASEEXT)$(OBJ_EXT)',
but can be a long string containing all object files, e.g.
"tkpBind.o tkpButton.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 is passed to subdirectory makes.
PERL
Perl binary for tasks that can be done by miniperl
PERL_CORE
Set only when MakeMaker is building the extensions of the
Perl core distribution.
PERLMAINCC
The call to the program that is able to compile
perlmain.c. Defaults to $(CC).
PERL_ARCHLIB
Same as for PERL_LIB, but for architecture dependent
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files.
Used only when MakeMaker is building the extensions of the
Perl core distribution (because normally $(PERL_ARCHLIB)
is automatically in @INC, and adding it would get in the
way of PERL5LIB).
PERL_LIB
Directory containing the Perl library to use.
Used only when MakeMaker is building the extensions of the
Perl core distribution (because normally $(PERL_LIB) is
automatically in @INC, and adding it would get in the way
of PERL5LIB).
PERL_MALLOC_OK
defaults to 0. Should be set to TRUE if the extension can
work with the 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 via malloc(), 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
extension nullifies many advantages of Perl's malloc(),
such as better usage of system resources, error detection,
memory usage reporting, catchable failure of memory allo-
cations, etc.
PERLPREFIX
Directory under which core modules are to be installed.
Defaults to $Config{installprefixexp} falling back to
$Config{installprefix}, $Config{prefixexp} or
$Config{prefix} should $Config{installprefixexp} not
exist.
Overridden by PREFIX.
PERLRUN
Use this instead of $(PERL) when you wish to run perl. It
will set up extra necessary flags for you.
PERLRUNINST
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Use this instead of $(PERL) when you wish to run perl to
work with modules. It will add things like -I$(INST_ARCH)
and other necessary flags so perl can see the modules
you're about to install.
PERL_SRC
Directory containing the Perl source code (use of this
should be avoided, it may be undefined)
PERM_RW
Desired permission for read/writable files. Defaults to
644. See also "perm_rw" in MM_Unix.
PERM_RWX
Desired permission for executable files. Defaults to 755.
See also "perm_rwx" in MM_Unix.
PL_FILES
MakeMaker can run programs to generate files for you at
build time. By default any file named *.PL (except
Makefile.PL and Build.PL) in the top level directory will
be assumed to be a Perl program and run passing its own
basename in as an argument. For example...
perl foo.PL foo
This behavior can be overridden by supplying your own set
of files to search. PL_FILES accepts a hash ref, the key
being the file to run and the value is passed in as the
first argument when the PL file is run.
PL_FILES => {'bin/foobar.PL' => 'bin/foobar'}
Would run bin/foobar.PL like this:
perl bin/foobar.PL bin/foobar
If multiple files from one program are desired an array
ref can be used.
PL_FILES => {'bin/foobar.PL' => [qw(bin/foobar1 bin/foobar2)]}
In this case the program will be run multiple times using
each target file.
perl bin/foobar.PL bin/foobar1
perl bin/foobar.PL bin/foobar2
PL files are normally run after pm_to_blib and include
INST_LIB and INST_ARCH in its @INC so the just built
modules can be accessed... unless the PL file is making a
module (or anything else in PM) in which case it is run
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before pm_to_blib and does not include INST_LIB and
INST_ARCH in its @INC. This apparently odd behavior is
there for backwards compatibility (and its somewhat DWIM).
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 in the PMLIBDIRS directories. Defining PM in the
Makefile.PL will override PMLIBDIRS.
PMLIBDIRS
Ref to array of subdirectories containing library files.
Defaults to [ 'lib', $(BASEEXT) ]. The directories will be
scanned and any files they contain will be installed in
the corresponding location in the library. 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, output to stdout) that is passed on each .pm
file during the build (in the pm_to_blib() phase). It is
empty by default, meaning no filtering is done.
Great care is necessary when defining the command if quot-
ing needs to be done. For instance, you would need to
say:
{'PM_FILTER' => 'grep -v \\"^\\#\\"'}
to remove all the leading coments on the fly during the
build. The extra \\ are necessary, unfortunately, because
this variable is interpolated within the context of a Perl
program built on the command line, and double quotes 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 then be:
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 preprocessor macros for extension source
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compatibility. As of release 5.6, these preprocessor
definitions are not available by default. The POLLUTE
flag specifies that the old names should still be defined:
perl Makefile.PL POLLUTE=1
Please inform the module author if this is necessary to
successfully install a 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 after the installation of a package.
PREFIX
This overrides all the default install locations. Man
pages, libraries, scripts, etc... MakeMaker will try to
make an educated guess about where to place things under
the new PREFIX based on your Config defaults. Failing
that, it will fall back to a structure which should be
sensible for your platform.
If you specify LIB or any INSTALL* variables they will not
be effected by the PREFIX.
PREREQ_FATAL
Bool. If this parameter is true, failing to have the
required modules (or the right versions thereof) will be
fatal. perl Makefile.PL will die with the proper message.
Note: see Test::Harness for a shortcut for stopping tests
early if you are missing dependencies.
Do not use this parameter for simple requirements, which
could be resolved at a later time, e.g. after an unsuc-
cessful make test of your module.
It is extremely rare to have to use "PREREQ_FATAL" at all!
PREREQ_PM
Hashref: Names of modules that need to be available to run
this extension (e.g. Fcntl for SDBM_File) are the keys of
the hash and the desired version is the value. If the
required version number is 0, we only check if any version
is installed already.
PREREQ_PRINT
Bool. If this parameter is true, the prerequisites will
be printed to stdout and MakeMaker will exit. The output
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format is an evalable hash ref.
$PREREQ_PM = {
'A::B' => Vers1,
'C::D' => Vers2,
...
};
PRINT_PREREQ
RedHatism for "PREREQ_PRINT". The output format is dif-
ferent, though:
perl(A::B)>=Vers1 perl(C::D)>=Vers2 ...
SITEPREFIX
Like PERLPREFIX, but only for the site install locations.
Defaults to $Config{siteprefixexp}. Perls prior to 5.6.0
didn't have an explicit siteprefix in the Config. In
those cases $Config{installprefix} will be used.
Overridable by PREFIX
SIGN
When true, perform the generation and addition to the MAN-
IFEST of the SIGNATURE file in the distdir during 'make
distdir', via 'cpansign -s'.
Note that you need to install the Module::Signature module
to perform this operation.
Defaults to false.
SKIP
Arrayref. E.g. [qw(name1 name2)] skip (do not write) sec-
tions of the Makefile. Caution! Do not use the SKIP attri-
bute for the negligible speedup. It may seriously damage
the resulting Makefile. Only use it if you really need it.
TYPEMAPS
Ref to array of typemap file names. Use this when the
typemaps are in some directory other than the current
directory or when they are not named typemap. The last
typemap in the list takes precedence. A typemap in the
current directory has highest precedence, even if it isn't
listed in TYPEMAPS. The default system typemap has lowest
precedence.
VENDORPREFIX
Like PERLPREFIX, but only for the vendor install loca-
tions.
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Defaults to $Config{vendorprefixexp}.
Overridable by PREFIX
VERBINST
If true, make install will be verbose
VERSION
Your version number for distributing the package. This
defaults to 0.1.
VERSION_FROM
Instead of specifying the VERSION in the Makefile.PL you
can let MakeMaker parse a file to determine the version
number. The parsing routine requires that the file named
by VERSION_FROM contains one single line to compute the
version number. The first line in the file that contains
the regular expression
/([\$*])(([\w\:\']*)\bVERSION)\b.*\=/
will be evaluated with eval() and the value of the named
variable after the eval() will be assigned to the VERSION
attribute of the MakeMaker object. The following lines
will be parsed o.k.:
$VERSION = '1.00';
*VERSION = \'1.01';
$VERSION = sprintf "%d.%03d", q$Revision: 1.8 $ =~ /(\d+)/g;
$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 $FOO::VERSION = '1.30';
(Putting "my" or "local" on the preceding line will work
o.k.)
The file named in VERSION_FROM is not added as a depen-
dency to Makefile. This is not really correct, but it
would be a major pain during development to have to
rewrite the Makefile for any smallish change in that file.
If you want to make sure that the Makefile contains the
correct VERSION macro after any change of the file, you
would have to do something like
depend => { Makefile => '$(VERSION_FROM)' }
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See attribute "depend" below.
VERSION_SYM
A sanitized VERSION with . replaced by _. For places
where . has special meaning (some filesystems, RCS labels,
etc...)
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
files deleted 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 for that purpose.
XSPROTOARG
May be set to an empty string, which is identical to
"-prototypes", or "-noprototypes". See the xsubpp documen-
tation for details. MakeMaker defaults to the empty
string.
XS_VERSION
Your version number for the .xs file of this package.
This defaults to the value of the VERSION attribute.
Additional lowercase attributes
can be used to pass parameters to the methods which imple-
ment that part of the Makefile. Parameters are specified as
a hash ref but are passed to the method as a hash.
clean
{FILES => "*.xyz foo"}
depend
{ANY_TARGET => ANY_DEPENDECY, ...}
(ANY_TARGET must not be given a double-colon rule by Mak-
eMaker.)
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 is needed to tell make the target file of
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the compression. Setting DIST_CP to ln can be useful, if
you need to preserve the timestamps on your files. DIST_CP
can take the values 'cp', which copies the file, 'ln',
which links the file, and 'best' which copies symbolic
links and links 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 line can be deleted safely. MakeMaker recognizes
when there's nothing to be linked.
macro
{ANY_MACRO => ANY_VALUE, ...}
postamble
Anything put here will be passed to MY::postamble() if you
have one.
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
specifying attributes you may define private subroutines in
the Makefile.PL. Each subroutine returns the text it wishes
to have written to the Makefile. To override a section of
the Makefile you can either say:
sub MY::c_o { "new literal text" }
or you can edit the default by saying something like:
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package MY; # so that "SUPER" works right
sub c_o {
my $inherited = shift->SUPER::c_o(@_);
$inherited =~ s/old text/new text/;
$inherited;
}
If you are running experiments with embedding perl as a
library into other applications, you might find MakeMaker is
not sufficient. You'd better have a look at ExtUtils::Embed
which is a collection of utilities for embedding.
If you still need a different solution, try to develop
another subroutine that fits your needs and submit the diffs
to "makemaker@perl.org"
For a complete description of all MakeMaker methods see
ExtUtils::MM_Unix.
Here is a simple example of how to add a new target to the
generated Makefile:
sub MY::postamble {
return <<'MAKE_FRAG';
$(MYEXTLIB): sdbm/Makefile
cd sdbm && $(MAKE) all
MAKE_FRAG
}
The End Of Cargo Cult Programming
WriteMakefile() now does some basic sanity checks on its
parameters to protect against typos and malformatted values.
This means some things which happened to work in the past
will now throw warnings and possibly produce internal
errors.
Some of the most common mistakes:
"MAN3PODS => ' '"
This is commonly used to supress the creation of man
pages. MAN3PODS takes a hash ref not a string, but the
above worked by accident in old versions of MakeMaker.
The correct code is "MAN3PODS => { }".
Hintsfile support
MakeMaker.pm uses the architecture specific information from
Config.pm. In addition it evaluates architecture specific
hints files in a "hints/" directory. The hints files are
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expected to be named like their counterparts in
"PERL_SRC/hints", but with an ".pl" file name extension (eg.
"next_3_2.pl"). They are simply "eval"ed by MakeMaker within
the WriteMakefile() subroutine, and can be used to execute
commands as well as to include special variables. The rules
which hintsfile is chosen are the same as in Configure.
The hintsfile is eval()ed immediately after the arguments
given to WriteMakefile are stuffed into a hash reference
$self but before this reference becomes blessed. So if you
want to do the equivalent to override or create an attribute
you would say something like
$self->{LIBS} = ['-ldbm -lucb -lc'];
Distribution Support
For authors of extensions MakeMaker provides several
Makefile targets. Most of the support comes from the
ExtUtils::Manifest module, where additional documentation
can be found.
make distcheck
reports which files are below the build directory but
not in the MANIFEST file and vice versa. (See
ExtUtils::Manifest::fullcheck() for details)
make skipcheck
reports which files are skipped due to the entries in
the "MANIFEST.SKIP" file (See
ExtUtils::Manifest::skipcheck() for details)
make distclean
does a realclean first and then the distcheck. Note that
this is not needed to build a new distribution as long
as you are sure that the MANIFEST file is ok.
make manifest
rewrites the MANIFEST file, adding all remaining files
found (See ExtUtils::Manifest::mkmanifest() for details)
make distdir
Copies all the files that are in the MANIFEST file to a
newly created directory with the name
"$(DISTNAME)-$(VERSION)". If that directory exists, it
will be removed first.
Additionally, it will create a META.yml module meta-data
file in the distdir and add this to the distdir's MANFI-
EST. You can shut this behavior off with the NO_META
flag.
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make disttest
Makes a distdir first, and runs a "perl Makefile.PL", a
make, and a make test in that directory.
make tardist
First does a distdir. Then a command $(PREOP) which
defaults to a null command, followed by $(TOUNIX), which
defaults to a null command under UNIX, and will convert
files in distribution directory to UNIX format other-
wise. Next it runs "tar" on that directory into a tar-
file and deletes the directory. Finishes with a command
$(POSTOP) which defaults 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 null command. Next it runs "shar" on that
directory into a sharfile and deletes the intermediate
directory again. Finishes with a command $(POSTOP) which
defaults to a null command. Note: For shdist to work
properly a "shar" program that can handle directories is
mandatory.
make zipdist
First does a distdir. Then a command $(PREOP) which
defaults to a null command. Runs "$(ZIP) $(ZIPFLAGS)" on
that directory into a zipfile. Then deletes that direc-
tory. Finishes with a command $(POSTOP) which defaults
to a null command.
make ci
Does a $(CI) and a $(RCS_LABEL) on all files in the MAN-
IFEST file.
Customization of the dist targets can be done by specifying
a hash reference to the dist attribute of the WriteMakefile
call. The following parameters are recognized:
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CI ('ci -u')
COMPRESS ('gzip --best')
POSTOP ('@ :')
PREOP ('@ :')
TO_UNIX (depends on the system)
RCS_LABEL ('rcs -q -Nv$(VERSION_SYM):')
SHAR ('shar')
SUFFIX ('.gz')
TAR ('tar')
TARFLAGS ('cvf')
ZIP ('zip')
ZIPFLAGS ('-r')
An example:
WriteMakefile( 'dist' => { COMPRESS=>"bzip2", SUFFIX=>".bz2" })
Module Meta-Data
Long plaguing users of MakeMaker based modules has been the
problem of getting basic information about the module out of
the sources without running the Makefile.PL and doing a
bunch of messy heuristics on the resulting Makefile. To
this end a simple module meta-data file has been introduced,
META.yml.
META.yml is a YAML document (see http://www.yaml.org) con-
taining basic information about the module (name, version,
prerequisites...) in an easy to read format. The format is
developed and defined by the Module::Build developers (see
http://module-build.sourceforge.net/META-spec.html)
MakeMaker will automatically generate a META.yml file for
you and add it to your MANIFEST as part of the 'distdir'
target (and thus the 'dist' target). This is intended to
seamlessly and rapidly populate CPAN with module meta-data.
If you wish to shut this feature off, set the "NO_META"
"WriteMakefile()" flag to true.
Disabling an extension
If some events detected in Makefile.PL imply that there is
no way to create the Module, but this is a normal state of
things, then you can create a Makefile which does nothing,
but succeeds on all the "usual" build targets. To do so,
use
ExtUtils::MakeMaker::WriteEmptyMakefile();
instead of WriteMakefile().
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This may be useful if other modules expect this module to be
built OK, as opposed to work OK (say, this system-dependent
module builds in a subdirectory of some other distribution,
or is listed as a dependency in a CPAN::Bundle, but the
functionality is supported by different means on the current
architecture).
Other Handy Functions
prompt
my $value = prompt($message);
my $value = prompt($message, $default);
The "prompt()" function provides an easy way to request
user input used to write a makefile. It displays the
$message as a prompt for input. If a $default is pro-
vided it will be used as a default. The function
returns the $value selected by the user.
If "prompt()" detects that it is not running interac-
tively and there is nothing on STDIN or if the
PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT environment variable is set to true,
the $default will be used without prompting. This
prevents automated processes from blocking on user
input.
If no $default is provided an empty string will be used
instead.
ENVIRONMENT
PERL_MM_OPT
Command line options used by "MakeMaker->new()", and
thus by "WriteMakefile()". The string is split on whi-
tespace, and the result is processed before any actual
command line arguments are processed.
PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT
If set to a true value then MakeMaker's prompt function
will always return the default without waiting for user
input.
PERL_CORE
Same as the PERL_CORE parameter. The parameter over-
rides this.
SEE ALSO
ExtUtils::MM_Unix, ExtUtils::Manifest ExtUtils::Install,
ExtUtils::Embed
AUTHORS
Andy Dougherty "doughera@lafayette.edu", Andreas Koenig
"andreas.koenig@mind.de", Tim Bunce "timb@cpan.org". VMS
perl v5.8.8 2005-02-05 28
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support by Charles Bailey "bailey@newman.upenn.edu". OS/2
support by Ilya Zakharevich "ilya@math.ohio-state.edu".
Currently maintained by Michael G Schwern
"schwern@pobox.com"
Send patches and ideas to "makemaker@perl.org".
Send bug reports via http://rt.cpan.org/. Please send your
generated Makefile along with your report.
For more up-to-date information, see
<http://www.makemaker.org>.
LICENSE
This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
See <http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>
perl v5.8.8 2005-02-05 29
