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Re: Module::Build design plans

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From:
andreas.koenig
Date:
April 29, 2002 23:32
Subject:
Re: Module::Build design plans
Message ID:
m3ofg1d7dm.fsf@anima.de
>>>>> On Sun, 28 Apr 2002 13:12:49 -0400, Michael G Schwern <schwern@pobox.com> said:

  > If may not be possible to get all the possible configuration problems down
  > to just a static config file.  You'll likely still need the ability for
  > modules to call perl code for various stages of the build & installation. A
  > good exercise would be to take something really complicated, like PDL or
  > WxPerl and think "how would I do this in Module::Build"?

I believe MakeMaker should be more or less preserved and a parallel
universe should be dedicated to *maintain metadata*. This parallel
world should be built *around* MakeMaker. On the developer's machine
you can always run MakeMaker without a security problem, because who
wrote that Makefile.PL again? So let the developer's MakeMaker write
metadata and distribute these within the distribution. The consumer
can then read the metadata and find a hint if Makefile.PL must be
executed or not. There are these clever packages like mod_perl that
just shine because they can run perl. No configuration options will
ever be enough to cover the really clever stuff. The parallel universe
can shine when it proves it can install the proverbial 80% of CPAN
with the metadata file.

If done right, this will provide seemless integration of old and new
world. It will also provide the extensibility of MM and it will
provide metadata for 100% of CPAN, even for those cases that need
MakeMaker to run on the costumer's site.

 >> What other things need to be in the info-files?  Module 
 >> (distribution) name should be there, but version should probably 
 >> not be (they're specified in the module files themselves).  
 >> Patches aren't relevant, of course.

The metadata file should be redundant with the rest of the
distribution. It should be distributable separately with maximum
information. So, of course it should contain the version number.

Of course, this is only my old rant and I never came around to work on
it. Feel free to follow a different vision...

-- 
andreas

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