$VERSION in module files

bliako has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello Monks,

I wonder what is the good practice with the $VERSION string in module files.

I assumed that each module file should have an our $VERSION = '1.2.3'; in it. Please correct me if this is not the correct format.

I also assumed that my Makefile maker ExtUtils::MakeMaker reads version from just one of those files using the key VERSION_FROM in its config.

I also assumed that the Version in the pod section of each module file must be set manually and cannot be read automatically from the $VERSION of that file.

My question is how do I go about and changing all those $VERSION strings and pod Version strings automatically when I create a new version of this module. I can create a script to change $VERSION and, with some risk, pod Versions but I wonder if there is a better way.

bw, bliako

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Re: $VERSION in module files by haukex (Archbishop) on Mar 26, 2020 at 10:24 UTC
See my reply in the thread What basic things should I know about versioning modules? that a `1.23` style versioning should provide maximum compatibility, specified in a format of `our $VERSION = "1.23";`. Of course, TIMTOWTDI, and you'll see some modules use interesting versioning schemes and some modules use code to determine `$VERSION` like parsing it out of a VCS $Revision$ string. See the documentation in ExtUtils::MakeMaker's `VERSION_FROM` and ExtUtils::MM_Unix's `parse_version`, but note that those are probably not the only tools that parse version strings out of module files, so I'd really only recommend `our $VERSION = string;`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: $VERSION in module files by bliako (Monsignor) on Mar 26, 2020 at 10:46 UTC
OK thanks. So, I must have a $VERSION var in EACH (package) file in the module. I must change those $VERSION strings manually each time. And I must change POD versions manually too. Right?	[reply]
Re^3: $VERSION in module files by tobyink (Canon) on Mar 26, 2020 at 16:04 UTC
I usually use perl-reversion for changing all the version numbers for every module in a distribution. toby döt ink	[reply]
Re^4: $VERSION in module files by bliako (Monsignor) on Mar 27, 2020 at 12:55 UTC
Re^5: $VERSION in module files by tobyink (Canon) on Mar 28, 2020 at 14:49 UTC
Re^3: $VERSION in module files by hippo (Bishop) on Mar 26, 2020 at 11:14 UTC
Not necessarily. If you maintain a version number for the dist which applies also to all the modules then you can pick one master module which all the others use and have them set their versions from that one. eg. `package Foo; our $VERSION = '1.01'; # ... package Foo::Bar; use Foo; our $VERSION = $Foo::VERSION;` [download] I never bother specifying version numbers in POD so you're on your own there. :-) Doubtless there's a way in Dist::Zilla but then you'd have `$problems++`	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: $VERSION in module files by Haarg (Priest) on Mar 26, 2020 at 12:55 UTC
Re^4: $VERSION in module files by haukex (Archbishop) on Mar 26, 2020 at 12:25 UTC
Re^5: $VERSION in module files by hippo (Bishop) on Mar 26, 2020 at 13:34 UTC
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Re^4: $VERSION in module files by Anonymous Monk on Mar 26, 2020 at 21:23 UTC
Re^5: $VERSION in module files by soonix (Canon) on Mar 27, 2020 at 04:23 UTC
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Re^3: $VERSION in module files by pryrt (Abbot) on Mar 26, 2020 at 13:15 UTC
In Win32::Mechanize::NotepadPlusPlus, I added a rule in my Makefile.PL postamble, so that `make populateversion` will take the VERSION that the Makefile sees (which it grabs from the "primary" module in the dist, thanks to `$mm_args{VERSION_FROM}` ), and uses perl to do an in-place edit of the `our $VERSION =...` from the related modules. `# auto-populate the VERSION in the submodules from $(VERSION), which c +omes from main module populateversion :: lib/Win32/Mechanize/NotepadPlusPlus.pm $(NOECHO) $(ECHO) want to auto-populate VERSION in all sub-modules +: $(VERSION) $(PERL) -pi -e "s/^(\sour\s+.VERSION\s=).?;.?$$/\1 '$(VERSION) +'; # auto-populated from W::M::NPP/" lib/Win32/Mechanize/NotepadPlusP +lus/Notepad.pm lib/Win32/Mechanize/NotepadPlusPlus/Editor.pm` [download] So I just have to change the version in one master location, and then `make populateversion` (or, since I have other rules that depend on that rule, run one of those other rules for doing other documentation updates) to get the version in sync across the modules.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: $VERSION in module files by choroba (Cardinal) on Mar 28, 2020 at 12:42 UTC
Not sure about the best practice, but if you're interested in what I did: xt/version.t and xt/changes.t for Syntax::Construct, plus extract_version in its Makefile.PL. `map{substr$_->[0],$_->[1]\|\|0,1}[\\|\|{},3],[[]],[ref qr-1,-,-1],[{}],[sub{}^ARGV,3]`	[reply] [d/l]
Re: $VERSION in module files by BillKSmith (Monsignor) on Mar 27, 2020 at 03:35 UTC
I know that it is off-topic, but I recommend that you read the section "Version Numbers" in the book "Perl Best Practices". When you are working with versions numbers, it helps to know the options. Bill	[reply]
Re^2: $VERSION in module files by Anonymous Monk on Mar 27, 2020 at 07:37 UTC
I know that it is off-topic, but I recommend that you read the section "Version Numbers" in the book "Perl Best Practices". When you are working with versions numbers, it helps to know the options. Bill yawn Module version numbers best practice	[reply]
Re: $VERSION in module files by syphilis (Archbishop) on Mar 27, 2020 at 12:29 UTC
Ummm ... what's with the "pod Version strings" ? I've never assigned versions to pod. I've only ever assigned version numbers in the .pm files. Have I missed something ? (I'm not assuming that the correct answer is not "yes".) Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re^2: $VERSION in module files by bliako (Monsignor) on Mar 27, 2020 at 12:44 UTC
I thought I was cargo culting but just confirmed that `module-starter` does it (and use it to start a module): `> module-starter --module=Foo::Bar,Foo::Bat --author="XYZ" --email=abc +@xyz.com > cat Foo-Bar/lib/Foo/Bar.pm ... =head1 NAME Foo::Bar - The great new Foo::Bar! =head1 VERSION Version 0.01 =cut our $VERSION = '0.01';` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: $VERSION in module files by syphilis (Archbishop) on Mar 27, 2020 at 13:13 UTC
I thought I was cargo culting but just confirmed that module-starter does it (and use it to start a module) Yeah, fair enough ... but that sort of begs 2 additional questions: 1) What happens if you don't put a `=head1 VERSION` section in your pod; 2) Why has the absence of such a pod heading in any of my modules not caused me any problems - not to mention unbearable embarrassment and humiliation ? Sorry ... I'm being a bit of a halfsmartarse in posing it that way. Nothing against you, bliako, I'm really just wondering if there's some point in going to such lengths. Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l]

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