what format should Makefile.pl be and where is the list of attributes

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

So my question is pretty simple.

I noticed most modules use ExtUtils::MakeMaker and their Makefile.PL looks like this:

 use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
  WriteMakefile( ATTRIBUTE => VALUE [, ...] );
[download]

But some distributions, like Net::GitHub look very different:Link to the Makefile.pl.

This seems to use inc::Module::Install.

Q: Which method is is preferred?
Additionally I noticed Net::GitHub has a repository attribute with a link to the github repo, I didn't know about this attrib, and it seems pretty useful since both search.cpan.org and metacpan.org will show this on the release info. Q: Where can I find a list of attributes needed/used by various cpan clients?

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Re: what format should Makefile.pl be and where is the list of attributes by davido (Cardinal) on Jan 28, 2013 at 20:10 UTC
If you're building a distribution based on ExtUtils::MakeMaker, and you want to learn the nuts and bolts (which you should) before proceeding to use the convenience layers such as Module::Install and Dist::Zilla, there are three PODs that you should familiarize yourself with: ExtUtils::MakeMaker ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Tutorial CPAN::Meta::Spec Also, Intermediate Perl can be helpful, and frankly, just looking at many of the thousands of both good and bad examples on CPAN itself. Dave	[reply]
Re^2: what format should Makefile.pl be and where is the list of attributes by gideondsouza (Pilgrim) on Jan 29, 2013 at 02:55 UTC
Excellent this is the filter/pointer I was looking for. Generally I've been scrounging many books on my kindle and just getting hands on dirty. But I was considering buy a physical copy of intermediate perl and studying it back and forth.	[reply]
Re: what format should Makefile.pl be and where is the list of attributes by tobyink (Canon) on Jan 28, 2013 at 17:27 UTC
Virtually all Makefile.PLs use ExtUtils::MakeMaker, except for some which are slim redirects to Build.PL in Module::Build-based distributions (which don't use makefiles). Module::Install is just a wrapper around ExtUtils::MakeMaker. It happens to be rather a good wrapper that enables you do some useful packaging stuff automatically, like automatically create your README file from your main module's pod, automatically make you a coffee at the end of the build process, etc. (And there's also Module::Package, which is a wrapper around Module::Install.) `package Cow { use Moo; has name => (is => 'lazy', default => sub { 'Mooington' }) } say Cow->new->name`	[reply]
Re: what format should Makefile.pl be and where is the list of attributes by Anonymous Monk on Jan 28, 2013 at 15:41 UTC
Module::Install , Module::Install::Philosophy, Module::Install::FAQ, CPAN::Meta::Spec Starting a module with Module::Starter How to make a CPAN Module Distribution José's Guide for creating Perl modules RFC: How to Release Modules on CPAN in 2011 Do Pure Perl CPAN packages really need to use ExtUtils::Command::MM? Why I hate Dist::Zilla What are all the possible ways to deploy Perl code on multiple servers?	[reply]
Re: what format should Makefile.pl be and where is the list of attributes by DrHyde (Prior) on Jan 29, 2013 at 11:11 UTC
Using ExtUtils::MakeMaker is preferred. The 'repository' stuff ends up in META.yml, which is what search.cpan and metacpan (and a load of other sites like cpandeps) use, and you can also do it with EU::MM. Look for 'META_MERGE' in the doco. However, META.yml has historically been a bit of a moving target and some fields - including 'repository' - have moved around, so consult the documentation to make sure you put them in the right place. The current spec for META.yml is at CPAN::Meta::Spec.	[reply]