Dist::Zilla is complicated and has a learning curve, but actually once you get it configured the way you like you can forget most of the details and just copy the dist.ini from one project to the next, making a few changes as needed.

• Language::FormulaEngine dist.ini
• Geo::SpatialDB dist.ini
• Elf::Writer dist.ini

(notice how in the source for FormulaEngine I just add a #VERSION comment and dzil build inserts the incremented version from the last git tag.)

I totally agree with the sentiment you are expressing about not wanting to waste tooling time on a personal project, but this one really will pay for itself if you release a few modules.

I wish Dist::Zilla was not written as a giant pile of heavyweight Moose roles, but the external design is absolutely correct (running "dzil test", "dzil build", "dzil release" and so on) and I have been able to make all the customizations I've needed even for some wild makefile requirements:

• Data::TableReader dist.ini weaver.ini (example adding "Contributors" POD section auto-generated from Git)
• VideoLAN::LibVLC dist.ini Makefile.header (example of exotic c-library detection using MakeMaker::Awesome plugin)
• OpenGL::Sandbox dist.ini (example using Inline::Module plugin to distribute a module using Inline::C as a standard XS module not depending on Inline)