Unable to use Module::Starter::AddModule under windows

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

I am trying to work through the examples in the section "Adding Additional Modules" in the chapter "Creating Your Own Perl Distribution" in the book "Intermediate Perl". It is not clear from the text whether or not the utility module-starter should start a normal module if the plugin "Module::Starter::AddModule" is specified in the config file. The command module-starter --module=Animal,cow,Horse,Mouse failed with the plugin specified. I deleted the entire distribution and and successfully reran the command without the plugin. I then attempted to add a module by restoring the plugin to my config file and running module-starter --module=Sheep --dist=Animal. Here is the session. The error message appears to be from windows. I have no idea what to do about it.

% type %module_starter_dir%\config
author: Willie Gilligan
email: gilligan@island.example.com
builder: Module::Build
verbose: 1
plugins: Module::Starter::AddModule

% module-starter --module=Sheep --dist=Animal
Found Animal.  Use --force if you want to stomp on it.
Skipped Animal\lib\Animal.pm
Skipped Animal\lib\Cow.pm
Skipped Animal\lib\Horse.pm
Skipped Animal\lib\Mouse.pm
Created Animal\lib\Sheep.pm
Skipped Animal\t\pod-coverage.t
Skipped Animal\t\manifest.t
Skipped Animal\t\pod.t
Skipped Animal\t\00-load.t
Skipped Animal\xt\boilerplate.t
Skipped Animal\Build.PL
Skipped Animal\Changes
Skipped Animal\README
Regenerating MANIFEST
Created MYMETA.yml and MYMETA.json
Creating new 'Build' script for 'Animal' version '0.01'
'.' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Created starter directories and files
[download]

Bill

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Re: Unable to use Module::Starter::AddModule under windows by Corion (Patriarch) on Jul 31, 2018 at 16:40 UTC
Looking at the source of Module::Starter::AddModule, it suffers from trying to use a Unixish command line approach even with the Windows default shell, which doesn't work there: `if( $guesser->uses_module_build ) { $self->verbose( "Detected Module::Build" ); system( $^X, 'Build.PL' ); system( './Build', 'manifest' ); }` [download] I think a good approach here would be to make the module use the appropriate path separator for each platform. I don't see how you can easily fix that without patching the module itself.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Unable to use Module::Starter::AddModule under windows by BillKSmith (Monsignor) on Jul 31, 2018 at 22:57 UTC
Thanks for the help (again). It probably is time to burn that book and be done with really neat things that don't quite work. (Would you believe that its link to its errata page is broken) Bill	[reply]
Re: Unable to use Module::Starter::AddModule under windows by syphilis (Archbishop) on Jul 31, 2018 at 23:11 UTC
'.' is not recognized as an internal or external command Corion has correctly identified the source of the problem, though I don't think it has anything to do with the path separator. Rather, it's a command beginning with "." that the the Windows Cmd.exe shell can't handle. I expect (untested) that it should be fine if you replace: `system( './Build', 'manifest' );` [download] with `system($^X, './Build', 'manifest' );` [download] or with just `system($^X 'Build', 'manifest' );` [download] Best,I think, to also open an issue about this. Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Unable to use Module::Starter::AddModule under windows by Corion (Patriarch) on Aug 01, 2018 at 07:00 UTC
Just a minor correction to your good and portable solution: `cmd.exe` can handle commands starting with ".", but dot as the current directory needs to be followed by a backslash and the filename to run: `.\cpanm` [download] The above launches `cpanm.cmd` (if it exists) from the current directory.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Unable to use Module::Starter::AddModule under windows by syphilis (Archbishop) on Aug 01, 2018 at 10:26 UTC
but dot as the current directory needs to be followed by a backslash Yes, you're right - I should have double checked. Thanks for correcting my incorrection. Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re^2: Unable to use Module::Starter::AddModule under windows by BillKSmith (Monsignor) on Aug 01, 2018 at 03:10 UTC
Thanks for the 'fix', it works perfectly. Reporting an 'issue' will be a new experience for me. I'll give it a try tomorrow. UPDATE: Issue submitted. Bill	[reply]