Re: Dist::Zilla Tutorial for beginners

The idea of a new/expanded Dist::Zilla tutorial has my full support. I have started using dzil some time ago and am pretty happy about that decision. Only I am still struggling with it, especially if a GitHub repository builds its package with plugins I've never heard of before, and which has a bunch of dependencies to modules (or even external tools) I've never heard of before. Quite often I find myself inspecting the plugin code to find out how to get the benefits but disable some unwanted behaviour.

I am sure you are aware of RJBS's tutorial at http://dzil.org/tutorial/start.html which has been written by someone who knows way too much about Dist::Zilla. It is concise, which is a good thing, but it lacks any hints on how to find more details about the plugins: What they actually do, how they can be configured. Often a link to the relevant CPAN would do the trick. I often considered adding stuff, but then doing that in a structured way needs more time than I ever had.

Your article, on the other hand, makes a good introductory chapter in the Comprehensive Book On Dist::Zilla. However, in my opinion it is just too long to be a tutorial. I guess that anyone who considers whether or not to start using Dist::Zilla is aware of software building and packaging. They don't need more motivation, but rather look for hints how to judge cost vs. benefits, or for a guide through the mess of available features. Here are a few questions which I'd like to see answered in an introductory article about Dist::Zilla:

What's the scope of Dist::Zilla?
How does it affect the workflow? For example, there are a few articles about how to make dzil distributions palatable for developers who want to contribute on GitHub without using dzil themselves. All of these are blog articles which are not maintained and get difficult to find as years go by.
How does it compare to other build / install tools?
What are the resources to learn more? Apart from RJBS's tutorial, the #dzil channel comes into mind, where one can learn a lot by just listening.

Comment on Re: Dist::Zilla Tutorial for beginners

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Re^2: Dist::Zilla Tutorial for beginners by nysus (Parson) on Sep 23, 2018 at 12:03 UTC
Thanks for the feedback. I will try to work these more practical questions into the series. My intro actually started with the idea that “there ought to be a book.” I’m far from qualified to write such a book. But writing this intro was also a good exercise for me to cement some fundamental concepts in my mind. I will come up with a TLDR version that boils down the essence of it at some point.	[reply]

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Re^2: Dist::Zilla Tutorial for beginners
by nysus (Parson) on Sep 23, 2018 at 12:03 UTC

Thanks for the feedback. I will try to work these more practical questions into the series.

My intro actually started with the idea that “there ought to be a book.” I’m far from qualified to write such a book. But writing this intro was also a good exercise for me to cement some fundamental concepts in my mind. I will come up with a TLDR version that boils down the essence of it at some point.

[reply]