Perhaps because that's how you make new distributions, `perldoc perlnewmod':

perl Makefile.PL; make test; make dist

Once again, h2xs has done all the work for you. It produces the standard Makefile.PL you'll have seen when you downloaded and installs modules, and this produces a Makefile with a dist target. Once you've ensured that your module passes its own tests - always a good thing to make sure - you can make dist, and the Makefile will hopefully produce you a nice tarball of your module, ready for upload.

make dist does nice things like checking only the stuff in your manifest gets put in the tarball, and makes the tarball come in a predictable format. Here's an example

PPM-Repositories-0.02>perl Makefile.PL
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for PPM::Repositories

PPM-Repositories-0.02>nmake dist

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility   Version 6.00.8168.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1988-1998. All rights reserved.

        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe -MExtUtils::Command -e rm_rf PPM-Reposito
+ries-0.02
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe "-MExtUtils::Manifest=manicopy,maniread" 
+ -e "manicopy(maniread(),'PPM-Repositories-0.02', 'best');"
mkdir PPM-Repositories-0.02
        tar cvf PPM-Repositories-0.02.tar PPM-Repositories-0.02
PPM-Repositories-0.02/
PPM-Repositories-0.02/Changes
PPM-Repositories-0.02/Makefile.PL
PPM-Repositories-0.02/MANIFEST
PPM-Repositories-0.02/MANIFEST.SKIP
PPM-Repositories-0.02/META.yml
PPM-Repositories-0.02/README
PPM-Repositories-0.02/Repositories.pm
PPM-Repositories-0.02/test.pl
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe -MExtUtils::Command -e rm_rf PPM-Reposito
+ries-0.02
        gzip --best PPM-Repositories-0.02.tar

PPM-Repositories-0.02>rm Changes

PPM-Repositories-0.02>nmake dist

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility   Version 6.00.8168.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1988-1998. All rights reserved.

        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe -MExtUtils::Command -e rm_rf PPM-Reposito
+ries-0.02
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe "-MExtUtils::Manifest=manicopy,maniread" 
+ -e "manicopy(maniread(),'PPM-Repositories-0.02', 'best');"
mkdir PPM-Repositories-0.02
-e: Changes not found at -e line 1
Can't read Changes: No such file or directory
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe' : return code '0x2'
Stop.
[download]

See how it creates a folder called Distribution-Name-Version and stuff everything in there? Links:

• Tutorials
  • How to make a CPAN Module Distribution
• Book Reviews
  • Writing Perl Modules for CPAN
  • Writing Perl Modules for CPAN

PS -- If you're wondering how I got rm, GnuWin32 and CygWin

MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"

I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).

** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.