It's funny you mention Excel::Template because I'm the author. I actually deliberately removed version numbers from the individual files because I wanted to have a version number for the release. The individual files don't matter as much as the functionality from the release itself.

I wonder if the version number for the distribution that CPAN even comes from a file at all or simply from the distribution tar file numbering (or a META.yaml file, if it exists).

In your Makefile.PL (or Build.PL, I suppose), there is an item called VERSION_FROM or VERSION. If you have a VERSION, CPAN uses that. If you have a VERSION_FROM, CPAN goes into that file and looks for the first $VERSION line. (It's a little more complicated than that, but you get the idea.) This is all documented in ExtUtils::MakeMaker (and, I'm sure, in Module::Build).

Being right, does not endow the right to be rude; politeness costs nothing.
Being unknowing, is not the same as being stupid.
Expressing a contrary opinion, whether to the individual or the group, is more often a sign of deeper thought than of cantankerous belligerence.
Do not mistake your goals as the only goals; your opinion as the only opinion; your confidence as correctness. Saying you know better is not the same as explaining you know better.

In reply to Re^3: Seeking thoughts on version numbers in modules by dragonchild
in thread Seeking thoughts on version numbers in modules by xdg

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