I'm trying to understand the differences between modules, distributions, and bundles on CPAN -- and also a few other tidbits about how the whole CPAN enchilada works. I've looked at the cpan faq and also How to make a CPAN Module Distribution, but I'm still not getting it.

• I was just looking at Mailtools, and I think that that's referred to as a "distribution". Correct?

• Is a "bundle" the same thing as a distribution? My guess is "no", and that bundles just exist for use with tools like CPAN and CPANPLUS.

• Via ftp, I just had a look in /modules/by-module/Bundle. Why do a large number of the modules in there start with the name "Bundle-" but many do not?

• Incidentally, when I go to search.cpan.org and click that link on the left that says "Bundles (and SDKs)", why don't I get that massive list I see in /modules/by-module/Bundle? Isn't CPAN search trying to show me that list here?

• If "distributions" are indeed separate and distinct from bundles, where can I go to browse them? I see that search.cpan.org has a drop-down box to select that I want to *search* for distributions, but I'd also like to *browse* them. I see on the main cpan page, I can browse modules, scripts, something called "binary distributions" (or "ports"), etc., but no distributions.

In reply to CPAN: modules, distributions, and bundles by j3

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.