Adding a package to an already existing distribution

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

Hi all,

As I continue to advance, I find that there are certain things that I just don't have experience with. One of these is module-based development. I've written a ton of self-contained scripts, but not a whole lot of modules. Well, I find myself in a situation where creating a module would be beneficial. So, I created the initial module with h2xs and everything was good. However, I find that now I want to add another pm file to the distribution. Is there an easy way to do this with h2xs or something else? I realize that I could just start writing it from scratch, but I like the code template (and test template) that h2xs uses. Copying my already existing pm file doesn't seem like the best way to go about this, especially given that if I've already created Foo, that Foo::Bar would go to lib/Foo/Bar.pm.

Thanks in advance,
thor

Feel the white light, the light within Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come

Comment on Adding a package to an already existing distribution

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Re: Adding a package to an already existing distribution by gam3 (Curate) on Sep 07, 2005 at 17:16 UTC
All you need to do is create lib/Foo/Bar.pm and t/Foo_Bar.t. Then rerun `perl Makefile.PL` or `Build`. Everything else will be done for you. José's Guide for creating Perl modules has more information. -- gam3 A picture is worth a thousand words, but takes 200K.	[reply]
Re: Adding a package to an already existing distribution by borisz (Canon) on Sep 07, 2005 at 17:14 UTC
Just copy your new .pm file. If you have already `lib/Foo.pm` create the dir `lib/Foo` and copy `Bar.pm` into it. Then add `lib/Foo/Bar.pm` to the MANIFEST. Thats all. PS: Much more userfriendly than h2xs is Module::Starter Boris	[reply]
Re^2: Adding a package to an already existing distribution by thor (Priest) on Sep 07, 2005 at 18:15 UTC
The problem is that I've already invested heavily in Foo.pm. So, in order to do this, I'd have to copy the module over, delete the already existing code, and change the name of the module not only in the package statement, but the POD as well. Repeat for the testing. It just seems rather silly that h2xs (and Module::Starter from what I've seen of it) assume that you'll know every class that will go into a distribution at the time of creation. CWould it be a bad idea to rework these tools so that instead of failing to create a file, it would test for existance first and if it exists say something like "Foo.pm skipped: already exists"? If it's not a bad idea, then I could even do the work. Ah...to see my name somewhere "official"... thor `Feel the white light, the light within Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come`	[reply]
Re^3: Adding a package to an already existing distribution by borisz (Canon) on Sep 07, 2005 at 18:57 UTC
I think I messed the question. You have a module created with lib/Foo.pm Your module is named `Foo`. Then you like to extend `Foo` with `Foo::Bar` ( or at least add a module `Bar`. ) Then there is no need to change anything just add a new dir to your `lib` directory. `lib/Foo.pm lib/Foo/Bar.pm` [download] If you want to rename something try perl's inplace edit or look if Module::Rename can help. Boris	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: Adding a package to an already existing distribution by thor (Priest) on Sep 07, 2005 at 20:36 UTC
Re: Adding a package to an already existing distribution by ghenry (Vicar) on Sep 07, 2005 at 17:36 UTC
There's also a lot of great info in Writing Solid CPAN Modules Walking the road to enlightenment... I found a penguin and a camel on the way..... Fancy a yourname@perl.me.uk? Just ask!!!	[reply]