Re^2: CPAN: modules, distributions, and bundles

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?
A distribution may contain a number of modules that are unrelated to the distribution name. {snip}

Right. But I was just curious about the file naming convention here. Maybe there used to be a convention to name all bundles starting with that text "Bundle-" but then folks just stopped doing it...

If "distributions" are indeed separate and distinct from bundles, where can I go to browse them?
If you go to a distribution on search.cpan.org (for example, see Apache-ASP), follow the Browse link to examine files in the distribution.

Sorry. I may have been unclear. I meant: how can I browse CPAN itself to see a listing of all the distributions there, rather than just looking at the listing of modules.

My guess is that most packages on CPAN are single-module packages, and that there far fewer multi-module "distributions". I'll have to look around there, download some more, and look at their insides to get a better idea about this.

Thanks!

Comment on Re^2: CPAN: modules, distributions, and bundles

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Re^3: CPAN: modules, distributions, and bundles by randyk (Parson) on Nov 04, 2006 at 05:45 UTC
I meant: how can I browse CPAN itself to see a listing of all the distributions there, rather than just looking at the listing of modules. The index file modules/02packages.details.txt on CPAN contains a mapping of all modules to distribution names. My guess is that most packages on CPAN are single-module packages, and that there far fewer multi-module "distributions". That's an interesting question. Of the 12,166 distributions listed today in 02packages.details.txt, 8592 have only one module associated with them. However, some of these single-module distributions are older versions of distributions whose current version contains multiple modules (eg, look at Slauth-0.01.tar.gz and Slauth-0.02.tar.gz). This sometimes means that a module in an older distribution has been replaced, or perhaps been made obsolete, by another module in a newer distribution, but it still shows up in 02packages.details.txt because it's still registered with PAUSE.	[reply]

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Re^3: CPAN: modules, distributions, and bundles
by randyk (Parson) on Nov 04, 2006 at 05:45 UTC

I meant: how can I browse CPAN itself to see a listing of all the distributions there, rather than just looking at the listing of modules.

modules/02packages.details.txt

My guess is that most packages on CPAN are single-module packages, and that there far fewer multi-module "distributions".

[reply]