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CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_3(3pm)            Perl Programmers Reference Guide



NAME

       CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_3 - Version 1.3 metadata specification for
       META.yml


PREFACE

       This is a historical copy of the version 1.3 specification for META.yml
       files, copyright by Ken Williams and licensed under the same terms as
       Perl itself.

       Modifications from the original:

       o   Various spelling corrections

       o   Include list of valid licenses from Module::Build 0.2805 rather
           than linking to the module, with minor updates to text and links to
           reflect versions at the time of publication.

       o   Fixed some dead links to point to active resources.


SYNOPSIS

        --- #YAML:1.0
        name: Module-Build
        abstract: Build and install Perl modules
        version: 0.20
        author:
          - Ken Williams <kwilliams@cpan.org>
        license: perl
        distribution_type: module
        requires:
          Config: 0
          Cwd: 0
          Data::Dumper: 0
          ExtUtils::Install: 0
          File::Basename: 0
          File::Compare: 0
          File::Copy: 0
          File::Find: 0
          File::Path: 0
          File::Spec: 0
          IO::File: 0
          perl: 5.005_03
        recommends:
          Archive::Tar: 1.00
          ExtUtils::Install: 0.3
          ExtUtils::ParseXS: 2.02
          Pod::Text: 0
          YAML: 0.35
        build_requires:
          Test: 0
        urls:
          license: http://dev.perl.org/licenses/
        meta-spec:
          version: 1.3
          url: http://module-build.sourceforge.net/META-spec-v1.3.html
        generated_by: Module::Build version 0.20


DESCRIPTION

       This document describes version 1.3 of the META.yml specification.

       The META.yml file describes important properties of contributed Perl
       distributions such as the ones found on CPAN.  It is typically created
       by tools like Module::Build, Module::Install, and ExtUtils::MakeMaker.

       The fields in the META.yml file are meant to be helpful for people
       maintaining module collections (like CPAN), for people writing
       installation tools (like CPAN.pm or CPANPLUS), or just for people who
       want to know some stuff about a distribution before downloading it and
       starting to install it.

       Note: The latest stable version of this specification can always be
       found at <http://module-build.sourceforge.net/META-spec-current.html>,
       and the latest development version (which may include things that won't
       make it into the stable version) can always be found at
       <http://module-build.sourceforge.net/META-spec-blead.html>.


FORMAT

       META.yml files are written in the YAML format (see
       <http://www.yaml.org/>).

       See the following links to learn why we chose YAML instead of, say, XML
       or Data::Dumper:

       o   Module::Build design plans
           <http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.makemaker/2002/04/msg407.html>

       o   Not keen on YAML <http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.module-
           authors/2003/11/msg1353.html>

       o   META Concerns <http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.module-
           authors/2003/11/msg1385.html>


TERMINOLOGY

       distribution
           This is the primary object described by the META.yml specification.
           In the context of this document it usually refers to a collection
           of modules, scripts, and/or documents that are distributed together
           for other developers to use.  Examples of distributions are
           "Class-Container", "libwww-perl", or "DBI".

       module
           This refers to a reusable library of code typically contained in a
           single file. Currently, we primarily talk of perl modules, but this
           specification should be open enough to apply to other languages as
           well (ex. python, ruby).  Examples of modules are
           "Class::Container", "LWP::Simple", or "DBD::File".


HEADER

       The first line of a META.yml file should be a valid YAML document
       header like "--- #YAML:1.0".


FIELDS

       The rest of the META.yml file is one big YAML mapping whose keys are
       described here.

   meta-spec
       Example:

        meta-spec:
          version: 1.3
          url: http://module-build.sourceforge.net/META-spec-v1.3.html

       (Spec 1.1) [required] {URL} This field indicates the location of the
       version of the META.yml specification used.

   name
       Example:

         name: Module-Build

       (Spec 1.0) [required] {string} The name of the distribution which is
       often created by taking the "main module" in the distribution and
       changing "::" to "-".  Sometimes it's completely different, however, as
       in the case of the libwww-perl distribution (see
       <http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/>).

   version
       Example:

         version: 0.20

       (Spec 1.0) [required] {version} The version of the distribution to
       which the META.yml file refers.

   abstract
       Example:

         abstract: Build and install Perl modules.

       (Spec 1.1) [required] {string} A short description of the purpose of
       the distribution.

   author
       Example:

         author:
           - Ken Williams <kwilliams@cpan.org>

       (Spec 1.1) [required] {list of strings} A YAML sequence indicating the
       author(s) of the distribution. The preferred form is author-name
       <email-address>.

   license
       Example:

         license: perl

       (Spec 1.0) [required] {string} The license under which this
       distribution may be used and redistributed.

       Must be one of the following licenses:

       apache
           The distribution is licensed under the Apache Software License
           version 1.1 (<http://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-1.1>).

       artistic
           The distribution is licensed under the Artistic License version 1,
           as specified by the Artistic file in the standard perl distribution
           (<http://opensource.org/licenses/Artistic-Perl-1.0>).

       bsd The distribution is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License
           (<http://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause>).

       gpl The distribution is distributed under the terms of the GNU General
           Public License version 2
           (<http://opensource.org/licenses/GPL-2.0>).

       lgpl
           The distribution is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser
           General Public License version 2
           (<http://opensource.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1>).

       mit The distribution is licensed under the MIT License
           (<http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>).

       mozilla
           The distribution is licensed under the Mozilla Public License.
           (<http://opensource.org/licenses/MPL-1.0> or
           <http://opensource.org/licenses/MPL-1.1>)

       open_source
           The distribution is licensed under some other Open Source
           Initiative-approved license listed at
           <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/>.

       perl
           The distribution may be copied and redistributed under the same
           terms as perl itself (this is by far the most common licensing
           option for modules on CPAN).  This is a dual license, in which the
           user may choose between either the GPL version 1 or the Artistic
           version 1 license.

       restrictive
           The distribution may not be redistributed without special
           permission from the author and/or copyright holder.

       unrestricted
           The distribution is licensed under a license that is not approved
           by www.opensource.org <http://www.opensource.org/> but that allows
           distribution without restrictions.

   distribution_type
       Example:

         distribution_type: module

       (Spec 1.0) [optional] {string} What kind of stuff is contained in this
       distribution.  Most things on CPAN are "module"s (which can also mean a
       collection of modules), but some things are "script"s.

       Unfortunately this field is basically meaningless, since many
       distributions are hybrids of several kinds of things, or some new
       thing, or subjectively different in focus depending on who's using
       them.  Tools like Module::Build and MakeMaker will likely stop
       generating this field.

   requires
       Example:

         requires:
           Data::Dumper: 0
           File::Find: 1.03

       (Spec 1.0) [optional] {map} A YAML mapping indicating the Perl modules
       this distribution requires for proper operation.  The keys are the
       module names, and the values are version specifications as described in
       "VERSION SPECIFICATIONS".

   recommends
       Example:

         recommends:
           Data::Dumper: 0
           File::Find: 1.03

       (Spec 1.0) [optional] {map} A YAML mapping indicating the Perl modules
       this distribution recommends for enhanced operation.  The keys are the
       module names, and the values are version specifications as described in
       "VERSION SPECIFICATIONS".

       ALTERNATIVE: It may be desirable to present to the user which features
       depend on which modules so they can make an informed decision about
       which recommended modules to install.

       Example:

         optional_features:
         - foo:
             description: Provides the ability to blah.
             requires:
               Data::Dumper: 0
               File::Find: 1.03
         - bar:
             description: This feature is not available on this platform.
             excludes_os: MSWin32

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] {map} A YAML sequence of names for optional
       features which are made available when its requirements are met. For
       each feature a description is provided along with any of "requires",
       "build_requires", "conflicts", "requires_packages", "requires_os", and
       "excludes_os" which have the same meaning in this subcontext as
       described elsewhere in this document.

   build_requires
       Example:

         build_requires:
           Data::Dumper: 0
           File::Find: 1.03

       (Spec 1.0) [optional] {map} A YAML mapping indicating the Perl modules
       required for building and/or testing of this distribution.  The keys
       are the module names, and the values are version specifications as
       described in "VERSION SPECIFICATIONS".  These dependencies are not
       required after the module is installed.

   conflicts
       Example:

         conflicts:
           Data::Dumper: 0
           File::Find: 1.03

       (Spec 1.0) [optional] {map} A YAML mapping indicating the Perl modules
       that cannot be installed while this distribution is installed.  This is
       a pretty uncommon situation.  The keys for "conflicts" are the module
       names, and the values are version specifications as described in
       "VERSION SPECIFICATIONS".

   dynamic_config
       Example:

         dynamic_config: 0

       (Spec 1.0) [optional] {boolean} A boolean flag indicating whether a
       Build.PL or Makefile.PL (or similar) must be executed when building
       this distribution, or whether it can be built, tested and installed
       solely from consulting its metadata file.  The main reason to set this
       to a true value is that your module performs some dynamic configuration
       (asking questions, sensing the environment, etc.) as part of its
       build/install process.

       Currently Module::Build doesn't actually do anything with this flag -
       it's probably going to be up to higher-level tools like CPAN to do
       something useful with it.  It can potentially bring lots of security,
       packaging, and convenience improvements.

       If this field is omitted, it defaults to 1 (true).

   private
       (Deprecated) (Spec 1.0) [optional] {map} This field has been renamed to
       "no_index".  See below.

   provides
       Example:

         provides:
           Foo::Bar:
             file: lib/Foo/Bar.pm
             version: 0.27_02
           Foo::Bar::Blah:
             file: lib/Foo/Bar/Blah.pm
           Foo::Bar::Baz:
             file: lib/Foo/Bar/Baz.pm
             version: 0.3

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] {map} A YAML mapping that describes all packages
       provided by this distribution.  This information can be (and, in some
       cases, is) used by distribution and automation mechanisms like PAUSE,
       CPAN, and search.cpan.org to build indexes saying in which distribution
       various packages can be found.

       When using tools like Module::Build that can generate the "provides"
       mapping for your distribution automatically, make sure you examine what
       it generates to make sure it makes sense - indexers will usually trust
       the "provides" field if it's present, rather than scanning through the
       distribution files themselves to figure out packages and versions.
       This is a good thing, because it means you can use the "provides" field
       to tell the indexers precisely what you want indexed about your
       distribution, rather than relying on them to essentially guess what you
       want indexed.

   no_index
       Example:

         no_index:
           file:
           - My/Module.pm
           directory:
           - My/Private
           package:
           - My::Module::Stuff
           namespace:
           - My::Module::Stuff

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] {map} A YAML mapping that describes any files,
       directories, packages, and namespaces that are private (i.e.
       implementation artifacts) that are not of interest to searching and
       indexing tools.  This is useful when no "provides" field is present.

       For example, <http://search.cpan.org/> excludes items listed in
       "no_index" when searching for POD, meaning files in these directories
       will not converted to HTML and made public - which is useful if you
       have example or test PODs that you don't want the search engine to go
       through.

       file

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] Exclude any listed file(s).

       directory

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] Exclude anything below the listed directory(ies).

       [Note: previous editions of the spec had "dir" instead of "directory",
       but I think MakeMaker and various users started using "directory", so
       in deference we switched to that.]

       package

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] Exclude the listed package(s).

       namespace

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] Excludes anything below the listed namespace(s),
       but not the listed namespace(s) its self.

   keywords
       Example:

         keywords:
           - make
           - build
           - install

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] {list} A sequence of keywords/phrases that
       describe this distribution.

   resources
       Example:

         resources:
           license: http://dev.perl.org/licenses/
           homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/module-build
           bugtracker: http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Module-Build
           repository: http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=45731
           MailingList: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/module-build-general

       (Spec 1.1) [optional] {map} A mapping of any URL resources related to
       this distribution.  All-lower-case keys, such as "homepage", "license",
       and "bugtracker", are reserved by this specification, as they have
       "official" meanings defined here in this specification.  If you'd like
       to add your own "special" entries (like the "MailingList" entry above),
       use at least one upper-case letter.

       The current set of official keys is:

       homepage
         The official home of this project on the web.

       license
         An URL for an official statement of this distribution's license.

       bugtracker
         An URL for a bug tracker (e.g. Bugzilla or RT queue) for this
         project.

   generated_by
       Example:

         generated_by: Module::Build version 0.20

       (Spec 1.0) [required] {string} Indicates the tool that was used to
       create this META.yml file.  It's good form to include both the name of
       the tool and its version, but this field is essentially opaque, at
       least for the moment. If META.yml was generated by hand, it is
       suggested that the author be specified here.

       [Note: My meta_stats.pl script which I use to gather statistics
       regarding META.yml usage prefers the form listed above, i.e. it splits
       on /\s+version\s+/ taking the first field as the name of the tool that
       generated the file and the second field as version of that tool. RWS]


VERSION SPECIFICATIONS

       Some fields require a version specification (ex. "requires",
       "recommends", "build_requires", etc.) to indicate the particular
       version(s) of some other module that may be required as a prerequisite.
       This section details the version specification formats that are
       currently supported.

       The simplest format for a version specification is just the version
       number itself, e.g. 2.4.  This means that at least version 2.4 must be
       present.  To indicate that any version of a prerequisite is okay, even
       if the prerequisite doesn't define a version at all, use the version 0.

       You may also use the operators < (less than), <= (less than or equal),
       > (greater than), >= (greater than or equal), == (equal), and != (not
       equal).  For example, the specification < 2.0 means that any version of
       the prerequisite less than 2.0 is suitable.

       For more complicated situations, version specifications may be AND-ed
       together using commas.  The specification >= 1.2, != 1.5, < 2.0
       indicates a version that must be at least 1.2, less than 2.0, and not
       equal to 1.5.


SEE ALSO

       CPAN <http://www.cpan.org/>

       CPAN.pm

       CPANPLUS

       Data::Dumper

       ExtUtils::MakeMaker

       Module::Build

       Module::Install

       XML <http://www.w3.org/XML/>

       YAML <http://www.yaml.org/>


HISTORY

       March 14, 2003 (Pi day)
           o Created version 1.0 of this document.

       May 8, 2003
           o Added the "dynamic_config" field, which was missing from the
             initial version.

       November 13, 2003
           o Added more YAML rationale articles.

           o Fixed existing link to YAML discussion thread to point to new
             <http://nntp.x.perl.org/group/> site.

           o Added and deprecated the "private" field.

           o Added "abstract", "configure", "requires_packages",
             "requires_os", "excludes_os", and "no_index" fields.

           o Bumped version.

       November 16, 2003
           o Added "generation", "authored_by" fields.

           o Add alternative proposal to the "recommends" field.

           o Add proposal for a "requires_build_tools" field.

       December 9, 2003
           o Added link to latest version of this specification on CPAN.

           o Added section "VERSION SPECIFICATIONS".

           o Chang name from Module::Build::META-spec to
             CPAN::META::Specification.

           o Add proposal for "auto_regenerate" field.

       December 15, 2003
           o Add "index" field as a compliment to "no_index"

           o Add "keywords" field as a means to aid searching distributions.

           o Add "TERMINOLOGY" section to explain certain terms that may be
             ambiguous.

       July 26, 2005
           o Removed a bunch of items (generation, requires_build_tools,
             requires_packages, configure, requires_os, excludes_os,
             auto_regenerate) that have never actually been supported, but
             were more like records of brainstorming.

           o Changed "authored_by" to "author", since that's always been what
             it's actually called in actual META.yml files.

           o Added the "==" operator to the list of supported version-checking
             operators.

           o Noted that the "distribution_type" field is basically
             meaningless, and shouldn't really be used.

           o Clarified "dynamic_config" a bit.

       August 23, 2005
           o Removed the name "CPAN::META::Specification", since that implies
             a module that doesn't actually exist.

perl v5.38.2                      2023-11-28
                                            CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_3(3pm)

perl 5.38.2 - Generated Wed Dec 4 10:46:58 CST 2024
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