NAME

cpan2dist - The CPANPLUS distribution creator

DESCRIPTION

This script will create distributions of CPAN modules of the format you specify, including its prerequisites. These packages can then be installed using the corresponding package manager for the format.

Note, you can also do this interactively from the default shell, CPANPLUS::Shell::Default. See the CPANPLUS::Dist documentation, as well as the documentation of your format of choice for any format specific documentation.

USAGE

Usage: cpan2dist [--format FMT] [OPTS] Mod::Name [Mod::Name, ...]
       cpan2dist [--format FMT] [OPTS] --modulelist /tmp/mods.list
       cpan2dist [--format FMT] [OPTS] --archive /tmp/dist [/tmp/dist2] 

   Will create a distribution of type FMT of the modules
   specified on the command line, and all their prerequisites.
   
   Can also create a distribution of type FMT from a local
   archive and all of its prerequisites.

Options:

### take no argument:
--help          Show this help message
--install       Install this package (and any prerequisites you built)
                after building it. 
--skiptest      Skip tests. Can be negated using --noskiptest
--force         Force operation. Can be negated using --noforce
--verbose       Be verbose. Can be negated using --noverbose
--keepsource    Keep sources after building distribution. Can be
                negated by --nokeepsource. May not be supported 
                by all formats
--makefile      Prefer Makefile.PL over Build.PL. Can be negated
                using --nomakefile. Defaults to your config setting
--buildprereq   Build packages of any prerequisites, even if they are
                already uptodate on the local system. Can be negated
                using --nobuildprereq. Defaults to false.
--archive       Indicate that all modules listed are actually archives
--flushcache    Update CPANPLUS' cache before commencing any operation
--defaults      Instruct ExtUtils::MakeMaker and Module::Build to use
                default answers during 'perl Makefile.PL' or 'perl
                Build.PL' calls where possible
--edit-metafile Edit the distributions metafile(s) before the distribution
                is built. Requires a configured editor.

### take argument:
--format      Installer format to use (defaults to config setting)
--ban         Patterns of module names to skip during installation,
              case-insensitive (affects prerequisites too)
              May be given multiple times
--banlist     File containing patterns that could be given to --ban
              Are appended to the ban list built up by --ban
              May be given multiple times.
--ignore      Patterns of modules to exclude from prereq list. Useful
              for when a prereq listed by a CPAN module is resolved 
              in another way than from its corresponding CPAN package
              (Match is done on both module name, and package name of
              the package the module is in, case-insensitive)
--ignorelist  File containing patterns that may be given to --ignore.
              Are appended to the ban list built up by --ignore.
              May be given multiple times.
--modulelist  File containing a list of modules that should be built.
              Are appended to the list of command line modules.
              May be given multiple times.
--logfile     File to log all output to. By default, all output goes
              to the console.
--timeout     The allowed time for buliding a distribution before
              aborting. This is useful to terminate any build that 
              hang or happen to be interactive despite being told not 
              to be. Defaults to 300 seconds. To turn off, you can 
              set it to 0.
--set-config  Change any options as specified in your config for this
              invocation only. See CPANPLUS::Config for a list of 
              supported options.
--set-program Change any programs as specified in your config for this
              invocation only. See CPANPLUS::Config for a list of 
              supported programs.
--dist-opts   Arbitrary options passed along to the chosen installer
              format's prepare()/create() routine. Please see the
              documentation of the installer of your choice for 
              options it accepts.

### builtin lists
--default-banlist    Use our builtin banlist. Works just like --ban
                     and --banlist, but with pre-set lists. See the
                     "Builtin Lists" section for details.
--default-ignorelist Use our builtin ignorelist. Works just like 
                     --ignore and --ignorelist but with pre-set lists. 
                     See the "Builtin Lists" section for details.

Examples:

### build a debian package of DBI and its prerequisites, 
### don't bother running tests
cpan2dist --format CPANPLUS::Dist::Deb --buildprereq --skiptest DBI

### build a debian package of DBI and its prerequisites and install them
cpan2dist --format CPANPLUS::Dist::Deb --buildprereq --install DBI

### Build a package, whose format is determined by your config, of 
### the local tarball, reloading cpanplus' indices first and using
### the tarballs Makefile.PL if it has one.
cpan2dist --makefile --flushcache --archive /path/to/Cwd-1.0.tgz

### build a package from Net::FTP, but dont build any packages or
### dependencies whose name match 'Foo', 'Bar' or any of the 
### patterns mentioned in /tmp/ban
cpan2dist --ban Foo --ban Bar --banlist /tmp/ban Net::FTP

### build a package from Net::FTP, but ignore its listed dependency
### on IO::Socket, as it's shipped per default with the OS we're on
cpan2dist --ignore IO::Socket Net::FTP

### building all modules listed, plus their prerequisites
cpan2dist --ignorelist /tmp/modules.ignore --banlist /tmp/modules.ban 
  --modulelist /tmp/modules.list --buildprereq --flushcache 
  --makefile --defaults

### pass arbitrary options to the format's prepare()/create() routine
cpan2dist --dist-opts deb_version=3 --dist-opts prefix=corp

Built-In Filter Lists

Some modules you'd rather not package. Some because they are part of core-perl and you dont want a new package. Some because they won't build on your system. Some because your package manager of choice already packages them for you.

There may be a myriad of reasons. You can use the --ignore and --ban options for this, but we provide some built-in lists that catch common cases. You can use these built-in lists if you like, or supply your own if need be.

Built-In Ignore List

You can use this list of regexes to ignore modules matching to be listed as prerequisites of a package. Particulaly useful if they are bundled with core-perl anyway and they have known issues building.

Toggle it by supplying the --default-ignorelist option.

^IO$                    # Provided with core anyway
^Cwd$                   # Provided with core anyway
^File::Spec             # Provided with core anyway
^Config$                # Perl's own config, not shipped separately
^ExtUtils::MakeMaker$   # Shipped with perl, recent versions 
                        # have bug 14721 (see rt.cpan.org)
^ExtUtils::Install$     # Part of of EU::MM, same reason    

Built-In Ban list

You can use this list of regexes to disable building of these modules altogether.

Toggle it by supplying the --default-banlist option.

^GD$                # Needs c libaries
^Berk.*DB           # DB packages require specific options & linking
^DBD::              # DBD drives require database files/headers
^XML::              # XML modules usually require expat libraries
Apache              # These usually require apache libraries
SSL                 # These usually require SSL certificates & libs
Image::Magick       # Needs ImageMagick C libraries
Mail::ClamAV        # Needs ClamAV C Libraries
^Verilog            # Needs Verilog C Libraries
^Authen::PAM$       # Needs PAM C libraries & Headers

SEE ALSO

CPANPLUS::Dist, CPANPLUS::Module, CPANPLUS::Shell::Default, cpanp

BUG REPORTS

Please report bugs or other issues to <bug-cpanplus@rt.cpan.org<gt>.

AUTHOR

This module by Jos Boumans <kane@cpan.org>.

COPYRIGHT

The CPAN++ interface (of which this module is a part of) is copyright (c) 2001 - 2007, Jos Boumans <kane@cpan.org>. All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you may redistribute and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.