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All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

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Makefile.PL versus Module::Build 4 Comments More | Login | Reply /

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  • I’m peripherally aware that for backward compatibility Module::Build authors often supply a Makefile.PL that I think is basically a thin wrapper around the Module::Build process or something.

    It can be. There is also an option to produce a fully self-sufficient Makefile.PL that doesn’t rely on M::B at all. This is what I use and recommend (for the time being).

    I’m certain that in every case one of these options is better maintained than the other.

    I’m certain that in every case it is the Build.PL that should be preferred. There is no tool which casually autogenerates a Build.PL from Makefile.PL, but there is one which works the other way around, and I’m quite sure that noone maintains both files manually.

    This option should default to one of the choices, and it’s obvious which one that should be.

    • I’m certain that in every case it is the Build.PL that should be preferred.

      In that case, I believe that CPAN.pm should be programmed to do this. Users of CPAN.pm generally don't care which option is used as long as it works.

      This option should default to one of the choices, and it’s obvious which one that should be.

      I'm not really sure the option should exist, then. If you care enough to want to select Makefile.PL over Build.PL, then it seems like you know enough to be doing it by hand

      --
      J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers

      • I would agree with all of the conclusions you drew from my points. I’m just not sure the maintainer of CPAN.pm wants to make a choice that is at this point somewhat political; hence, I assume, the user-level option.

    • BTW, I just went through this again on another box, and noted that it defaults to EUMM rather than MB.

      --
      J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
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