CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_0 (3)

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NAME

CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_0 - Version 1.0 metadata specification for META.yml

PREFACE

This is a historical copy of the version 1.0 specification for .yml files, copyright by Ken Williams and licensed under the same terms as Perl itself.

Modifications from the original:

*

Conversion from the original

HTML

to

POD

format

*

Include list of valid licenses from Module::Build 0.17 rather than linking to the module, with minor updates to text and links to reflect versions at the time of publication.

*

Fixed some dead links to point to active resources.

DESCRIPTION

This document describes version 1.0 of the .yml specification.

The

.yml file describes important properties of contributed Perl distributions such as the ones found on <www.cpan.org>. It is typically created by tools like Module::Build and ExtUtils::MakeMaker.

The fields in the

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

Format

.yml files are written in the <www.yaml.org> format. The reasons we chose instead of, say, or Data::Dumper are discussed in this thread <www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.makemaker/2002/04/msg406.html> on the MakeMaker mailing list.

The first line of a

.yml file should be a valid document header <yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-document> like "--- #YAML:1.0"

Fields

The rest of the .yml file is one big mapping <yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping>, whose keys are described here.

name

Example: "Module-Build"

The name of the distribution. 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 <search.cpan.org/author/GAAS/libwww-perl> distribution.

version

Example: 0.16

The version of the distribution to which the

META

.yml file refers.

license

Example: "perl"

The license under which this distribution may be used and redistributed.

Must be one of the following 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.

gpl

The distribution is distributed under the terms of the

GNU

General Public License version 2 (<opensource.org/licenses/GPL-2.0>).

lgpl

The distribution is distributed under the terms of the

GNU

Lesser General Public License version 2 (<opensource.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1>).

artistic

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

bsd

The distribution is licensed under the

BSD

3-Clause License (<opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause>).

open_source

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

unrestricted

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

restrictive

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

distribution_type

Example: "module"

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.

requires

Example:

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

A

YAML

mapping <yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-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 the documentation for Module::Build's ``requires'' parameter.

Note: the exact nature of the fancy specifications like ">= 1.2, != 1.5, < 2.0" is subject to change. Advance notice will be given here. The simple specifications like "1.2" will not change in format.

recommends

Example:

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

A

YAML

mapping <yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping> indicating the Perl modules this distribution recommends for enhanced operation.

build_requires

Example:

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

A

YAML

mapping <yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping> indicating the Perl modules required for building and/or testing of this distribution. These dependencies are not required after the module is installed.

conflicts

Example:

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

A

YAML

mapping <yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping> indicating the Perl modules that cannot be installed while this distribution is installed. This is a pretty uncommon situation.

dynamic_config

Example: 0

A boolean flag indicating whether a Build.PL or Makefile.PL (or similar) must be executed, or whether this module can be built, tested and installed solely from consulting its metadata file. The main reason to set this to a true value if 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

.pm to do something useful with it. It can potentially bring lots of security, packaging, and convenience improvements.

generated_by

Example: "Module::Build version 0.16"

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.

Related Projects

DOAP

An

RDF

vocabulary to describe software projects. <usefulinc.com/doap>.

History

*

March 14, 2003 (Pi day) - created version 1.0 of this document.

*

May 8, 2003 - added the ``dynamic_config'' field, which was missing from the initial version.