[Module-build-general] Re: BIG PICTURE Q on Module::Build

[Ken W. <ke...@ma...>]

Hi Soren,

[CC-ing to the Module::Build list]

Yes, I saw your post about this on the MakeMaker list too.  The 
answer is that Module::Build doesn't currently support this, but 
it definitely could, and I don't think it would be too 
difficult.  It would require having separate parameters that 
indicate where the source is and where to build things before 
testing & installation.

I'll be happy to consider patches to Module::Build if you're 
willing to write them and accept feedback.

  -Ken

On Tuesday, November 5, 2002, at 03:34  PM, Soren Andersen wrote:

> Hello Ken,
>
> You've been on the edges (sorry) of my radar screen for a while, and it
> finally seems inevitable that i attempt to contact you about something.
>
> Because your project Module::Build seems like the most high-profile
> attempt to do away with MakeMaker (maybe the only attempt) i 
> now think i
> should ask you about the following.
>
> I'm one of those people who has invested so much time into studying
> ExtUtils::MakeMaker that I have been reluctant to even allocate
> synapse-share to thinking about another build system. I gather, 
> however,
> that the unhappiness with E:MM is widespread and shared even by many
> persons who subscribe to the E:MM List (to which i have recently posted
> about my project, asking for help, and noticing that it appears that
> Schwern and everyone else has pretty much been kidnapped by aliens or
> something...).
>
> I wish to ask you the following: will your module build support system
> allow building-outside-the-location-of-the-source-distribution (I
> hyphenate that phrase to hilight just how unwieldy -- in urgent need of
> Acronym-ization or abbrieviation -- it is). What i call (for 
> much greater
> brevity): 'exobuilding'. I am far less concerned, myself, with making
> CPAN
> automation the highest priority (as wrongheaded as that may be, it's
> where I am at), than with making it possible to treat Perl distribution
> files just like C or C++ or Java (or almost any other source code to a
> modern programming language) files: let the sources for Perl modules be
> buildable in a separate disk location from where they are 
> stored. This is
> a GNU standard. I believe in it.
>
> Argumentation about the merits aside, does Module::Build 
> already support
> this or plan to support this, in any way? If not, would you be 
> willing to
> consider addition of this optional functionality to future 
> development of
> your system?
>
>   Thanks,
>     Soren Andersen
>
> --
> http://fastmail.fm - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an
> 		      unladen european swallow