Re: [Module-build-general] PL_files

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

On Sunday, April 27, 2003, at 04:05  PM, Dominic Mitchell wrote:

> I've got a .PL file that I'm trying to get run as part of my build.
>
> Module::Build->new(
> 	module_name => 'MyModule',
> 	PL_files => {
> 		'lib/mkconst.PL' => [],
> 	},
> );
>
> However, the mkconst.PL script is not getting run at all.  The docs
> appear to indicate that it would get run, and that there would be
> nothing to clean up, based on what I've specified.  Is that right?
> Looking at process_PL_files(), it would seem that things only get run 
> if
> there's something in the list.
>
> However, taking a step or two back....
>
> What I'm trying to do is rebuild the file lib/Constants.pm from
> lib/Constants.pm.in only if it's out of date.  Using
> ExtUtils::MakeMaker, this was (relatively) easy.  What's the best way 
> to
> do this using Module::Build?  I started looking at .PL files to sort it
> out, but I don't think that's the right answer.  Would it be better to
> subclass Module::Build and override ACTION_build to do the right thing?

Hi Dominic,

Sorry to take a while to get back to you.  The PL_files stuff wasn't 
really very well thought-out when you sent your message, but I think 
it's in a better state now.

I think the proper answer to your question is to do something like this:

   Module::Build->new(
	module_name => 'MyModule',
	PL_files => {
		'lib/Constants.pm.PL' => 'lib/Constants.pm',
	},
   );

The constants' definitions would be right in lib/Constants.pm.PL.  Then 
whenever Constants.pm.PL is newer than lib/Constants.pm, the .pm will 
get rebuilt.


If you do want to subclass, look at the up_to_date() method in 
Module::Build, which will help you know when to re-run the script.  
Something like:

my $subclass = Module::Build->subclass( code => <<'EOF' );
  sub ACTION_build {
    my $self = shift;
    $self->SUPER::ACTION_build;
    $self->run_perl_script('lib/mkconst.PL', ...arguments...)
      unless $self->up_to_date(['lib/mkconst.PL', 'lib/Constants.in'],
                               'lib/Constants.pm');
  }
EOF

$subclass->new( ... )->create_build_script;


  -Ken