Re: [Module::Build] Ready for 0.22?

[Randy K. <ra...@th...>]

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004, Randy W. Sims wrote:

> I'm not sure what's going on at this point. Glenn is
> descibing two problems. 1) A::T produces a tar file that
> is incompatible with most Windows utilities (WinZip,
> PowerArchiver, etc.). This is confirmed, and I believe Jos
> is working on a fix. 2) Module::Build is used to create a
> dist and ppd file, ppm is run to install the dist which
> seems to work, but in fact, does not install anything.
> Until now I suspected this was related to (1) above, but
> your account seems to eliminate A::T as the culprit.

I think this may be a problem between versions of
Archive::Tar mixed in with some OS considerations. For
example,

- using either A::T version 1.04 or 1.08 on a linux machine
to create an archive, I find on a Windows machine that A::T
version 0.072 (that comes with ActivePerl 806) has problems
with it. The same archive is read fine on the linux machine
using A::T, and can also be read on the Windows machine
using cygwin tar/gzip, but Winzip has problems opening it.
However, if I upgrade A::T on the Windows machine to 1.08,
the archive can be read.

- using the system tar/gzip on the linux machine to create
an archive, both A::T versions 0.072 and 1.08 on the Windows
machine can read it, as can cygwin tar/gzip and Winzip.

- using either A::T version 0.072 or 1.08 on the Windows
machine to create an archive, both A::T versions on the
Windows machine can read it, as can cygwin tar/gzip and
Winzip, and also there's no problems reading it on the linux
box using either A::T or the system tar/gzip.

> Have you had occasions to use M::B yet? (version 0.22
> should be on CPAN by now;) Have you used it to create a
> dist? Have you run into any problems? You know much more
> about creating ppm distributions than I, so I (and many
> others) would be gratefull for any help or suggestions.

Yes, I have used M::B (which is great!) in this context,
and have run into these problems. It gets messy, but for
creating ppm archives that would be compatible with
older Win32 ActivePerls (that use, eg A::T version 0.072),
what one might do is,

- if it's being built on Win32, use A::T (with perhaps a
recommendation to upgrade to A::T 1.08, in order to read
other A::T archives),

- if it's being built on Unix, and it's intended for Win32,
use the system tar/gzip to create the archive, unless one
can assume that A::T on the client can be upgraded to 1.08.
This latter thing is tricky to do, as A::T is used by ppm,
and so is designated as a "precious" package; I thought ppm
could upgrade such packages via
   ppm> upgrade -install -precious
but at least with my ActivePerl 806 that doesn't seem
to work.

-- 
best regards,
randy