ExtUtils::MakeMaker - create an extension Makefile
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile( ATTRIBUTE => VALUE [, ...] );
which is really
MM->new(\%att)->flush;
This utility is designed to write a Makefile for an extension module from a Makefile.PL. It is based on the Makefile.SH model provided by Andy Dougherty and the perl5-porters.
It splits the task of generating the Makefile into several subroutines that can be individually overridden. Each subroutine returns the text it wishes to have written to the Makefile.
MakeMaker is object oriented. Each directory below the current directory that contains a Makefile.PL. Is treated as a separate object. This makes it possible to write an unlimited number of Makefiles with a single invocation of
WriteMakefile().
The short answer is: Don't.
Always begin with h2xs.
Always begin with h2xs!
ALWAYS BEGIN WITH H2XS!
even if you're not building around a header file, and even if you don't have an XS component.
Run
h2xs(1) before you start
thinking about writing a module. For so called pm-only modules that consist
of *.pm files only, h2xs has the -X switch. This will generate dummy files of all kinds that are useful for the
module developer.
The medium answer is:
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile( NAME => "Foo::Bar" );
The long answer is the rest of the manpage :-)
The generated Makefile enables the user of the extension to invoke
perl Makefile.PL # optionally "perl Makefile.PL verbose" make make test # optionally set TEST_VERBOSE=1 make install # See below
The Makefile to be produced may be altered by adding arguments of the form KEY=VALUE. E.g.
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/tmp/myperl5
Other interesting targets in the generated Makefile are
make config # to check if the Makefile is up-to-date make clean # delete local temp files (Makefile gets renamed) make realclean # delete derived files (including ./blib) make ci # check in all the files in the MANIFEST file make dist # see below the Distribution Support section
MakeMaker checks for the existence of a file named test.pl in the current directory and if it exists it adds commands to the test
target of the generated Makefile that will execute the script with the
proper set of perl -I options.
MakeMaker also checks for any files matching
glob(``t/*.t''). It will
add commands to the test target of the generated Makefile that execute all
matching files via the Harness module with the -I
switches set correctly.
A useful variation of the above is the target testdb. It runs the test under the Perl debugger (see the perldebug manpage). If the file
test.pl exists in the current directory, it is used for the test.
If you want to debug some other testfile, set TEST_FILE variable thusly:
make testdb TEST_FILE=t/mytest.t
By default the debugger is called using -d option to perl. If you want to specify some other option, set TESTDB_SW variable:
make testdb TESTDB_SW=-Dx
make alone puts all relevant files into directories that are named by the macros INST_LIB, INST_ARCHLIB, INST_SCRIPT, INST_MAN1DIR, and INST_MAN3DIR. All these default to something below ./blib if you are not building below the perl source directory. If you are building below the perl source, INST_LIB and INST_ARCHLIB default to ../../lib, and INST_SCRIPT is not defined.
The install target of the generated Makefile copies the files found below each of the INST_* directories to their INSTALL* counterparts. Which counterparts are chosen depends on the setting of INSTALLDIRS according to the following table:
INSTALLDIRS set to
perl site
INST_ARCHLIB INSTALLARCHLIB INSTALLSITEARCH
INST_LIB INSTALLPRIVLIB INSTALLSITELIB
INST_BIN INSTALLBIN
INST_SCRIPT INSTALLSCRIPT
INST_MAN1DIR INSTALLMAN1DIR
INST_MAN3DIR INSTALLMAN3DIR
The
INSTALL... macros in turn default to their
%Config ($Config{installprivlib}, $Config{installarchlib},
etc.) counterparts.
You can check the values of these variables on your system with
perl '-V:install.*'
And to check the sequence in which the library directories are searched by perl, run
perl -le 'print join $/, @INC'
PREFIX and LIB can be used to set several INSTALL* attributes in one go. The quickest way to install a module in a non-standard place might be
perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/lib
This will install the module's architecture-independent files into ~/lib, the architecture-dependent files into ~/lib/$archname/auto.
Another way to specify many INSTALL directories with a single parameter is PREFIX.
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~
This will replace the string specified by $Config{prefix} in all $Config{install*} values.
Note, that in both cases the tilde expansion is done by MakeMaker, not by perl by default, nor by make. Conflicts between parmeters LIB, PREFIX and the various INSTALL* arguments are resolved so that XXX
If the user has superuser privileges, and is not working on AFS (Andrew File System) or relatives, then the defaults for INSTALLPRIVLIB, INSTALLARCHLIB, INSTALLSCRIPT, etc. will be appropriate, and this incantation will be the best:
perl Makefile.PL; make; make test
make install
make install per default writes some documentation of what has been done
into the file $(INSTALLARCHLIB)/perllocal.pod. This feature can be bypassed by calling make pure_install.
will have to specify the installation directories as these most probably have changed since perl itself has been installed. They will have to do this by calling
perl Makefile.PL INSTALLSITELIB=/afs/here/today \
INSTALLSCRIPT=/afs/there/now INSTALLMAN3DIR=/afs/for/manpages
make
Be careful to repeat this procedure every time you recompile an extension, unless you are sure the AFS installation directories are still valid.
An extension that is built with the above steps is ready to use on systems supporting dynamic loading. On systems that do not support dynamic loading, any newly created extension has to be linked together with the available resources. MakeMaker supports the linking process by creating appropriate targets in the Makefile whenever an extension is built. You can invoke the corresponding section of the makefile with
make perl
That produces a new perl binary in the current directory with all extensions linked in that can be found in INST_ARCHLIB , SITELIBEXP, and PERL_ARCHLIB. To do that, MakeMaker writes a new Makefile, on UNIX, this is called Makefile.aperl (may be system dependent). If you want to force the creation of a new perl, it is recommended, that you delete this Makefile.aperl, so the directories are searched-through for linkable libraries again.
The binary can be installed into the directory where perl normally resides on your machine with
make inst_perl
To produce a perl binary with a different name than perl, either say
perl Makefile.PL MAP_TARGET=myperl
make myperl
make inst_perl
or say
perl Makefile.PL
make myperl MAP_TARGET=myperl
make inst_perl MAP_TARGET=myperl
In any case you will be prompted with the correct invocation of the
inst_perl target that installs the new binary into
INSTALLBIN.
make inst_perl per default writes some documentation of what has been done
into the file $(INSTALLARCHLIB)/perllocal.pod. This can be bypassed by calling make pure_inst_perl.
Warning: the inst_perl: target will most probably overwrite your existing perl binary. Use with care!
Sometimes you might want to build a statically linked perl although your system supports dynamic loading. In this case you may explicitly set the linktype with the invocation of the Makefile.PL or make:
perl Makefile.PL LINKTYPE=static # recommended
or
make LINKTYPE=static # works on most systems
MakeMaker needs to know, or to guess, where certain things are located. Especially
INST_LIB and
INST_ARCHLIB (where to put the files during the
make(1) run),
PERL_LIB and
PERL_ARCHLIB (where to read existing modules from), and
PERL_INC (header files and
libperl*.*).
Extensions may be built either using the contents of the perl source directory tree or from the installed perl library. The recommended way is to build extensions after you have run 'make install' on perl itself. You can do that in any directory on your hard disk that is not below the perl source tree. The support for extensions below the ext directory of the perl distribution is only good for the standard extensions that come with perl.
If an extension is being built below the ext/ directory of the perl source then MakeMaker will set
PERL_SRC automatically (e.g.,
../..). If
PERL_SRC is defined and the extension is recognized as
a standard extension, then other variables default to the following:
PERL_INC = PERL_SRC PERL_LIB = PERL_SRC/lib PERL_ARCHLIB = PERL_SRC/lib INST_LIB = PERL_LIB INST_ARCHLIB = PERL_ARCHLIB
If an extension is being built away from the perl source then MakeMaker will leave PERL_SRC undefined and default to using the installed copy of the perl library. The other variables default to the following:
PERL_INC = $archlibexp/CORE PERL_LIB = $privlibexp PERL_ARCHLIB = $archlibexp INST_LIB = ./blib/lib INST_ARCHLIB = ./blib/arch
If perl has not yet been installed then PERL_SRC can be defined on the command line as shown in the previous section.
If you don't want to keep the defaults for the
INSTALL* macros, MakeMaker helps you to minimize the typing needed: the usual relationship between
INSTALLPRIVLIB and
INSTALLARCHLIB is determined by Configure at perl compilation time. MakeMaker supports the user who sets
INSTALLPRIVLIB. If
INSTALLPRIVLIB is set, but
INSTALLARCHLIB not, then MakeMaker defaults the latter to be the same subdirectory of
INSTALLPRIVLIB as Configure decided for the counterparts in %Config , otherwise it defaults to
INSTALLPRIVLIB. The same relationship holds for
INSTALLSITELIB and
INSTALLSITEARCH.
MakeMaker gives you much more freedom than needed to configure internal variables and get different results. It is worth to mention, that
make(1) also lets you configure most of the variables that are used in the Makefile. But in the majority of situations this will not be necessary, and should only be done, if the author of a package recommends it (or you know what you're doing).
The following attributes can be specified as arguments to
WriteMakefile() or as
NAME=VALUE pairs on the command line:
"-DHAVE_UNISTD_H"
XS() macro. Defaults to
{"$(NAME)" => ["boot_$(NAME)" ] }
e.g.
{"RPC" => [qw( boot_rpcb rpcb_gettime getnetconfigent )],
"NetconfigPtr" => [ 'DESTROY'] }
qw( Foo_version Foo_numstreams Foo_tree ) ])
qw( Socket
POSIX ) ] )
This attribute may be most useful when specified as a string on the commandline: perl Makefile.PL EXCLUDE_EXT='Socket Safe'
"-I/usr/5include -I/path/to/inc"
qw( Socket
POSIX ) ])
It is not necessary to mention DynaLoader or the current extension when filling in INCLUDE_EXT. If the INCLUDE_EXT is mentioned but is empty then only DynaLoader and the current extension will be included in the build.
This attribute may be most useful when specified as a string on the commandline: perl Makefile.PL INCLUDE_EXT='POSIX Socket Devel::Peek'
perl Makefile.PL time. It has the effect of setting both
INSTALLPRIVLIB and
INSTALLSITELIB to that value regardless any
'LIBS' => ["-lgdbm", "-ldbm -lfoo", "-L/path -ldbm.nfs"]
Mind, that any element of the array contains a complete set of arguments for the ld command. So do not specify
'LIBS' => ["-ltcl", "-ltk", "-lX11"]
See ODBM_File/Makefile.PL for an example, where an array is needed. If you specify a scalar as in
'LIBS' => "-ltcl -ltk -lX11"
MakeMaker will turn it into an array with one element.
@. By setting it to an empty string you can generate a Makefile that echos
all commands. Mainly used in debugging MakeMaker itself.
-O. Set it to -g to turn debugging on. The flag is passed to subdirectory makes.
644. See also perm_rw.
755. See also perm_rwx.
{'foobar.PL' => 'foobar'}
The *.PL files are expected to produce output to the target files themselves.
{'name_of_file.pm' => '$(INST_LIBDIR)/install_as.pm'}
By default this will include *.pm and *.pl and the files found in the PMLIBDIRS directories. Defining PM in the Makefile.PL will override PMLIBDIRS.
libscan() method can be used to alter the behaviour. Defining
PM in the Makefile.PL will override
PMLIBDIRS.
/([\$*])(([\w\:\']*)\bVERSION)\b.*\=/
will be evaluated with
eval() and the value of the
named variable
after the
eval() will be assigned to the
VERSION attribute of the MakeMaker object. The following lines will be parsed o.k.:
$VERSION = '1.00';
*VERSION = \'1.01';
( $VERSION ) = '$Revision: 1.222 $ ' =~ /\$Revision:\s+([^\s]+)/;
$FOO::VERSION = '1.10';
*FOO::VERSION = \'1.11';
but these will fail:
my $VERSION = '1.01';
local $VERSION = '1.02';
local $FOO::VERSION = '1.30';
The file named in VERSION_FROM is not added as a dependency to Makefile. This is not really correct, but it would be a major pain during development to have to rewrite the Makefile for any smallish change in that file. If you want to make sure that the Makefile contains the correct VERSION macro after any change of the file, you would have to do something like
depend => { Makefile => '$(VERSION_FROM)' }
See attribute depend below.
{'name_of_file.xs' => 'name_of_file.c'}
The .c files will automatically be included in the list of files deleted by a make clean.
-extern. Do not include typemaps here; the
TYPEMAP parameter exists for that purpose.
-prototypes, or
-noprototypes. See the xsubpp documentation for details. MakeMaker defaults to the empty
string.
can be used to pass parameters to the methods which implement that part of the Makefile.
{FILES => "*.xyz foo"}
{ANY_TARGET => ANY_DEPENDECY, ...}
{TARFLAGS => 'cvfF', COMPRESS => 'gzip', SUFFIX => '.gz',
SHAR => 'shar -m', DIST_CP => 'ln', ZIP => '/bin/zip',
ZIPFLAGS => '-rl', DIST_DEFAULT => 'private tardist' }
If you specify COMPRESS, then SUFFIX should also be altered, as it is needed to tell make the target file of the compression. Setting DIST_CP to ln can be useful, if you need to preserve the timestamps on your files. DIST_CP can take the values 'cp', which copies the file, 'ln', which links the file, and 'best' which copies symbolic links and links the rest. Default is 'best'.
{ARMAYBE => 'ar', OTHERLDFLAGS => '...', INST_DYNAMIC_DEP => '...'}
{LINKTYPE => 'static', 'dynamic' or ''}
NB: Extensions that have nothing but *.pm files had to say
{LINKTYPE => ''}
with Pre-5.0 MakeMakers. Since version 5.00 of MakeMaker such a line can be deleted safely. MakeMaker recognizes, when there's nothing to be linked.
{ANY_MACRO => ANY_VALUE, ...}
{FILES => '$(INST_ARCHAUTODIR)/*.xyz'}
{MAXLEN => 8}
If you cannot achieve the desired Makefile behaviour by specifying attributes you may define private subroutines in the Makefile.PL. Each subroutines returns the text it wishes to have written to the Makefile. To override a section of the Makefile you can either say:
sub MY::c_o { "new literal text" }
or you can edit the default by saying something like:
sub MY::c_o {
package MY; # so that "SUPER" works right
my $inherited = shift->SUPER::c_o(@_);
$inherited =~ s/old text/new text/;
$inherited;
}
If you are running experiments with embedding perl as a library into other applications, you might find MakeMaker is not sufficient. You'd better have a look at ExtUtils::Embed which is a collection of utilities for embedding.
If you still need a different solution, try to develop another subroutine that fits your needs and submit the diffs to perl5-porters@perl.org or comp.lang.perl.moderated as appropriate.
For a complete description of all MakeMaker methods see MM_Unix.
Here is a simple example of how to add a new target to the generated Makefile:
sub MY::postamble {
'
$(MYEXTLIB): sdbm/Makefile
cd sdbm && $(MAKE) all
';
}
MakeMaker.pm uses the architecture specific information from Config.pm. In
addition it evaluates architecture specific hints files in a hints/ directory. The hints files are expected to be named like their counterparts
in PERL_SRC/hints, but with an .pl file name extension (eg. next_3_2.pl). They are simply evaled by MakeMaker within the
WriteMakefile()
subroutine, and can be used to execute commands as well as to include
special variables. The rules which hintsfile is chosen are the same as in
Configure.
The hintsfile is
eval()ed immediately after
the arguments given to WriteMakefile are stuffed into a hash reference
$self but before this reference becomes blessed. So if you
want to do the equivalent to override or create an attribute you would say
something like
$self->{LIBS} = ['-ldbm -lucb -lc'];
For authors of extensions MakeMaker provides several Makefile targets. Most of the support comes from the ExtUtils::Manifest module, where additional documentation can be found.
MANIFEST.SKIP file (See ExtUtils::Manifest::skipcheck() for details)
$(DISTNAME)-$(VERSION). If that directory exists, it will be removed first.
perl Makefile.PL, a make, and a make test in that directory.
tar on that directory into a tarfile and deletes the directory. Finishes with a command
$(POSTOP) which defaults to a null command.
shar on that directory into a sharfile and deletes the intermediate directory again. Finishes with a command
$(POSTOP) which defaults to a null command. Note: For shdist to work properly a
shar program that can handle directories is mandatory.
$(ZIP) $(ZIPFLAGS) on that directory into a zipfile. Then deletes that directory. Finishes with a command
$(POSTOP) which defaults to a null command.
Customization of the dist targets can be done by specifying a hash reference to the dist attribute of the WriteMakefile call. The following parameters are recognized:
CI ('ci -u')
COMPRESS ('gzip --best')
POSTOP ('@ :')
PREOP ('@ :')
TO_UNIX (depends on the system)
RCS_LABEL ('rcs -q -Nv$(VERSION_SYM):')
SHAR ('shar')
SUFFIX ('.gz')
TAR ('tar')
TARFLAGS ('cvf')
ZIP ('zip')
ZIPFLAGS ('-r')
An example:
WriteMakefile( 'dist' => { COMPRESS=>"bzip2", SUFFIX=>".bz2" })
If some events detected in Makefile.PL imply that there is no way to create the Module, but this is a normal state of things, then you can create a Makefile which does nothing, but succeeds on all the ``usual'' build targets. To do so, use
ExtUtils::MakeMaker::WriteEmptyMakefile();
instead of
WriteMakefile().
This may be useful if other modules expect this module to be built OK, as opposed to work OK (say, this system-dependent module builds in a subdirectory of some other distribution, or is listed as a dependency in a CPAN::Bundle, but the functionality is supported by different means on the current architecture).
ExtUtils::MM_Unix, ExtUtils::Manifest, ExtUtils::testlib, ExtUtils::Install, ExtUtils::Embed
Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>, Andreas König <A.Koenig@franz.ww.TU-Berlin.DE>, Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>.
VMS support by Charles Bailey <bailey@genetics.upenn.edu>.
OS/2 support by Ilya Zakharevich <ilya@math.ohio-state.edu>. Contact the makemaker mailing list mailto:makemaker@franz.ww.tu-berlin.de, if you have any questions.
If rather than formatting bugs, you encounter substantive content errors in these documents, such as mistakes in the explanations or code, please use the perlbug utility included with the Perl distribution.