CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_0 - phpMan

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 META.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 META.yml specification.

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

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

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

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

Fields
    The rest of the META.yml file is one big YAML mapping
    <http://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
        <http://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
            (<http://opensource.org/licenses/GPL-2.0>).

        lgpl
            The distribution is distributed under the terms of the GNU
            Lesser General Public License version 2
            (<http://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
            (<http://opensource.org/licenses/Artistic-Perl-1.0>).

        bsd The distribution is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License
            (<http://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause>).

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

        unrestricted
            The distribution is licensed under a license that is not
            approved by www.opensource.org <http://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
        <http://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
        <http://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
        <http://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
        <http://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.
        <http://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.