CPAN::Meta::History - phpMan

NAME
    CPAN::Meta::History - history of CPAN Meta Spec changes

VERSION
    version 2.150010

DESCRIPTION
    The CPAN Meta Spec has gone through several iterations. It was
    originally written in HTML and later revised into POD (though published
    in HTML generated from the POD). Fields were added, removed or changed,
    sometimes by design and sometimes to reflect real-world usage after the
    fact.

    This document reconstructs the history of the CPAN Meta Spec based on
    change logs, repository commit messages and the published HTML files. In
    some cases, particularly prior to version 1.2, the exact version when
    certain fields were introduced or changed is inconsistent between
    sources. When in doubt, the published HTML files for versions 1.0 to 1.4
    as they existed when version 2 was developed are used as the definitive
    source.

    Starting with version 2, the specification document is part of the
    CPAN-Meta distribution and will be published on CPAN as
    CPAN::Meta::Spec.

    Going forward, specification version numbers will be integers and
    decimal portions will correspond to a release date for the CPAN::Meta
    library.

HISTORY
  Version 2
    April 2010

    *   Revised spec examples as perl data structures rather than YAML

    *   Switched to JSON serialization from YAML

    *   Specified allowed version number formats

    *   Replaced 'requires', 'build_requires', 'configure_requires',
        'recommends' and 'conflicts' with new 'prereqs' data structure
        divided by *phase* (configure, build, test, runtime, etc.) and
        *relationship* (requires, recommends, suggests, conflicts)

    *   Added support for 'develop' phase for requirements for maintaining a
        list of authoring tools

    *   Changed 'license' to a list and revised the set of valid licenses

    *   Made 'dynamic_config' mandatory to reduce confusion

    *   Changed 'resources' subkey 'repository' to a hash that clarifies
        repository type, url for browsing and url for checkout

    *   Changed 'resources' subkey 'bugtracker' to a hash for either web or
        mailto resource

    *   Changed specification of 'optional_features':

        *   Added formal specification and usage guide instead of just
            example

        *   Changed to use new prereqs data structure instead of individual
            keys

    *   Clarified intended use of 'author' as generalized contact list

    *   Added 'release_status' field to indicate stable, testing or unstable
        status to provide hints to indexers

    *   Added 'description' field for a longer description of the
        distribution

    *   Formalized use of "x_" or "X_" for all custom keys not listed in the
        official spec

  Version 1.4
    June 2008

    *   Noted explicit support for 'perl' in prerequisites

    *   Added 'configure_requires' prerequisite type

    *   Changed 'optional_features'

        *   Example corrected to show map of maps instead of list of maps
            (though descriptive text said 'map' even in v1.3)

        *   Removed 'requires_packages', 'requires_os' and 'excluded_os' as
            valid subkeys

  Version 1.3
    November 2006

    *   Added 'no_index' subkey 'directory' and removed 'dir' to match
        actual usage in the wild

    *   Added a 'repository' subkey to 'resources'

  Version 1.2
    August 2005

    *   Re-wrote and restructured spec in POD syntax

    *   Changed 'name' to be mandatory

    *   Changed 'generated_by' to be mandatory

    *   Changed 'license' to be mandatory

    *   Added version range specifications for prerequisites

    *   Added required 'abstract' field

    *   Added required 'author' field

    *   Added required 'meta-spec' field to define 'version' (and 'url') of
        the CPAN Meta Spec used for metadata

    *   Added 'provides' field

    *   Added 'no_index' field and deprecated 'private' field. 'no_index'
        subkeys include 'file', 'dir', 'package' and 'namespace'

    *   Added 'keywords' field

    *   Added 'resources' field with subkeys 'homepage', 'license', and
        'bugtracker'

    *   Added 'optional_features' field as an alternate under 'recommends'.
        Includes 'description', 'requires', 'build_requires', 'conflicts',
        'requires_packages', 'requires_os' and 'excluded_os' as valid
        subkeys

    *   Removed 'license_uri' field

  Version 1.1
    May 2003

    *   Changed 'version' to be mandatory

    *   Added 'private' field

    *   Added 'license_uri' field

  Version 1.0
    March 2003

    *   Original release (in HTML format only)

    *   Included 'name', 'version', 'license', 'distribution_type',
        'requires', 'recommends', 'build_requires', 'conflicts',
        'dynamic_config', 'generated_by'

AUTHORS
    *   David Golden <dagolden AT cpan.org>

    *   Ricardo Signes <rjbs AT cpan.org>

    *   Adam Kennedy <adamk AT cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    This software is copyright (c) 2010 by David Golden, Ricardo Signes,
    Adam Kennedy and Contributors.

    This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
    the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.