# Module::Build::Bundling - phpMan

## NAME
    [Module::Build::Bundling] - How to bundle [Module::Build] with a
    distribution

## SYNOPSIS
      # Build.PL
      use [inc::latest] '[Module::Build]';

      [Module::Build]->new(
        module_name => '[Foo::Bar]',
        license => 'perl',
      )->create_build_script;

## DESCRIPTION
    WARNING -- THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE

    In order to install a distribution using [Module::Build], users must have
    [Module::Build] available on their systems. There are two ways to do this.
    The first way is to include [Module::Build] in the "configure_requires"
    metadata field. This field is supported by recent versions CPAN and
    CPANPLUS and is a standard feature in the Perl core as of Perl 5.10.1.
    [Module::Build] now adds itself to "configure_requires" by default.

    The second way supports older Perls that have not upgraded CPAN or
    CPANPLUS and involves bundling an entire copy of [Module::Build] into the
    distribution's "inc/" directory. This is the same approach used by
    [Module::Install], a modern wrapper around [ExtUtils::MakeMaker] for
    Makefile.PL based distributions.

    The "trick" to making this work for [Module::Build] is making sure the
    highest version [Module::Build] is used, whether this is in "inc/" or
    already installed on the user's system. This ensures that all necessary
    features are available as well as any new bug fixes. This is done using
    the experimental [inc::latest] module, available on CPAN.

    A "normal" Build.PL looks like this (with only the minimum required
    fields):

      use [Module::Build];

      [Module::Build]->new(
        module_name => '[Foo::Bar]',
        license     => 'perl',
      )->create_build_script;

    A "bundling" Build.PL replaces the initial "use" line with a nearly
    transparent replacement:

      use [inc::latest] '[Module::Build]';

      [Module::Build]->new(
        module_name => '[Foo::Bar]',
        license => 'perl',
      )->create_build_script;

    For *authors*, when "Build dist" is run, [Module::Build] will be
    automatically bundled into "inc" according to the rules for [inc::latest].

    For *users*, [inc::latest] will load the latest [Module::Build], whether
    installed or bundled in "inc/".

BUNDLING OTHER CONFIGURATION DEPENDENCIES
    The same approach works for other configuration dependencies -- modules
    that *must* be available for Build.PL to run. All other dependencies can
    be specified as usual in the Build.PL and CPAN or CPANPLUS will install
    them after Build.PL finishes.

    For example, to bundle the [Devel::AssertOS::Unix] module (which ensures a
    "Unix-like" operating system), one could do this:

      use [inc::latest] '[Devel::AssertOS::Unix]';
      use [inc::latest] '[Module::Build]';

      [Module::Build]->new(
        module_name => '[Foo::Bar]',
        license => 'perl',
      )->create_build_script;

    The "[inc::latest]" module creates bundled directories based on the
    packlist file of an installed distribution. Even though "[inc::latest]"
    takes module name arguments, it is better to think of it as bundling and
    making available entire *distributions*. When a module is loaded through
    "[inc::latest]", it looks in all bundled distributions in "inc/" for a
    newer module than can be found in the existing @INC array.

    Thus, the module-name provided should usually be the "top-level" module
    name of a distribution, though this is not strictly required. For
    example, [Module::Build] has a number of heuristics to map module names to
    packlists, allowing users to do things like this:

      use [inc::latest] '[Devel::AssertOS::Unix]';

    even though [Devel::AssertOS::Unix] is contained within the Devel-CheckOS
    distribution.

    At the current time, packlists are required. Thus, bundling dual-core
    modules, *including [Module::Build]*, may require a 'forced install' over
    versions in the latest version of perl in order to create the necessary
    packlist for bundling. This limitation will hopefully be addressed in a
    future version of [Module::Build].

  WARNING -- How to Manage Dependency Chains
    Before bundling a distribution you must ensure that all prerequisites
    are also bundled and load in the correct order. For [Module::Build]
    itself, this should not be necessary, but it is necessary for any other
    distribution. (A future release of [Module::Build] will hopefully address
    this deficiency.)

    For example, if you need "Wibble", but "Wibble" depends on "Wobble",
    your Build.PL might look like this:

      use [inc::latest] 'Wobble';
      use [inc::latest] 'Wibble';
      use [inc::latest] '[Module::Build]';

      [Module::Build]->new(
        module_name => '[Foo::Bar]',
        license => 'perl',
      )->create_build_script;

    Authors are strongly suggested to limit the bundling of additional
    dependencies if at all possible and to carefully test their distribution
    tarballs on older versions of Perl before uploading to CPAN.

## AUTHOR
    David Golden <<dagolden@cpan.org>>

    Development questions, bug reports, and patches should be sent to the
    Module-Build mailing list at <<module-build@perl.org>>.

    Bug reports are also welcome at
    <<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Module-Build>>.

## SEE ALSO
    [perl(1)], [inc::latest], Module::[Build(3)], [Module::Build]::[API(3)],
    [Module::Build]::[Cookbook(3)],