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NAME DESCRIPTION MODULE METADATA AUTHOR COPYRIGHT SEE ALSO
NAME
    Module::Build::API - API Reference for Module Authors

DESCRIPTION
    I list here some of the most important methods in "Module::Build".
    Normally you won't need to deal with these methods unless you want to
    subclass "Module::Build". But since one of the reasons I created this
    module in the first place was so that subclassing is possible (and
    easy), I will certainly write more docs as the interface stabilizes.

  CONSTRUCTORS
    current()
        [version 0.20]

        This method returns a reasonable facsimile of the
        currently-executing "Module::Build" object representing the current
        build. You can use this object to query its "notes()" method,
        inquire about installed modules, and so on. This is a great way to
        share information between different parts of your build process. For
        instance, you can ask the user a question during "perl Build.PL",
        then use their answer during a regression test:

          # In Build.PL:
          my $color = $build->prompt("What is your favorite color?");
          $build->notes(color => $color);

          # In t/colortest.t:
          use Module::Build;
          my $build = Module::Build->current;
          my $color = $build->notes('color');
          ...

        The way the "current()" method is currently implemented, there may
        be slight differences between the $build object in Build.PL and the
        one in "t/colortest.t". It is our goal to minimize these differences
        in future releases of Module::Build, so please report any anomalies
        you find.

        One important caveat: in its current implementation, "current()"
        will NOT work correctly if you have changed out of the directory
        that "Module::Build" was invoked from.

    new()
        [version 0.03]

        Creates a new Module::Build object. Arguments to the new() method
        are listed below. Most arguments are optional, but you must provide
        either the "module_name" argument, or "dist_name" and one of
        "dist_version" or "dist_version_from". In other words, you must
        provide enough information to determine both a distribution name and
        version.

        add_to_cleanup
            [version 0.19]

            An array reference of files to be cleaned up when the "clean"
            action is performed. See also the add_to_cleanup() method.

        allow_pureperl
            [version 0.4005]

            A bool indicating the module is still functional without its xs
            parts. When an XS module is build with --pureperl_only, it will
            otherwise fail.

        auto_configure_requires
            [version 0.34]

            This parameter determines whether Module::Build will add itself
            automatically to configure_requires (and build_requires) if
            Module::Build is not already there. The required version will be
            the last 'major' release, as defined by the decimal version
            truncated to two decimal places (e.g. 0.34, instead of 0.3402).
            The default value is true.

        auto_features
            [version 0.26]

            This parameter supports the setting of features (see
            "feature($name)") automatically based on a set of prerequisites.
            For instance, for a module that could optionally use either
            MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, you might use "auto_features"
            like this:

              my $build = Module::Build->new
                (
                 ...other stuff here...
                 auto_features => {
                   pg_support    => {
                                     description => "Interface with Postgres databases",
                                     requires    => { 'DBD::Pg' => 23.3,
                                                      'DateTime::Format::Pg' => 0 },
                                    },
                   mysql_support => {
                                     description => "Interface with MySQL databases",
                                     requires    => { 'DBD::mysql' => 17.9,
                                                      'DateTime::Format::MySQL' => 0 },
                                    },
                 }
                );

            For each feature named, the required prerequisites will be
            checked, and if there are no failures, the feature will be
            enabled (set to 1). Otherwise the failures will be displayed to
            the user and the feature will be disabled (set to 0).

            See the documentation for "requires" for the details of how
            requirements can be specified.

        autosplit
            [version 0.04]

            An optional "autosplit" argument specifies a file which should
            be run through the AutoSplit::autosplit() function. If multiple
            files should be split, the argument may be given as an array of
            the files to split.

            In general I don't consider autosplitting a great idea, because
            it's not always clear that autosplitting achieves its intended
            performance benefits. It may even harm performance in
            environments like mod_perl, where as much as possible of a
            module's code should be loaded during startup.

        build_class
            [version 0.28]

            The Module::Build class or subclass to use in the build script.
            Defaults to "Module::Build" or the class name passed to or
            created by a call to "subclass()". This property is useful if
            you're writing a custom Module::Build subclass and have a
            bootstrapping problem--that is, your subclass requires modules
            that may not be installed when "perl Build.PL" is executed, but
            you've listed in "build_requires" so that they should be
            available when "./Build" is executed.

        build_requires
            [version 0.07]

            Modules listed in this section are necessary to build and
            install the given module, but are not necessary for regular
            usage of it. This is actually an important distinction - it
            allows for tighter control over the body of installed modules,
            and facilitates correct dependency checking on binary/packaged
            distributions of the module.

            See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
            Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements can
            be specified.

        configure_requires
            [version 0.30]

            Modules listed in this section must be installed *before*
            configuring this distribution (i.e. before running the Build.PL
            script). This might be a specific minimum version of
            "Module::Build" or any other module the Build.PL needs in order
            to do its stuff. Clients like "CPAN.pm" or "CPANPLUS" will be
            expected to pick "configure_requires" out of the META.yml file
            and install these items before running the "Build.PL".

            Module::Build may automatically add itself to
            configure_requires. See "auto_configure_requires" for details.

            See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
            Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements can
            be specified.

        test_requires
            [version 0.4004]

            Modules listed in this section must be installed before testing
            the distribution.

            See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
            Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements can
            be specified.

        create_packlist
            [version 0.28]

            If true, this parameter tells Module::Build to create a
            .packlist file during the "install" action, just like
            "ExtUtils::MakeMaker" does. The file is created in a
            subdirectory of the "arch" installation location. It is used by
            some other tools (CPAN, CPANPLUS, etc.) for determining what
            files are part of an install.

            The default value is true. This parameter was introduced in
            Module::Build version 0.2609; previously no packlists were ever
            created by Module::Build.

        c_source
            [version 0.04]

            An optional "c_source" argument specifies a directory which
            contains C source files that the rest of the build may depend
            on. Any ".c" files in the directory will be compiled to object
            files. The directory will be added to the search path during the
            compilation and linking phases of any C or XS files.

            [version 0.3604]

            A list of directories can be supplied using an anonymous array
            reference of strings.

        conflicts
            [version 0.07]

            Modules listed in this section conflict in some serious way with
            the given module. "Module::Build" (or some higher-level tool)
            will refuse to install the given module if the given
            module/version is also installed.

            See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
            Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements can
            be specified.

        create_license
            [version 0.31]

            This parameter tells Module::Build to automatically create a
            LICENSE file at the top level of your distribution, containing
            the full text of the author's chosen license. This requires
            "Software::License" on the author's machine, and further
            requires that the "license" parameter specifies a license that
            it knows about.

        create_makefile_pl
            [version 0.19]

            This parameter lets you use "Module::Build::Compat" during the
            "distdir" (or "dist") action to automatically create a
            Makefile.PL for compatibility with "ExtUtils::MakeMaker". The
            parameter's value should be one of the styles named in the
            Module::Build::Compat documentation.

            Use of this parameter is discouraged.

        create_readme
            [version 0.22]

            This parameter tells Module::Build to automatically create a
            README file at the top level of your distribution. Currently it
            will simply use "Pod::Text" (or "Pod::Readme" if it's installed)
            on the file indicated by "dist_version_from" and put the result
            in the README file. This is by no means the only recommended
            style for writing a README, but it seems to be one common one
            used on the CPAN.

            If you generate a README in this way, it's probably a good idea
            to create a separate INSTALL file if that information isn't in
            the generated README.

        dist_abstract
            [version 0.20]

            This should be a short description of the distribution. This is
            used when generating metadata for META.yml and PPD files. If it
            is not given then "Module::Build" looks in the POD of the module
            from which it gets the distribution's version. If it finds a POD
            section marked "=head1 NAME", then it looks for the first line
            matching "\s+-\s+(.+)", and uses the captured text as the
            abstract.

        dist_author
            [version 0.20]

            This should be something like "John Doe <jdoe AT example.com>", or
            if there are multiple authors, an anonymous array of strings may
            be specified. This is used when generating metadata for META.yml
            and PPD files. If this is not specified, then "Module::Build"
            looks at the module from which it gets the distribution's
            version. If it finds a POD section marked "=head1 AUTHOR", then
            it uses the contents of this section.

        dist_name
            [version 0.11]

            Specifies the name for this distribution. Most authors won't
            need to set this directly, they can use "module_name" to set
            "dist_name" to a reasonable default. However, some agglomerative
            distributions like "libwww-perl" or "bioperl" have names that
            don't correspond directly to a module name, so "dist_name" can
            be set independently.

        dist_suffix
            [version 0.37]

            Specifies an optional suffix to include after the version number
            in the distribution directory (and tarball) name. The only
            suffix currently recognized by PAUSE is 'TRIAL', which indicates
            that the distribution should not be indexed. For example:

              Foo-Bar-1.23-TRIAL.tar.gz

            This will automatically do the "right thing" depending on
            "dist_version" and "release_status". When "dist_version" does
            not have an underscore and "release_status" is not 'stable',
            then "dist_suffix" will default to 'TRIAL'. Otherwise it will
            default to the empty string, disabling the suffix.

            In general, authors should only set this if they must override
            the default behavior for some particular purpose.

        dist_version
            [version 0.11]

            Specifies a version number for the distribution. See
            "module_name" or "dist_version_from" for ways to have this set
            automatically from a $VERSION variable in a module. One way or
            another, a version number needs to be set.

        dist_version_from
            [version 0.11]

            Specifies a file to look for the distribution version in. Most
            authors won't need to set this directly, they can use
            "module_name" to set it to a reasonable default.

            The version is extracted from the specified file according to
            the same rules as ExtUtils::MakeMaker and "CPAN.pm". It involves
            finding the first line that matches the regular expression

               /([\$*])(([\w\:\']*)\bVERSION)\b.*\=/

            eval()-ing that line, then checking the value of the $VERSION
            variable. Quite ugly, really, but all the modules on CPAN depend
            on this process, so there's no real opportunity to change to
            something better.

            If the target file of "dist_version_from" contains more than one
            package declaration, the version returned will be the one
            matching the configured "module_name".

        dynamic_config
            [version 0.07]

            A boolean flag indicating whether the Build.PL file must be
            executed to determine prerequisites, or whether they can be
            determined solely from consulting its metadata file. The main
            reason to set this to a true value is that your module adds or
            removes prerequisites dynamically in Build.PL. If the flag is
            omitted, it will be treated as 1 (true), because this is a safer
            way to behave.

            Currently "Module::Build" doesn't actually do anything with this
            flag - it's up to higher-level tools like "CPAN.pm" to do
            something useful with it. It can also be very helpful for static
            analysis. See "dynamic_config" in CPAN::Meta::Spec for details
            on the metadata field.

        extra_compiler_flags
        extra_linker_flags
            [version 0.19]

            These parameters can contain array references (or strings, in
            which case they will be split into arrays) to pass through to
            the compiler and linker phases when compiling/linking C code.
            For example, to tell the compiler that your code is C++, you
            might do:

              my $build = Module::Build->new
                (
                 module_name          => 'Foo::Bar',
                 extra_compiler_flags => ['-x', 'c++'],
                );

            To link your XS code against glib you might write something
            like:

              my $build = Module::Build->new
                (
                 module_name          => 'Foo::Bar',
                 dynamic_config       => 1,
                 extra_compiler_flags => scalar `glib-config --cflags`,
                 extra_linker_flags   => scalar `glib-config --libs`,
                );

        extra_manify_args
            [version 0.4006]

            Any extra arguments to pass to "Pod::Man->new()" when building
            man pages. One common choice might be "utf8 => 1" to get Unicode
            support.

        get_options
            [version 0.26]

            You can pass arbitrary command line options to Build.PL or
            Build, and they will be stored in the Module::Build object and
            can be accessed via the "args()" method. However, sometimes you
            want more flexibility out of your argument processing than this
            allows. In such cases, use the "get_options" parameter to pass
            in a hash reference of argument specifications, and the list of
            arguments to Build.PL or Build will be processed according to
            those specifications before they're passed on to
            "Module::Build"'s own argument processing.

            The supported option specification hash keys are:

            type
                The type of option. The types are those supported by
                Getopt::Long; consult its documentation for a complete list.
                Typical types are "=s" for strings, "+" for additive
                options, and "!" for negatable options. If the type is not
                specified, it will be considered a boolean, i.e. no argument
                is taken and a value of 1 will be assigned when the option
                is encountered.

            store
                A reference to a scalar in which to store the value passed
                to the option. If not specified, the value will be stored
                under the option name in the hash returned by the "args()"
                method.

            default
                A default value for the option. If no default value is
                specified and no option is passed, then the option key will
                not exist in the hash returned by "args()".

            You can combine references to your own variables or subroutines
            with unreferenced specifications, for which the result will also
            be stored in the hash returned by "args()". For example:

              my $loud = 0;
              my $build = Module::Build->new
                (
                 module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
                 get_options => {
                                 Loud =>     { store => \$loud },
                                 Dbd  =>     { type  => '=s'   },
                                 Quantity => { type  => '+'    },
                                }
                );

              print STDERR "HEY, ARE YOU LISTENING??\n" if $loud;
              print "We'll use the ", $build->args('Dbd'), " DBI driver\n";
              print "Are you sure you want that many?\n"
                if $build->args('Quantity') > 2;

            The arguments for such a specification can be called like so:

              perl Build.PL --Loud --Dbd=DBD::pg --Quantity --Quantity --Quantity

            WARNING: Any option specifications that conflict with
            Module::Build's own options (defined by its properties) will
            throw an exception. Use capitalized option names to avoid
            unintended conflicts with future Module::Build options.

            Consult the Getopt::Long documentation for details on its usage.

        include_dirs
            [version 0.24]

            Specifies any additional directories in which to search for C
            header files. May be given as a string indicating a single
            directory, or as a list reference indicating multiple
            directories.

        install_path
            [version 0.19]

            You can set paths for individual installable elements by using
            the "install_path" parameter:

              my $build = Module::Build->new
                (
                 ...other stuff here...
                 install_path => {
                                  lib  => '/foo/lib',
                                  arch => '/foo/lib/arch',
                                 }
                );

        installdirs
            [version 0.19]

            Determines where files are installed within the normal perl
            hierarchy as determined by Config.pm. Valid values are: "core",
            "site", "vendor". The default is "site". See "INSTALL PATHS" in
            Module::Build

        license
            [version 0.07]

            Specifies the licensing terms of your distribution.

            As of Module::Build version 0.36_14, you may use a
            Software::License subclass name (e.g. 'Apache_2_0') instead of
            one of the keys below.

            The legacy list of valid license values include:

            apache
                The distribution is licensed under the Apache License,
                Version 2.0 (<http://apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0>).

            apache_1_1
                The distribution is licensed under the Apache Software
                License, Version 1.1
                (<http://apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.1>).

            artistic
                The distribution is licensed under the Artistic License, as
                specified by the Artistic file in the standard Perl
                distribution.

            artistic_2
                The distribution is licensed under the Artistic 2.0 License
                (<http://opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license-2.0.php>.)

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

            gpl The distribution is licensed under the terms of the GNU
                General Public License
                (<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php>).

            lgpl
                The distribution is licensed under the terms of the GNU
                Lesser General Public License
                (<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php>).

            mit The distribution is licensed under the MIT License
                (<http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php>).

            mozilla
                The distribution is licensed under the Mozilla Public
                License. (<http://opensource.org/licenses/mozilla1.0.php> or
                <http://opensource.org/licenses/mozilla1.1.php>)

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

            restrictive
                The distribution may not be redistributed without special
                permission from the author and/or copyright holder.

            unrestricted
                The distribution is licensed under a license that is not
                approved by www.opensource.org but that allows distribution
                without restrictions.

            Note that you must still include the terms of your license in
            your code and documentation - this field only sets the
            information that is included in distribution metadata to let
            automated tools figure out your licensing restrictions. Humans
            still need something to read. If you choose to provide this
            field, you should make sure that you keep it in sync with your
            written documentation if you ever change your licensing terms.

            You may also use a license type of "unknown" if you don't wish
            to specify your terms in the metadata.

            Also see the "create_license" parameter.

        meta_add
            [version 0.28]

            A hash of key/value pairs that should be added to the META.yml
            file during the "distmeta" action. Any existing entries with the
            same names will be overridden.

            See the "MODULE METADATA" section for details.

        meta_merge
            [version 0.28]

            A hash of key/value pairs that should be merged into the
            META.yml file during the "distmeta" action. Any existing entries
            with the same names will be overridden.

            The only difference between "meta_add" and "meta_merge" is their
            behavior on hash-valued and array-valued entries: "meta_add"
            will completely blow away the existing hash or array value, but
            "meta_merge" will merge the supplied data into the existing hash
            or array value.

            See the "MODULE METADATA" section for details.

        module_name
            [version 0.03]

            The "module_name" is a shortcut for setting default values of
            "dist_name" and "dist_version_from", reflecting the fact that
            the majority of CPAN distributions are centered around one
            "main" module. For instance, if you set "module_name" to
            "Foo::Bar", then "dist_name" will default to "Foo-Bar" and
            "dist_version_from" will default to "lib/Foo/Bar.pm".
            "dist_version_from" will in turn be used to set "dist_version".

            Setting "module_name" won't override a "dist_*" parameter you
            specify explicitly.

        needs_compiler
            [version 0.36]

            The "needs_compiler" parameter indicates whether a compiler is
            required to build the distribution. The default is false, unless
            XS files are found or the "c_source" parameter is set, in which
            case it is true. If true, ExtUtils::CBuilder is automatically
            added to "build_requires" if needed.

            For a distribution where a compiler is *optional*, e.g. a dual
            XS/pure-Perl distribution, "needs_compiler" should explicitly be
            set to a false value.

        PL_files
            [version 0.06]

            An optional parameter specifying a set of ".PL" files in your
            distribution. These will be run as Perl scripts prior to
            processing the rest of the files in your distribution with the
            name of the file they're generating as an argument. They are
            usually used as templates for creating other files dynamically,
            so that a file like "lib/Foo/Bar.pm.PL" might create the file
            "lib/Foo/Bar.pm".

            The files are specified with the ".PL" files as hash keys, and
            the file(s) they generate as hash values, like so:

              my $build = Module::Build->new
                (
                 module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
                 ...
                 PL_files => { 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm.PL' => 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm' },
                );

            Note that the path specifications are *always* given in
            Unix-like format, not in the style of the local system.

            If your ".PL" scripts don't create any files, or if they create
            files with unexpected names, or even if they create multiple
            files, you can indicate that so that Module::Build can properly
            handle these created files:

              PL_files => {
                           'lib/Foo/Bar.pm.PL' => 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm',
                           'lib/something.PL'  => ['/lib/something', '/lib/else'],
                           'lib/funny.PL'      => [],
                          }

            Here's an example of a simple PL file.

                my $output_file = shift;
                open my $fh, ">", $output_file or die "Can't open $output_file: $!";

                print $fh <<'END';
                #!/usr/bin/perl

                print "Hello, world!\n";
                END

            PL files are not installed by default, so its safe to put them
            in lib/ and bin/.

        pm_files
            [version 0.19]

            An optional parameter specifying the set of ".pm" files in this
            distribution, specified as a hash reference whose keys are the
            files' locations in the distributions, and whose values are
            their logical locations based on their package name, i.e. where
            they would be found in a "normal" Module::Build-style
            distribution. This parameter is mainly intended to support
            alternative layouts of files.

            For instance, if you have an old-style "MakeMaker" distribution
            for a module called "Foo::Bar" and a Bar.pm file at the top
            level of the distribution, you could specify your layout in your
            "Build.PL" like this:

              my $build = Module::Build->new
                (
                 module_name => 'Foo::Bar',
                 ...
                 pm_files => { 'Bar.pm' => 'lib/Foo/Bar.pm' },
                );

            Note that the values should include "lib/", because this is
            where they would be found in a "normal" Module::Build-style
            distribution.

            Note also that the path specifications are *always* given in
            Unix-like format, not in the style of the local system.

        pod_files
            [version 0.19]

            Just like "pm_files", but used for specifying the set of ".pod"
            files in your distribution.

        recommends
            [version 0.08]

            This is just like the "requires" argument, except that modules
            listed in this section aren't essential, just a good idea. We'll
            just print a friendly warning if one of these modules aren't
            found, but we'll continue running.

            If a module is recommended but not required, all tests should
            still pass if the module isn't installed. This may mean that
            some tests may be skipped if recommended dependencies aren't
            present.

            Automated tools like CPAN.pm should inform the user when
            recommended modules aren't installed, and it should offer to
            install them if it wants to be helpful.

            See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
            Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements can
            be specified.

        recursive_test_files
            [version 0.28]

            Normally, "Module::Build" does not search subdirectories when
            looking for tests to run. When this options is set it will
            search recursively in all subdirectories of the standard 't'
            test directory.

        release_status
            [version 0.37]

            The CPAN Meta Spec version 2 adds "release_status" to allow
            authors to specify how a distribution should be indexed.
            Consistent with the spec, this parameter can only have one three
            values: 'stable', 'testing' or 'unstable'.

            Unless explicitly set by the author, "release_status" will
            default to 'stable' unless "dist_version" contains an
            underscore, in which case it will default to 'testing'.

            It is an error to specify a "release_status" of 'stable' when
            "dist_version" contains an underscore character.

        requires
            [version 0.07]

            An optional "requires" argument specifies any module
            prerequisites that the current module depends on.

            One note: currently "Module::Build" doesn't actually *require*
            the user to have dependencies installed, it just strongly urges.
            In the future we may require it. There's also a "recommends"
            section for things that aren't absolutely required.

            Automated tools like CPAN.pm should refuse to install a module
            if one of its dependencies isn't satisfied, unless a "force"
            command is given by the user. If the tools are helpful, they
            should also offer to install the dependencies.

            A synonym for "requires" is "prereq", to help succour people
            transitioning from "ExtUtils::MakeMaker". The "requires" term is
            preferred, but the "prereq" term will remain valid in future
            distributions.

            See the documentation for "PREREQUISITES" in
            Module::Build::Authoring for the details of how requirements can
            be specified.

        script_files
            [version 0.18]

            An optional parameter specifying a set of files that should be
            installed as executable Perl scripts when the module is
            installed. May be given as an array reference of the files, as a
            hash reference whose keys are the files (and whose values will
            currently be ignored), as a string giving the name of a
            directory in which to find scripts, or as a string giving the
            name of a single script file.

            The default is to install any scripts found in a bin directory
            at the top level of the distribution, minus any keys of
            PL_files.

            For backward compatibility, you may use the parameter "scripts"
            instead of "script_files". Please consider this usage
            deprecated, though it will continue to exist for several version
            releases.

        share_dir
            [version 0.36]

            An optional parameter specifying directories of static data
            files to be installed as read-only files for use with
            File::ShareDir. The "share_dir" property supports both
            distribution-level and module-level share files.

            The simplest use of "share_dir" is to set it to a directory name
            or an arrayref of directory names containing files to be
            installed in the distribution-level share directory.

              share_dir => 'share'

            Alternatively, if "share_dir" is a hashref, it may have "dist"
            or "module" keys providing full flexibility in defining how
            share directories should be installed.

              share_dir => {
                dist => [ 'examples', 'more_examples' ],
                module => {
                  Foo::Templates => ['share/html', 'share/text'],
                  Foo::Config    => 'share/config',
                }
              }

            If "share_dir" is set, then File::ShareDir will automatically be
            added to the "requires" hash.

        sign
            [version 0.16]

            If a true value is specified for this parameter,
            Module::Signature will be used (via the 'distsign' action) to
            create a SIGNATURE file for your distribution during the
            'distdir' action, and to add the SIGNATURE file to the MANIFEST
            (therefore, don't add it yourself).

            The default value is false. In the future, the default may
            change to true if you have "Module::Signature" installed on your
            system.

        tap_harness_args
            [version 0.2808_03]

            An optional parameter specifying parameters to be passed to
            TAP::Harness when running tests. Must be given as a hash
            reference of parameters; see the TAP::Harness documentation for
            details. Note that specifying this parameter will implicitly set
            "use_tap_harness" to a true value. You must therefore be sure to
            add TAP::Harness as a requirement for your module in
            "build_requires".

        test_files
            [version 0.23]

            An optional parameter specifying a set of files that should be
            used as "Test::Harness"-style regression tests to be run during
            the "test" action. May be given as an array reference of the
            files, or as a hash reference whose keys are the files (and
            whose values will currently be ignored). If the argument is
            given as a single string (not in an array reference), that
            string will be treated as a "glob()" pattern specifying the
            files to use.

            The default is to look for a test.pl script in the top-level
            directory of the distribution, and any files matching the glob
            pattern "*.t" in the t/ subdirectory. If the
            "recursive_test_files" property is true, then the "t/" directory
            will be scanned recursively for "*.t" files.

        use_tap_harness
            [version 0.2808_03]

            An optional parameter indicating whether or not to use
            TAP::Harness for testing rather than Test::Harness. Defaults to
            false. If set to true, you must therefore be sure to add
            TAP::Harness as a requirement for your module in
            "build_requires". Implicitly set to a true value if
            "tap_harness_args" is specified.

        xs_files
            [version 0.19]

            Just like "pm_files", but used for specifying the set of ".xs"
            files in your distribution.

    new_from_context(%args)
        [version 0.28]

        When called from a directory containing a Build.PL script (in other
        words, the base directory of a distribution), this method will run
        the Build.PL and call "resume()" to return the resulting
        "Module::Build" object to the caller. Any key-value arguments given
        to "new_from_context()" are essentially like command line arguments
        given to the Build.PL script, so for example you could pass "verbose
        => 1" to this method to turn on verbosity.

    resume()
        [version 0.03]

        You'll probably never call this method directly, it's only called
        from the auto-generated "Build" script (and the "new_from_context"
        method). The "new()" method is only called once, when the user runs
        "perl Build.PL". Thereafter, when the user runs "Build test" or
        another action, the "Module::Build" object is created using the
        "resume()" method to re-instantiate with the settings given earlier
        to "new()".

    subclass()
        [version 0.06]

        This creates a new "Module::Build" subclass on the fly, as described
        in the "SUBCLASSING" in Module::Build::Authoring section. The caller
        must provide either a "class" or "code" parameter, or both. The
        "class" parameter indicates the name to use for the new subclass,
        and defaults to "MyModuleBuilder". The "code" parameter specifies
        Perl code to use as the body of the subclass.

    add_property
        [version 0.31]

          package 'My::Build';
          use base 'Module::Build';
          __PACKAGE__->add_property( 'pedantic' );
          __PACKAGE__->add_property( answer => 42 );
          __PACKAGE__->add_property(
             'epoch',
              default => sub { time },
              check   => sub {
                  return 1 if /^\d+$/;
                  shift->property_error( "'$_' is not an epoch time" );
                  return 0;
              },
          );

        Adds a property to a Module::Build class. Properties are those
        attributes of a Module::Build object which can be passed to the
        constructor and which have accessors to get and set them. All of the
        core properties, such as "module_name" and "license", are defined
        using this class method.

        The first argument to "add_property()" is always the name of the
        property. The second argument can be either a default value for the
        property, or a list of key/value pairs. The supported keys are:

        "default"
            The default value. May optionally be specified as a code
            reference, in which case the return value from the execution of
            the code reference will be used. If you need the default to be a
            code reference, just use a code reference to return it, e.g.:

                  default => sub { sub { ... } },

        "check"
            A code reference that checks that a value specified for the
            property is valid. During the execution of the code reference,
            the new value will be included in the $_ variable. If the value
            is correct, the "check" code reference should return true. If
            the value is not correct, it sends an error message to
            "property_error()" and returns false.

        When this method is called, a new property will be installed in the
        Module::Build class, and an accessor will be built to allow the
        property to be get or set on the build object.

          print $build->pedantic, $/;
          $build->pedantic(0);

        If the default value is a hash reference, this generates a
        special-case accessor method, wherein individual key/value pairs may
        be set or fetched:

          print "stuff{foo} is: ", $build->stuff( 'foo' ), $/;
          $build->stuff( foo => 'bar' );
          print $build->stuff( 'foo' ), $/; # Outputs "bar"

        Of course, you can still set the entire hash reference at once, as
        well:

          $build->stuff( { foo => 'bar', baz => 'yo' } );

        In either case, if a "check" has been specified for the property, it
        will be applied to the entire hash. So the check code reference
        should look something like:

              check => sub {
                    return 1 if defined $_ && exists $_->{foo};
                    shift->property_error(qq{Property "stuff" needs "foo"});
                    return 0;
              },

    property_error
        [version 0.31]

  METHODS
    add_build_element($type)
        [version 0.26]

        Adds a new type of entry to the build process. Accepts a single
        string specifying its type-name. There must also be a method defined
        to process things of that type, e.g. if you add a build element
        called 'foo', then you must also define a method called
        "process_foo_files()".

        See also "Adding new file types to the build process" in
        Module::Build::Cookbook.

    add_to_cleanup(@files)
        [version 0.03]

        You may call "$self->add_to_cleanup(@patterns)" to tell
        "Module::Build" that certain files should be removed when the user
        performs the "Build clean" action. The arguments to the method are
        patterns suitable for passing to Perl's "glob()" function, specified
        in either Unix format or the current machine's native format. It's
        usually convenient to use Unix format when you hard-code the
        filenames (e.g. in Build.PL) and the native format when the names
        are programmatically generated (e.g. in a testing script).

        I decided to provide a dynamic method of the $build object, rather
        than just use a static list of files named in the Build.PL, because
        these static lists can get difficult to manage. I usually prefer to
        keep the responsibility for registering temporary files close to the
        code that creates them.

    args()
        [version 0.26]

          my $args_href = $build->args;
          my %args = $build->args;
          my $arg_value = $build->args($key);
          $build->args($key, $value);

        This method is the preferred interface for retrieving the arguments
        passed via command line options to Build.PL or Build, minus the
        Module-Build specific options.

        When called in a scalar context with no arguments, this method
        returns a reference to the hash storing all of the arguments; in an
        array context, it returns the hash itself. When passed a single
        argument, it returns the value stored in the args hash for that
        option key. When called with two arguments, the second argument is
        assigned to the args hash under the key passed as the first
        argument.

    autosplit_file($from, $to)
        [version 0.28]

        Invokes the AutoSplit module on the $from file, sending the output
        to the "lib/auto" directory inside $to. $to is typically the "blib/"
        directory.

    base_dir()
        [version 0.14]

        Returns a string containing the root-level directory of this build,
        i.e. where the "Build.PL" script and the "lib" directory can be
        found. This is usually the same as the current working directory,
        because the "Build" script will "chdir()" into this directory as
        soon as it begins execution.

    build_requires()
        [version 0.21]

        Returns a hash reference indicating the "build_requires"
        prerequisites that were passed to the "new()" method.

    can_action( $action )
        Returns a reference to the method that defines $action, or false
        otherwise. This is handy for actions defined (or maybe not!) in
        subclasses.

        [version 0.32_xx]

    cbuilder()
        [version 0.2809]

        Returns the internal ExtUtils::CBuilder object that can be used for
        compiling & linking C code. If no such object is available (e.g. if
        the system has no compiler installed) an exception will be thrown.

    check_installed_status($module, $version)
        [version 0.11]

        This method returns a hash reference indicating whether a version
        dependency on a certain module is satisfied. The $module argument is
        given as a string like "Data::Dumper" or "perl", and the $version
        argument can take any of the forms described in "requires" above.
        This allows very fine-grained version checking.

        The returned hash reference has the following structure:

          {
           ok => $whether_the_dependency_is_satisfied,
           have => $version_already_installed,
           need => $version_requested, # Same as incoming $version argument
           message => $informative_error_message,
          }

        If no version of $module is currently installed, the "have" value
        will be the string "<none>". Otherwise the "have" value will simply
        be the version of the installed module. Note that this means that if
        $module is installed but doesn't define a version number, the "have"
        value will be "undef" - this is why we don't use "undef" for the
        case when $module isn't installed at all.

        This method may be called either as an object method
        ("$build->check_installed_status($module, $version)") or as a class
        method ("Module::Build->check_installed_status($module, $version)").

    check_installed_version($module, $version)
        [version 0.05]

        Like check_installed_status(), but simply returns true or false
        depending on whether module $module satisfies the dependency
        $version.

        If the check succeeds, the return value is the actual version of
        $module installed on the system. This allows you to do the
        following:

          my $installed = $build->check_installed_version('DBI', '1.15');
          if ($installed) {
            print "Congratulations, version $installed of DBI is installed.\n";
          } else {
            die "Sorry, you must install DBI.\n";
          }

        If the check fails, we return false and set $@ to an informative
        error message.

        If $version is any non-true value (notably zero) and any version of
        $module is installed, we return true. In this case, if $module
        doesn't define a version, or if its version is zero, we return the
        special value "0 but true", which is numerically zero, but logically
        true.

        In general you might prefer to use "check_installed_status" if you
        need detailed information, or this method if you just need a yes/no
        answer.

    compare_versions($v1, $op, $v2)
        [version 0.28]

        Compares two module versions $v1 and $v2 using the operator $op,
        which should be one of Perl's numeric operators like "!=" or ">=" or
        the like. We do at least a halfway-decent job of handling versions
        that aren't strictly numeric, like "0.27_02", but exotic stuff will
        likely cause problems.

        In the future, the guts of this method might be replaced with a call
        out to "version.pm".

    config($key)
    config($key, $value)
    config() [deprecated]
        [version 0.22]

        With a single argument $key, returns the value associated with that
        key in the "Config.pm" hash, including any changes the author or
        user has specified.

        With $key and $value arguments, sets the value for future callers of
        "config($key)".

        With no arguments, returns a hash reference containing all such
        key-value pairs. This usage is deprecated, though, because it's a
        resource hog and violates encapsulation.

    config_data($name)
    config_data($name => $value)
        [version 0.26]

        With a single argument, returns the value of the configuration
        variable $name. With two arguments, sets the given configuration
        variable to the given value. The value may be any Perl scalar that's
        serializable with "Data::Dumper". For instance, if you write a
        module that can use a MySQL or PostgreSQL back-end, you might create
        configuration variables called "mysql_connect" and
        "postgres_connect", and set each to an array of connection
        parameters for "DBI->connect()".

        Configuration values set in this way using the Module::Build object
        will be available for querying during the build/test process and
        after installation via the generated "...::ConfigData" module, as
        "...::ConfigData->config($name)".

        The feature() and "config_data()" methods represent Module::Build's
        main support for configuration of installed modules. See also
        "SAVING CONFIGURATION INFORMATION" in Module::Build::Authoring.

    conflicts()
        [version 0.21]

        Returns a hash reference indicating the "conflicts" prerequisites
        that were passed to the "new()" method.

    contains_pod($file) [deprecated]
        [version 0.20]

        [Deprecated] Please see Module::Metadata instead.

        Returns true if the given file appears to contain POD documentation.
        Currently this checks whether the file has a line beginning with
        '=pod', '=head', or '=item', but the exact semantics may change in
        the future.

    copy_if_modified(%parameters)
        [version 0.19]

        Takes the file in the "from" parameter and copies it to the file in
        the "to" parameter, or the directory in the "to_dir" parameter, if
        the file has changed since it was last copied (or if it doesn't
        exist in the new location). By default the entire directory
        structure of "from" will be copied into "to_dir"; an optional
        "flatten" parameter will copy into "to_dir" without doing so.

        Returns the path to the destination file, or "undef" if nothing
        needed to be copied.

        Any directories that need to be created in order to perform the
        copying will be automatically created.

        The destination file is set to read-only. If the source file has the
        executable bit set, then the destination file will be made
        executable.

    create_build_script()
        [version 0.05]

        Creates an executable script called "Build" in the current directory
        that will be used to execute further user actions. This script is
        roughly analogous (in function, not in form) to the Makefile created
        by "ExtUtils::MakeMaker". This method also creates some temporary
        data in a directory called "_build/". Both of these will be removed
        when the "realclean" action is performed.

        Among the files created in "_build/" is a _build/prereqs file
        containing the set of prerequisites for this distribution, as a hash
        of hashes. This file may be "eval()"-ed to obtain the authoritative
        set of prerequisites, which might be different from the contents of
        META.yml (because Build.PL might have set them dynamically). But
        fancy developers take heed: do not put any fancy custom runtime code
        in the _build/prereqs file, leave it as a static declaration
        containing only strings and numbers. Similarly, do not alter the
        structure of the internal "$self->{properties}{requires}" (etc.)
        data members, because that's where this data comes from.

    current_action()
        [version 0.28]

        Returns the name of the currently-running action, such as "build" or
        "test". This action is not necessarily the action that was
        originally invoked by the user. For example, if the user invoked the
        "test" action, current_action() would initially return "test".
        However, action "test" depends on action "code", so current_action()
        will return "code" while that dependency is being executed. Once
        that action has completed, current_action() will again return
        "test".

        If you need to know the name of the original action invoked by the
        user, see "invoked_action()" below.

    depends_on(@actions)
        [version 0.28]

        Invokes the named action or list of actions in sequence. Using this
        method is preferred to calling the action explicitly because it
        performs some internal record-keeping, and it ensures that the same
        action is not invoked multiple times (note: in future versions of
        Module::Build it's conceivable that this run-only-once mechanism
        will be changed to something more intelligent).

        Note that the name of this method is something of a misnomer; it
        should really be called something like
        "invoke_actions_unless_already_invoked()" or something, but for
        better or worse (perhaps better!) we were still thinking in
        "make"-like dependency terms when we created this method.

        See also dispatch(). The main distinction between the two is that
        "depends_on()" is meant to call an action from inside another
        action, whereas "dispatch()" is meant to set the very top action in
        motion.

    dir_contains($first_dir, $second_dir)
        [version 0.28]

        Returns true if the first directory logically contains the second
        directory. This is just a convenience function because "File::Spec"
        doesn't really provide an easy way to figure this out (but
        "Path::Class" does...).

    dispatch($action, %args)
        [version 0.03]

        Invokes the build action $action. Optionally, a list of options and
        their values can be passed in. This is equivalent to invoking an
        action at the command line, passing in a list of options.

        Custom options that have not been registered must be passed in as a
        hash reference in a key named "args":

          $build->dispatch('foo', verbose => 1, args => { my_option => 'value' });

        This method is intended to be used to programmatically invoke build
        actions, e.g. by applications controlling Module::Build-based builds
        rather than by subclasses.

        See also depends_on(). The main distinction between the two is that
        "depends_on()" is meant to call an action from inside another
        action, whereas "dispatch()" is meant to set the very top action in
        motion.

    dist_dir()
        [version 0.28]

        Returns the name of the directory that will be created during the
        "dist" action. The name is derived from the "dist_name" and
        "dist_version" properties.

    dist_name()
        [version 0.21]

        Returns the name of the current distribution, as passed to the
        "new()" method in a "dist_name" or modified "module_name" parameter.

    dist_version()
        [version 0.21]

        Returns the version of the current distribution, as determined by
        the "new()" method from a "dist_version", "dist_version_from", or
        "module_name" parameter.

    do_system($cmd, @args)
        [version 0.21]

        This is a fairly simple wrapper around Perl's "system()" built-in
        command. Given a command and an array of optional arguments, this
        method will print the command to "STDOUT", and then execute it using
        Perl's "system()". It returns true or false to indicate success or
        failure (the opposite of how "system()" works, but more intuitive).

        Note that if you supply a single argument to "do_system()", it
        will/may be processed by the system's shell, and any special
        characters will do their special things. If you supply multiple
        arguments, no shell will get involved and the command will be
        executed directly.

    extra_compiler_flags()
    extra_compiler_flags(@flags)
        [version 0.25]

        Set or retrieve the extra compiler flags. Returns an arrayref of
        flags.

    extra_linker_flags()
    extra_linker_flags(@flags)
        [version 0.25]

        Set or retrieve the extra linker flags. Returns an arrayref of
        flags.

    feature($name)
    feature($name => $value)
        [version 0.26]

        With a single argument, returns true if the given feature is set.
        With two arguments, sets the given feature to the given boolean
        value. In this context, a "feature" is any optional functionality of
        an installed module. For instance, if you write a module that could
        optionally support a MySQL or PostgreSQL backend, you might create
        features called "mysql_support" and "postgres_support", and set them
        to true/false depending on whether the user has the proper databases
        installed and configured.

        Features set in this way using the Module::Build object will be
        available for querying during the build/test process and after
        installation via the generated "...::ConfigData" module, as
        "...::ConfigData->feature($name)".

        The "feature()" and "config_data()" methods represent
        Module::Build's main support for configuration of installed modules.
        See also "SAVING CONFIGURATION INFORMATION" in
        Module::Build::Authoring.

    fix_shebang_line(@files)
        [version 0.??]

        Modify any "shebang" line in the specified files to use the path to
        the perl executable being used for the current build. Files are
        modified in-place. The existing shebang line must have a command
        that contains ""perl""; arguments to the command do not count. In
        particular, this means that the use of "#!/usr/bin/env perl" will
        not be changed.

        For an explanation of shebang lines, see
        <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebang_%28Unix%29>.

    have_c_compiler()
        [version 0.21]

        Returns true if the current system seems to have a working C
        compiler. We currently determine this by attempting to compile a
        simple C source file and reporting whether the attempt was
        successful.

    install_base_relpaths()
    install_base_relpaths($type)
    install_base_relpaths($type => $path)
        [version 0.28]

        Set or retrieve the relative paths that are appended to
        "install_base" for any installable element. This is useful if you
        want to set the relative install path for custom build elements.

        With no argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing all
        elements and their respective values. This hash should not be
        modified directly; use the multiple argument below form to change
        values.

        The single argument form returns the value associated with the
        element $type.

        The multiple argument form allows you to set the paths for element
        types. $value must be a relative path using Unix-like paths. (A
        series of directories separated by slashes, e.g. "foo/bar".) The
        return value is a localized path based on $value.

        Assigning the value "undef" to an element causes it to be removed.

    install_destination($type)
        [version 0.28]

        Returns the directory in which items of type $type (e.g. "lib",
        "arch", "bin", or anything else returned by the "install_types()"
        method) will be installed during the "install" action. Any settings
        for "install_path", "install_base", and "prefix" are taken into
        account when determining the return value.

    install_path()
    install_path($type)
    install_path($type => $path)
        [version 0.28]

        Set or retrieve paths for specific installable elements. This is
        useful when you want to examine any explicit install paths specified
        by the user on the command line, or if you want to set the install
        path for a specific installable element based on another attribute
        like "install_base()".

        With no argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing all
        elements and their respective values. This hash should not be
        modified directly; use the multiple argument below form to change
        values.

        The single argument form returns the value associated with the
        element $type.

        The multiple argument form allows you to set the paths for element
        types. The supplied $path should be an absolute path to install
        elements of $type. The return value is $path.

        Assigning the value "undef" to an element causes it to be removed.

    install_types()
        [version 0.28]

        Returns a list of installable types that this build knows about.
        These types each correspond to the name of a directory in blib/, and
        the list usually includes items such as "lib", "arch", "bin",
        "script", "libdoc", "bindoc", and if HTML documentation is to be
        built, "libhtml" and "binhtml". Other user-defined types may also
        exist.

    invoked_action()
        [version 0.28]

        This is the name of the original action invoked by the user. This
        value is set when the user invokes Build.PL, the Build script, or
        programmatically through the dispatch() method. It does not change
        as sub-actions are executed as dependencies are evaluated.

        To get the name of the currently executing dependency, see
        "current_action()" above.

    notes()
    notes($key)
    notes($key => $value)
        [version 0.20]

        The "notes()" value allows you to store your own persistent
        information about the build, and to share that information among
        different entities involved in the build. See the example in the
        "current()" method.

        The "notes()" method is essentially a glorified hash access. With no
        arguments, "notes()" returns the entire hash of notes. With one
        argument, "notes($key)" returns the value associated with the given
        key. With two arguments, "notes($key, $value)" sets the value
        associated with the given key to $value and returns the new value.

        The lifetime of the "notes" data is for "a build" - that is, the
        "notes" hash is created when "perl Build.PL" is run (or when the
        "new()" method is run, if the Module::Build Perl API is being used
        instead of called from a shell), and lasts until "perl Build.PL" is
        run again or the "clean" action is run.

    orig_dir()
        [version 0.28]

        Returns a string containing the working directory that was in effect
        before the Build script chdir()-ed into the "base_dir". This might
        be useful for writing wrapper tools that might need to chdir() back
        out.

    os_type()
        [version 0.04]

        If you're subclassing Module::Build and some code needs to alter its
        behavior based on the current platform, you may only need to know
        whether you're running on Windows, Unix, MacOS, VMS, etc., and not
        the fine-grained value of Perl's $^O variable. The "os_type()"
        method will return a string like "Windows", "Unix", "MacOS", "VMS",
        or whatever is appropriate. If you're running on an unknown
        platform, it will return "undef" - there shouldn't be many unknown
        platforms though.

    is_vmsish()
    is_windowsish()
    is_unixish()
        Convenience functions that return a boolean value indicating whether
        this platform behaves respectively like VMS, Windows, or Unix. For
        arbitrary reasons other platforms don't get their own such
        functions, at least not yet.

    prefix_relpaths()
    prefix_relpaths($installdirs)
    prefix_relpaths($installdirs, $type)
    prefix_relpaths($installdirs, $type => $path)
        [version 0.28]

        Set or retrieve the relative paths that are appended to "prefix" for
        any installable element. This is useful if you want to set the
        relative install path for custom build elements.

        With no argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing all
        elements and their respective values as defined by the current
        "installdirs" setting.

        With a single argument, it returns a reference to a hash containing
        all elements and their respective values as defined by $installdirs.

        The hash returned by the above calls should not be modified
        directly; use the three-argument below form to change values.

        The two argument form returns the value associated with the element
        $type.

        The multiple argument form allows you to set the paths for element
        types. $value must be a relative path using Unix-like paths. (A
        series of directories separated by slashes, e.g. "foo/bar".) The
        return value is a localized path based on $value.

        Assigning the value "undef" to an element causes it to be removed.

    get_metadata()
        [version 0.36]

        This method returns a hash reference of metadata that can be used to
        create a YAML datastream. It is provided for authors to override or
        customize the fields of META.yml. E.g.

          package My::Builder;
          use base 'Module::Build';

          sub get_metadata {
            my $self, @args = @_;
            my $data = $self->SUPER::get_metadata(@args);
            $data->{custom_field} = 'foo';
            return $data;
          }

        Valid arguments include:

        *   "fatal" -- indicates whether missing required metadata fields
            should be a fatal error or not. For META creation, it generally
            should, but for MYMETA creation for end-users, it should not be
            fatal.

        *   "auto" -- indicates whether any necessary configure_requires
            should be automatically added. This is used in META creation.

        This method is a wrapper around the old prepare_metadata API now
        that we no longer use YAML::Node to hold metadata.

    prepare_metadata() [deprecated]
        [version 0.36]

        [Deprecated] As of 0.36, authors should use "get_metadata" instead.
        This method is preserved for backwards compatibility only.

        It takes three positional arguments: a hashref (to which metadata
        will be added), an optional arrayref (to which metadata keys will be
        added in order if the arrayref exists), and a hashref of arguments
        (as provided to get_metadata). The latter argument is new as of
        0.36. Earlier versions are always fatal on errors.

        Prior to version 0.36, this method took a YAML::Node as an argument
        to hold assembled metadata.

    prereq_failures()
        [version 0.11]

        Returns a data structure containing information about any failed
        prerequisites (of any of the types described above), or "undef" if
        all prerequisites are met.

        The data structure returned is a hash reference. The top level keys
        are the type of prerequisite failed, one of "requires",
        "build_requires", "conflicts", or "recommends". The associated
        values are hash references whose keys are the names of required (or
        conflicting) modules. The associated values of those are hash
        references indicating some information about the failure. For
        example:

          {
           have => '0.42',
           need => '0.59',
           message => 'Version 0.42 is installed, but we need version 0.59',
          }

        or

          {
           have => '<none>',
           need => '0.59',
           message => 'Prerequisite Foo isn't installed',
          }

        This hash has the same structure as the hash returned by the
        "check_installed_status()" method, except that in the case of
        "conflicts" dependencies we change the "need" key to "conflicts" and
        construct a proper message.

        Examples:

          # Check a required dependency on Foo::Bar
          if ( $build->prereq_failures->{requires}{Foo::Bar} ) { ...

          # Check whether there were any failures
          if ( $build->prereq_failures ) { ...

          # Show messages for all failures
          my $failures = $build->prereq_failures;
          while (my ($type, $list) = each %$failures) {
            while (my ($name, $hash) = each %$list) {
              print "Failure for $name: $hash->{message}\n";
            }
          }

    prereq_data()
        [version 0.32]

        Returns a reference to a hash describing all prerequisites. The keys
        of the hash will be the various prerequisite types ('requires',
        'build_requires', 'test_requires', 'configure_requires',
        'recommends', or 'conflicts') and the values will be references to
        hashes of module names and version numbers. Only prerequisites types
        that are defined will be included. The "prereq_data" action is just
        a thin wrapper around the "prereq_data()" method and dumps the hash
        as a string that can be loaded using "eval()".

    prereq_report()
        [version 0.28]

        Returns a human-readable (table-form) string showing all
        prerequisites, the versions required, and the versions actually
        installed. This can be useful for reviewing the configuration of
        your system prior to a build, or when compiling data to send for a
        bug report. The "prereq_report" action is just a thin wrapper around
        the "prereq_report()" method.

    prompt($message, $default)
        [version 0.12]

        Asks the user a question and returns their response as a string. The
        first argument specifies the message to display to the user (for
        example, "Where do you keep your money?"). The second argument,
        which is optional, specifies a default answer (for example,
        "wallet"). The user will be asked the question once.

        If "prompt()" detects that it is not running interactively and there
        is nothing on STDIN or if the PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT environment
        variable is set to true, the $default will be used without
        prompting.

        To prevent automated processes from blocking, the user must either
        set PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT or attach something to STDIN (this can be a
        pipe/file containing a scripted set of answers or /dev/null.)

        If no $default is provided an empty string will be used instead. In
        non-interactive mode, the absence of $default is an error (though
        explicitly passing "undef()" as the default is valid as of 0.27.)

        This method may be called as a class or object method.

    recommends()
        [version 0.21]

        Returns a hash reference indicating the "recommends" prerequisites
        that were passed to the "new()" method.

    requires()
        [version 0.21]

        Returns a hash reference indicating the "requires" prerequisites
        that were passed to the "new()" method.

    rscan_dir($dir, $pattern)
        [version 0.28]

        Uses "File::Find" to traverse the directory $dir, returning a
        reference to an array of entries matching $pattern. $pattern may
        either be a regular expression (using "qr//" or just a plain
        string), or a reference to a subroutine that will return true for
        wanted entries. If $pattern is not given, all entries will be
        returned.

        Examples:

         # All the *.pm files in lib/
         $m->rscan_dir('lib', qr/\.pm$/)

         # All the files in blib/ that aren't *.html files
         $m->rscan_dir('blib', sub {-f $_ and not /\.html$/});

         # All the files in t/
         $m->rscan_dir('t');

    runtime_params()
    runtime_params($key)
        [version 0.28]

        The "runtime_params()" method stores the values passed on the
        command line for valid properties (that is, any command line options
        for which "valid_property()" returns a true value). The value on the
        command line may override the default value for a property, as well
        as any value specified in a call to "new()". This allows you to
        programmatically tell if "perl Build.PL" or any execution of
        "./Build" had command line options specified that override valid
        properties.

        The "runtime_params()" method is essentially a glorified read-only
        hash. With no arguments, "runtime_params()" returns the entire hash
        of properties specified on the command line. With one argument,
        "runtime_params($key)" returns the value associated with the given
        key.

        The lifetime of the "runtime_params" data is for "a build" - that
        is, the "runtime_params" hash is created when "perl Build.PL" is run
        (or when the "new()" method is called, if the Module::Build Perl API
        is being used instead of called from a shell), and lasts until "perl
        Build.PL" is run again or the "clean" action is run.

    script_files()
        [version 0.18]

        Returns a hash reference whose keys are the perl script files to be
        installed, if any. This corresponds to the "script_files" parameter
        to the "new()" method. With an optional argument, this parameter may
        be set dynamically.

        For backward compatibility, the "scripts()" method does exactly the
        same thing as "script_files()". "scripts()" is deprecated, but it
        will stay around for several versions to give people time to
        transition.

    up_to_date($source_file, $derived_file)
    up_to_date(\@source_files, \@derived_files)
        [version 0.20]

        This method can be used to compare a set of source files to a set of
        derived files. If any of the source files are newer than any of the
        derived files, it returns false. Additionally, if any of the derived
        files do not exist, it returns false. Otherwise it returns true.

        The arguments may be either a scalar or an array reference of file
        names.

    y_n($message, $default)
        [version 0.12]

        Asks the user a yes/no question using "prompt()" and returns true or
        false accordingly. The user will be asked the question repeatedly
        until they give an answer that looks like "yes" or "no".

        The first argument specifies the message to display to the user (for
        example, "Shall I invest your money for you?"), and the second
        argument specifies the default answer (for example, "y").

        Note that the default is specified as a string like "y" or "n", and
        the return value is a Perl boolean value like 1 or 0. I thought
        about this for a while and this seemed like the most useful way to
        do it.

        This method may be called as a class or object method.

  Autogenerated Accessors
    In addition to the aforementioned methods, there are also some get/set
    accessor methods for the following properties:

    PL_files()
    allow_mb_mismatch()
    allow_pureperl()
    auto_configure_requires()
    autosplit()
    base_dir()
    bindoc_dirs()
    blib()
    build_bat()
    build_class()
    build_elements()
    build_requires()
    build_script()
    bundle_inc()
    bundle_inc_preload()
    c_source()
    config_dir()
    configure_requires()
    conflicts()
    cover()
    cpan_client()
    create_license()
    create_makefile_pl()
    create_packlist()
    create_readme()
    debug()
    debugger()
    destdir()
    dynamic_config()
    extra_manify_args()
    get_options()
    html_css()
    include_dirs()
    install_base()
    installdirs()
    libdoc_dirs()
    license()
    magic_number()
    mb_version()
    meta_add()
    meta_merge()
    metafile()
    metafile2()
    module_name()
    mymetafile()
    mymetafile2()
    needs_compiler()
    orig_dir()
    perl()
    pm_files()
    pod_files()
    pollute()
    prefix()
    prereq_action_types()
    program_name()
    pureperl_only()
    quiet()
    recommends()
    recurse_into()
    recursive_test_files()
    requires()
    scripts()
    sign()
    tap_harness_args()
    test_file_exts()
    test_requires()
    use_rcfile()
    use_tap_harness()
    verbose()
    xs_files()

MODULE METADATA
    If you would like to add other useful metadata, "Module::Build" supports
    this with the "meta_add" and "meta_merge" arguments to "new()". The
    authoritative list of supported metadata can be found at
    CPAN::Meta::Spec but for convenience - here are a few of the more useful
    ones:

    keywords
        For describing the distribution using keyword (or "tags") in order
        to make CPAN.org indexing and search more efficient and useful.

    resources
        A list of additional resources available for users of the
        distribution. This can include links to a homepage on the web, a bug
        tracker, the repository location, and even a subscription page for
        the distribution mailing list.

AUTHOR
    Ken Williams <kwilliams AT cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Ken Williams. All rights reserved.

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

SEE ALSO
    perl(1), Module::Build(3), Module::Build::Authoring(3),
    Module::Build::Cookbook(3), ExtUtils::MakeMaker(3)

    META.yml Specification: CPAN::Meta::Spec


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