On May 21, 2007, at 4:29 PM, David Golden wrote:
On 5/21/07, John Peacock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Austin Schutz wrote:
> What is the point of the compatibility file if it requires
> Module::Build to work correctly?
But the compatibility file *itself* doesn't require Module::Build
- it
merely checks to see whether it M::B is installed and installs it
if it
isn't, then proceeds to test/install the containing module using the
just-installed M::B.
The compatibility file is just a bad hack. I'd just go without a
Makefile.PL if you can't use a traditional Makefile.PL as an alternate
to your Build.PL.
There's a problem with that: if you don't have a Makefile.PL, and
someone's running an old CPAN that expects a Makefile.PL to be there,
it'll try creating a Makefile.PL and fail badly, with no helpful
message for the user. Old CPANs think that "no Makefile.PL" means
"no installer", so it tries to create an installer.
If you create a pass-through compatibility Makefile.PL, it'll at
least have some chance of succeeding for that user. Or if it fails,
they'll at least have some inkling that it has something to do with
Module::Build, and they'll maybe find someone's tree to bark up that
can help them.
That's the use case, anyway.
-Ken
