Dist::Zilla - distribution builder; installer not included!

version 4.200008

Dist::Zilla builds distributions of code to be uploaded to the CPAN. In this respect, it is like ExtUtils::MakeMaker, Module::Build, or Module::Install. Unlike those tools, however, it is not also a system for installing code that has been downloaded from the CPAN. Since it's only run by authors, and is meant to be run on a repository checkout rather than on published, released code, it can do much more than those tools, and is free to make much more ludicrous demands in terms of prerequisites.

If you have access to the web, you can learn more and find an interactive tutorial at dzil.org. If not, try Dist::Zilla::Tutorial.

The name attribute (which is required) gives the name of the distribution to be built. This is usually the name of the distribution's main module, with the double colons (::) replaced with dashes. For example: Dist-Zilla.

This is the version of the distribution to be created.

This is a one-line summary of the distribution. If none is given, one will be looked for in the main_module of the dist.

This is the module where Dist::Zilla might look for various defaults, like the distribution abstract. By default, it's derived from the distribution name. If your distribution is Foo-Bar, and lib/Foo/Bar.pm exists, that's the main_module. Otherwise, it's the shortest-named module in the distribution. This may change!

You can override the default by specifying the file path explicitly, ie:

  main_module = lib/Foo/Bar.pm

This is the Software::License object for this dist's license and copyright.

It will be created automatically, if possible, with the copyright_holder and copyright_year attributes. If necessary, it will try to guess the license from the POD of the dist's main module.

A better option is to set the license name in the dist's config to something understandable, like Perl_5.

This is an arrayref of author strings, like this:

  [
    'Ricardo Signes <rjbs@cpan.org>',
    'X. Ample, Jr <example@example.biz>',
  ]

This is likely to change at some point in the near future.

This is an arrayref of objects implementing Dist::Zilla::Role::File that will, if left in this arrayref, be built into the dist.

Non-core code should avoid altering this arrayref, but sometimes there is not other way to change the list of files. In the future, the representation used for storing files will be changed.

This is the root directory of the dist, as a Path::Class::Dir. It will nearly always be the current working directory in which dzil was run.

This attribute tells us whether or not the dist will be a trial release.

This is an arrayref of plugins that have been plugged into this Dist::Zilla object.

Non-core code must not alter this arrayref. Public access to this attribute may go away in the future.

This is a hashref containing the metadata about this distribution that will be stored in META.yml or META.json. You should not alter the metadata in this hash; use a MetaProvider plugin instead.

This is a Dist::Zilla::Prereqs object, which is a thin layer atop CPAN::Meta::Prereqs, and describes the distribution's prerequisites.

This attribute stores a Log::Dispatchouli::Proxy object, used to log messages. By default, a proxy to the dist's Chrome (Dist::Zilla::Chrome) is taken.

The following methods are delegated from the Dist::Zilla object to the logger:

• log
• log_debug
• log_fatal

  my $plugin = $zilla->plugin_named( $plugin_name );

  my $roles = $zilla->plugins_with( -SomeRole );

This method returns an arrayref containing all the Dist::Zilla object's plugins that perform a the named role. If the given role name begins with a dash, the dash is replaced with "Dist::Zilla::Role::"

  my $files = $zilla->find_files( $finder_name );

This method will look for a FileFinder-performing plugin with the given name and return the result of calling find_files on it. If no plugin can be found, an exception will be raised.

  my $stash = $zilla->stash_named( $name );

This method will return the stash with the given name, or undef if none exists. It looks for a local stash (for this dist) first, then falls back to a global stash (from the user's global configuration).

There are usually people on irc.perl.org in #distzilla, even if they're idling.

The Dist::Zilla website has several valuable resources for learning to use Dist::Zilla.

There is a mailing list to discuss Dist::Zilla. You can join the list or browse the archives.

Ricardo SIGNES <rjbs@cpan.org>

This software is copyright (c) 2011 by Ricardo SIGNES.

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