Manpages - Alien_Build.3pm

my $build = Alien::Build->new;

This creates a new empty instance of Alien::Build. Normally you will want to use load below to create an instance of Alien::Build from an alienfile recipe.

my $build = Alien::Build->load($alienfile);

This creates an Alien::Build instance with the given alienfile recipe.

my $build = Alien::Build->resume($alienfile, $root);

Load a checkpointed Alien::Build instance. You will need the original alienfile and the build root (usually _alien), and a build that had been properly checkpointed using the checkpoint method below.

my $href = $build->meta_prop; my $href = Alien::Build->meta_prop;

Meta properties have to do with the recipe itself, and not any particular instance that probes or builds that recipe. Meta properties can be changed from within an alienfile using the meta_prop directive, or from a plugin from its init method (though should NOT be modified from any hooks registered within that init method). This is not strictly enforced, but if you do not follow this rule your recipe will likely be broken.

arch

This is a hint to an installer like Alien::Build::MM or Alien::Build::MB, that the library or tool contains architecture dependent files and so should be stored in an architecture dependent location. If not specified by your alienfile then it will be set to true.

destdir

Use the DESTDIR environment variable to stage your install before copying the files into blib. This is the preferred method of installing libraries because it improves reliability. This technique is supported by autoconf and others.

destdir_filter

Regular expression for the files that should be copied from the DESTDIR into the stage directory. If not defined, then all files will be copied.

destdir_ffi_filter

Same as destdir_filter except applies to build_ffi instead of build.

env

Environment variables to override during the build stage.

env_interpolate

Environment variable values will be interpolated with helpers. Example: meta->prop->{env_interpolate} = 1; meta->prop->{env}->{PERL} = %{perl};

local_source

Set to true if source code package is available locally. (that is not fetched over the internet). This is computed by default based on the start_url property. Can be set by an alienfile or plugin.

platform

Hash reference. Contains information about the platform beyond just $^O.

compiler_type

Refers to the type of flags that the compiler accepts. May be expanded in the future, but for now, will be one of:

microsoft

On Windows when using Microsoft Visual C++

unix

Virtually everything else, including gcc on windows.

The main difference is that with Visual C++ -LIBPATH should be used instead of -L, and static libraries should have the .LIB suffix instead of .a.

system_type

$^O is frequently good enough to make platform specific logic in your alienfile, this handles the case when $^O can cover platforms that provide multiple environments that Perl might run under. The main example is windows, but others may be added in the future.

unix

vms

windows-activestate

windows-microsoft

windows-mingw

windows-strawberry

windows-unknown

Note that cygwin and msys are considered unix even though they run on windows!

out_of_source

Build in a different directory from the where the source code is stored. In autoconf this is referred to as a VPATH build. Everyone else calls this an out-of-source build. When this property is true, instead of extracting to the source build root, the downloaded source will be extracted to an source extraction directory and the source build root will be empty. You can use the extract install property to get the location of the extracted source.

network

True if a network fetch is available. This should NOT be set by an alienfile or plugin. This is computed based on the ALIEN_INSTALL_NETWORK environment variables.

start_url

The default or start URL used by fetch plugins.

my $href = $build->install_prop;

Install properties are used during the install phase (either under share or system install). They are remembered for the entire install phase, but not kept around during the runtime phase. Thus they cannot be accessed from your Alien::Base based module.

autoconf_prefix

The prefix as understood by autoconf. This is only different on Windows Where MSYS is used and paths like C:/foo are represented as /C/foo which are understood by the MSYS tools, but not by Perl. You should only use this if you are using Alien::Build::Plugin::Autoconf in your alienfile.

download

The location of the downloaded archive (tar.gz, or similar) or directory.

env

Environment variables to override during the build stage.

extract

The location of the last source extraction. For a out-of-source build (see the out_of_source meta property above), this will only be set once. For other types of builds, the source code may be extracted multiple times, and thus this property may change.

old

Hash containing information on a previously installed Alien of the same name, if available. This may be useful in cases where you want to reuse the previous install if it is still sufficient.

prefix

The prefix for the previous install. Versions prior to 1.42 unfortunately had this in typo form of preifx.

runtime

The runtime properties from the previous install.

patch

Directory with patches.

prefix

The install time prefix. Under a destdir install this is the same as the runtime or final install location. Under a non-destdir install this is the stage directory (usually the appropriate share directory under blib).

root

The build root directory. This will be an absolute path. It is the absolute form of ./_alien by default.

stage

The stage directory where files will be copied. This is usually the root of the blib share directory.

system_probe_class

After the probe step this property may contain the plugin class that performed the system probe. It shouldn’t be filled in directly by the plugin (instead if should use the hook property probe_class, see below). This is optional, and not all probe plugins will provide this information.

system_probe_instance_id

After the probe step this property may contain the plugin instance id that performed the system probe. It shouldn’t be filled in directly by the plugin (instead if should use the hook property probe_instance_id, see below). This is optional, and not all probe plugins will provide this information.

my $href = $build->plugin_instance_prop($plugin);

This returns the private plugin instance properties for a given plugin. This method should usually only be called internally by plugins themselves to keep track of internal state. Because the content can be used arbitrarily by the owning plugin because it is private to the plugin, and thus is not part of the Alien::Build spec.

my $href = $build->runtime_prop;

Runtime properties are used during the install and runtime phases (either under share or system install). This should include anything that you will need to know to use the library or tool during runtime, and shouldn’t include anything that is no longer relevant once the install process is complete.

alien_build_version

The version of Alien::Build used to install the library or tool.

alt

Alternate configurations. If the alienized package has multiple libraries this could be used to store the different compiler or linker flags for each library.

cflags

The compiler flags

cflags_static

The static compiler flags

command

The command name for tools where the name my differ from platform to platform. For example, the GNU version of make is usually make in Linux and gmake on FreeBSD.

ffi_name

The name DLL or shared object name to use when searching for dynamic libraries at runtime. This is passed into FFI::CheckLib, so if your library is something like libarchive.so or archive.dll you would set this to archive. This may be a string or an array of strings.

ffi_checklib

This property contains two sub properties:

share

$build->runtime_prop->{ffi_checklib}->{share} = [ … ]; Array of additional FFI::CheckLib flags to pass in to find_lib for a share install.

system

Array of additional FFI::CheckLib flags to pass in to find_lib for a system install. Among other things, useful for specifying the try_linker_script flag: $build->runtime_prop->{ffi_checklib}->{system} = [ try_linker_script => 1 ];

install_type

The install type. Is one of:

system

For when the library or tool is provided by the operating system, can be detected by Alien::Build, and is considered satisfactory by the alienfile recipe.

share

For when a system install is not possible, the library source will be downloaded from the internet or retrieved in another appropriate fashion and built.

libs

The library flags

libs_static

The static library flags

perl_module_version

The version of the Perl module used to install the alien (if available). For example if Alien::curl is installing libcurl this would be the version of Alien::curl used during the install step.

prefix

The final install root. This is usually they share directory.

version

The version of the library or tool

my $href = $build->hook_prop;

Hook properties are for the currently running (if any) hook. They are used only during the execution of each hook and are discarded after. If no hook is currently running then hook_prop will return undef.

name

The name of the currently running hook.

version (probe)

Probe and PkgConfig plugins may set this property indicating the version of the alienized package. Not all plugins and configurations may be able to provide this.

probe_class (probe)

Probe and PkgConfig plugins may set this property indicating the plugin class that made the probe. If the probe results in a system install this will be propagated to system_probe_class for later use.

probe_instance_id (probe)

Probe and PkgConfig plugins may set this property indicating the plugin instance id that made the probe. If the probe results in a system install this will be propagated to system_probe_instance_id for later use.

$build->checkpoint;

Save any install or runtime properties so that they can be reloaded on a subsequent run in a separate process. This is useful if your build needs to be done in multiple stages from a Makefile, such as with ExtUtils::MakeMaker. Once checkpointed you can use the resume constructor (documented above) to resume the probe/build/install] process.

my $dir = $build->root;

This is just a shortcut for:

my $root = $build->install_prop->{root};

Except that it will be created if it does not already exist.

my $type = $build->install_type;

This will return the install type. (See the like named install property above for details). This method will call probe if it has not already been called.

$build->set_prefix($prefix);

Set the final (unstaged) prefix. This is normally only called by Alien::Build::MM and similar modules. It is not intended for use from plugins or from an alienfile.

$build->set_stage($dir);

Sets the stage directory. This is normally only called by Alien::Build::MM and similar modules. It is not intended for use from plugins or from an alienfile.

my $hash = $build->requires($phase);

Returns a hash reference of the modules required for the given phase. Phases include:

configure

These modules must already be available when the alienfile is read.

any

These modules are used during either a system or share install.

share

These modules are used during the build phase of a share install.

system

These modules are used during the build phase of a system install.

$build->load_requires($phase);

This loads the appropriate modules for the given phase (see requires above for a description of the phases).

my $install_type = $build->probe;

Attempts to determine if the operating system has the library or tool already installed. If so, then the string system will be returned and a system install will be performed. If not, then the string share will be installed and the tool or library will be downloaded and built from source.

If the environment variable ALIEN_INSTALL_TYPE is set, then that will force a specific type of install. If the detection logic cannot accommodate the install type requested then it will fail with an exception.

$build->download;

Download the source, usually as a tarball, usually from the internet.

Under a system install this does not do anything.

my $res = $build->fetch; my $res = $build->fetch($url, %options);

Fetch a resource using the fetch hook. Returns the same hash structure described below in the hook documentation.

[version 2.39]

As of Alien::Build 2.39, these options are supported:

http_headers

my $res = $build->fetch($url, http_headers => [ $key1 => $value1, $key2 => $value 2, … ]); Set the HTTP request headers on all outgoing HTTP requests. Note that not all protocols or fetch plugins support setting request headers, but the ones that do not should issue a warning if you try to set request headers and they are not supported.

my $decoded_res = $build->decode($res);

Decode the HTML or file listing returned by fetch. Returns the same hash structure described below in the hook documentation.

my $sorted_res = $build->prefer($res);

Filter and sort candidates. The preferred candidate will be returned first in the list. The worst candidate will be returned last. Returns the same hash structure described below in the hook documentation.

my $dir = $build->extract; my $dir = $build->extract($archive);

Extracts the given archive into a fresh directory. This is normally called internally to Alien::Build, and for normal usage is not needed from a plugin or alienfile.

$build->build;

Run the build step. It is expected that probe and download have already been performed. What it actually does depends on the type of install:

share

The source is extracted, and built as determined by the alienfile recipe. If there is a gather_share that will be executed last.

system

The gather_system hook will be executed.

$build->test;

Run the test phase

$build->clean_install

Clean files from the final install location. The default implementation removes all files recursively except for the _alien directory. This is helpful when you have an old install with files that may break the new build.

For a non-share install this doesn’t do anything.

$build->system($command); $build->system($command, @args);

Interpolates the command and arguments and run the results using the Perl system command.

$build->log($message);

Send a message to the log. By default this prints to STDOUT.

my $meta = Alien::Build->meta; my $meta = $build->meta;

Returns the meta object for your Alien::Build class or instance. The meta object is a way to manipulate the recipe, and so any changes to the meta object should be made before the probe, download or build steps.

my $href = $build->meta->prop;

Meta properties. This is the same as calling meta_prop on the class or Alien::Build instance.

Alien::Build->meta->add_requires($phase, $module => $version, …);

Add the requirement to the given phase. Phase should be one of:

configure

any

share

system

my $interpolator = $build->meta->interpolator; my $interpolator = Alien::Build->interpolator;

Returns the Alien::Build::Interpolate instance for the Alien::Build class.

my $bool = $build->meta->has_hook($name); my $bool = Alien::Build->has_hook($name);

Returns if there is a usable hook registered with the given name.

$build->meta->register_hook($name, $instructions); Alien::Build->meta->register_hook($name, $instructions);

Register a hook with the given name. $instruction should be either a code reference, or a command sequence, which is an array reference.

$build->meta->default_hook($name, $instructions); Alien::Build->meta->default_hook($name, $instructions);

Register a default hook, which will be used if the alienfile does not register its own hook with that name.

$build->meta->around_hook($hook, $code); Alien::Build->meta->around_hook($name, $code);

Wrap the given hook with a code reference. This is similar to a Moose method modifier, except that it wraps around the given hook instead of a method. For example, this will add a probe system requirement:

$build->meta->around_hook( probe => sub { my $orig = shift; my $build = shift; my $type = $orig->($build, @_); return $type unless $type eq system; # also require a configuration file if(-f /etc/foo.conf) { return system; } else { return share; } }, );

Alien::Build->meta->apply_plugin($name); Alien::Build->meta->apply_plugin($name, @args);

Apply the given plugin with the given arguments.