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CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_1(3pm)



NAME

       CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_1 - Version 1.1 metadata specification for
       META.yml


PREFACE

       This is a historical copy of the version 1.1 specification for META.yml
       files, copyright by Ken Williams and licensed under the same terms as
       Perl itself.

       Modifications from the original:

       o   Conversion from the original HTML to POD format

       o   Include list of valid licenses from Module::Build 0.18 rather than
           linking to the module, with minor updates to text and links to
           reflect versions at the time of publication.

       o   Fixed some dead links to point to active resources.


DESCRIPTION

       This document describes version 1.1 of the META.yml specification.

       The META.yml file describes important properties of contributed Perl
       distributions such as the ones found on CPAN <http://www.cpan.org>.  It
       is typically created by tools like Module::Build and
       ExtUtils::MakeMaker.

       The fields in the META.yml file are meant to be helpful to people
       maintaining module collections (like CPAN), for people writing
       installation tools (like CPAN or CPANPLUS), or just people who want to
       know some stuff about a distribution before downloading it and starting
       to install it.


Format

       META.yml files are written in the YAML <http://www.yaml.org/> format.
       The reasons we chose YAML instead of, say, XML or Data::Dumper are
       discussed in this thread
       <http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.makemaker/2002/04/msg406.html> on
       the MakeMaker mailing list.

       The first line of a META.yml file should be a valid YAML document
       header <http://yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-document>
       like "--- #YAML:1.0"


Fields

       The rest of the META.yml file is one big YAML mapping
       <http://yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping>, whose
       keys are described here.

       name
           Example: "Module-Build"

           The name of the distribution.  Often created by taking the "main
           module" in the distribution and changing "::" to "-".  Sometimes
           it's completely different, however, as in the case of the libwww-
           perl <http://search.cpan.org/author/GAAS/libwww-perl/>
           distribution.

       version
           Example: 0.16

           The version of the distribution to which the META.yml file refers.
           This is a mandatory field.

           The version is essentially an arbitrary string, but must be only
           ASCII characters, and strongly should be of the format integer-dot-
           digit-digit, i.e. 25.57, optionally followed by underscore-digit-
           digit, i.e. "25.57_04".

           The standard tools that deal with module distribution (PAUSE, CPAN,
           etc.) form an identifier for each distribution by joining the
           'name' and 'version' attributes with a dash ("-") character.  Tools
           who are prepared to deal with distributions that have no version
           numbers generally omit the dash as well.

       license
           Example: "perl"

           a descriptive term for the licenses ... not authoritative, but must
           be consistent with licensure statements in the READMEs,
           documentation, etc.

           The license under which this distribution may be used and
           redistributed.

           Must be one of the following 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 version 1 or the
               Artistic version 1 license.

           gpl The distribution is distributed under the terms of the GNU
               General Public License version 2
               (<http://opensource.org/licenses/GPL-2.0>).

           lgpl
               The distribution is distributed under the terms of the GNU
               Lesser General Public License version 2
               (<http://opensource.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1>).

           artistic
               The distribution is licensed under the Artistic License version
               1, as specified by the Artistic file in the standard perl
               distribution
               (<http://opensource.org/licenses/Artistic-Perl-1.0>).

           bsd The distribution is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License
               (<http://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause>).

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

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

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

       license_uri
           This should contain a URI where the exact terms of the license may
           be found.

           (change "unrestricted" to "redistributable"?)

       distribution_type
           Example: "module"

           What kind of stuff is contained in this distribution.  Most things
           on CPAN are "module"s (which can also mean a collection of
           modules), but some things are "script"s.

           This field is basically meaningless, and tools (like Module::Build
           or MakeMaker) will likely stop generating it in the future.

       private
           WTF is going on here?

           index_ignore: any application that indexes the contents of
           distributions (PAUSE, search.cpan.org) ought to ignore the items
           (packages, files, directories, namespace hierarchies).

       requires
           Example:

             Data::Dumper: 0
             File::Find: 1.03

           A YAML mapping
           <http://yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping>
           indicating the Perl modules this distribution requires for proper
           operation.  The keys are the module names, and the values are
           version specifications as described in the documentation for
           Module::Build's "requires" parameter.

           Note: the exact nature of the fancy specifications like ">= 1.2, !=
           1.5, < 2.0" is subject to change.  Advance notice will be given
           here.  The simple specifications like "1.2" will not change in
           format.

       recommends
           Example:

             Data::Dumper: 0
             File::Find: 1.03

           A YAML mapping
           <http://yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping>
           indicating the Perl modules this distribution recommends for
           enhanced operation.

       build_requires
           Example:

             Data::Dumper: 0
             File::Find: 1.03

           A YAML mapping
           <http://yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping>
           indicating the Perl modules required for building and/or testing of
           this distribution.  These dependencies are not required after the
           module is installed.

       conflicts
           Example:

             Data::Dumper: 0
             File::Find: 1.03

           A YAML mapping
           <http://yaml.org/spec/history/2002-10-31.html#syntax-mapping>
           indicating the Perl modules that cannot be installed while this
           distribution is installed.  This is a pretty uncommon situation.

           - possibly separate out test-time prereqs, complications include:
           can tests be meaningfully preserved for later running?  are test-
           time prereqs in addition to build-time, or exclusive?

           - make official location for installed *distributions*, which can
           contain tests, etc.

       dynamic_config
           Example: 0

           A boolean flag indicating whether a Build.PL or Makefile.PL (or
           similar) must be executed, or whether this module can be built,
           tested and installed solely from consulting its metadata file.  The
           main reason to set this to a true value if that your module
           performs some dynamic configuration (asking questions, sensing the
           environment, etc.) as part of its build/install process.

           Currently Module::Build doesn't actually do anything with this flag
           - it's probably going to be up to higher-level tools like CPAN.pm
           to do something useful with it.  It can potentially bring lots of
           security, packaging, and convenience improvements.

       generated_by
           Example: "Module::Build version 0.16"

           Indicates the tool that was used to create this META.yml file.
           It's good form to include both the name of the tool and its
           version, but this field is essentially opaque, at least for the
           moment.

   Ingy's suggestions
       short_description
           add as field, containing abstract, maximum 80 characters, suggested
           minimum 40 characters

       description
           long version of abstract, should add?

       maturity
           alpha, beta, gamma, mature, stable

       author_id, owner_id
       categorization, keyword, chapter_id
       URL for further information
           could default to search.cpan.org on PAUSE

       namespaces
           can be specified for single elements by prepending dotted-form,
           i.e. "com.example.my_application.my_property".  Default namespace
           for META.yml is probably "org.cpan.meta_author" or something.
           Precedent for this is Apple's Carbon namespaces, I think.


History

       o   March 14, 2003 (Pi day) - created version 1.0 of this document.

       o   May 8, 2003 - added the "dynamic_config" field, which was missing
           from the initial version.



perl v5.26.1                      2017-07-18CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_1(3pm)

perl 5.26.1 - Generated Sat Nov 4 07:16:55 CDT 2017
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