alienfile(3)

NAME
alienfile - Specification for defining an external dependency for CPAN

VERSION
version 2.84

SYNOPSIS
Do-it-yourself approach:

 use alienfile;

 probe [ 'pkg-config --exists libarchive' ];

 share {

   start_url 'http://libarchive.org/downloads/libarchive-3.2.2.tar.gz';

   # the first one which succeeds will be used
   download [ 'wget %{.meta.start_url}' ];
   download [ 'curl -o %{.meta.start_url}' ];

   extract [ 'tar xf %{.install.download}' ];

   build [
     # Note: will not work on Windows, better to use Build::Autoconf plugin
     # if you need windows support
     './configure --prefix=%{.install.prefix} --disable-shared',
     '%{make}',
     '%{make} install',
   ];
 }

 gather [
   [ 'pkg-config', '--modversion', 'libarchive', \'%{.runtime.version}' ],
   [ 'pkg-config', '--cflags',     'libarchive', \'%{.runtime.cflags}'  ],
   [ 'pkg-config', '--libs',       'libarchive', \'%{.runtime.libs}'    ],
 ];

With plugins (better):

 use alienfile;

 plugin 'PkgConfig' => 'libarchive';

 share {
   start_url 'http://libarchive.org/downloads/';
   plugin Download => (
     filter => qr/^libarchive-.*\.tar\.gz$/,
     version => qr/([0-9\.]+)/,
   );
   plugin Extract => 'tar.gz';
   plugin 'Build::Autoconf';
   plugin 'Gather::IsolateDynamic';
   build [
     '%{configure}',
     '%{make}',
     '%{make} install',
   ];
 };

DESCRIPTION
An alienfile is a recipe used by Alien::Build to, probe for system libraries or download from the internet, and build source for those libraries. This document acts as reference for the alienfile system, but if you are starting out writing your own Alien you should read Alien::Build::Manual::AlienAuthor, which will teach you how to write your own complete Alien using alienfile + Alien::Build + ExtUtils::MakeMaker. Special attention should be taken to the section "a note about dynamic vs. static libraries".

DIRECTIVES

  requires
"any" requirement (either share or system):

 requires $module;
 requires $module => $version;

configure time requirement:

 configure {
   requires $module;
   requires $module => $version;
 };

system requirement:

 sys {
   requires $module;
   requires $module => $version;
 };

share requirement:

 share {
   requires $module;
   requires $module => $version;
 };

specifies a requirement. Alien::Build takes advantage of dynamic requirements, so only modules that are needed for the specific type of install need to be loaded. Here are the different types of requirements:

configure
    Configure requirements should already be installed before the alienfile is loaded.

any "Any" requirements are those that are needed either for the probe stage, or in either the system or share installs.

share
    Share requirements are those modules needed when downloading and building from source.

system
    System requirements are those modules needed when the system provides the library or tool.

  plugin
 plugin $name => (%args);
 plugin $name => $arg;

Load the given plugin. If you prefix the plugin name with an "=" sign, then it will be assumed to be a fully qualified path name. Otherwise the plugin will be assumed to live in the "Alien::Build::Plugin" namespace. If there is an appropriate negotiate plugin, that one will be loaded. Examples:

 # Loads Alien::Build::Plugin::Fetch::Negotiate
 # which will pick the best Alien::Build::Plugin::Fetch
 # plugin based on the URL, and system configuration
 plugin 'Fetch' => 'http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc';

 # loads the plugin with the badly named class!
 plugin '=Badly::Named::Plugin::Not::In::Alien::Build::Namespace';

 # explicitly loads Alien::Build::Plugin::Prefer::SortVersions
 plugin 'Prefer::SortVersions' => (
   filter => qr/^gcc-.*\.tar\.gz$/,
   version => qr/([0-9\.]+)/,
 );

  probe
 probe \&code;
 probe \@commandlist;

Instructions for the probe stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list. Multiple probes and probe plugins can be given. These will be used in sequence, stopping at the first that detects a system installation. Alien::Build will use a share install if no system installation is detected by the probes.

  configure
 configure {
   ...
 };

Configure block. The only directive allowed in a configure block is requires.

  sys
 sys {
   ...
 };

System block. Allowed directives are: requires and gather.

  share
 share {
   ...
 };

System block. Allowed directives are: download, fetch, decode, prefer, extract, build, gather.

  start_url
 share {
   start_url $url;
 };

Set the start URL for download. This should be the URL to an index page, or the actual tarball of the source.

  digest
[experimental]

 share {
   digest $algorithm, $digest;
 };

Check fetched and downloaded files against the given algorithm and digest. Typically you will want to use SHA256 as the algorithm.

  download
 share {
   download \&code;
   download \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the download stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  fetch
 share {
   fetch \&code;
   fetch \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the fetch stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  decode
 share {
   decode \&code;
   decode \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the decode stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  prefer
 share {
   prefer \&code;
   prefer \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the prefer stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  extract
 share {
   extract \&code;
   extract \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the extract stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  patch
 share {
   patch \&code;
   patch \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the patch stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  patch_ffi
 share {
   patch_ffi \&code;
   patch_ffi \@commandlist;
 };

[DEPRECATED]

Instructions for the patch_ffi stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  build
 share {
   build \&code;
   build \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the build stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list.

  build_ffi
 share {
   build \&code;
   build \@commandlist;
 };

[DEPRECATED]

Instructions for the build FFI stage. Builds shared libraries instead of static. This is optional, and is only necessary if a fresh and separate build needs to be done for FFI.

  gather
 gather \&code;
 gather \@commandlist;

 share {
   gather \&code;
   gather \@commandlist;
 };

 sys {
   gather \&code;
   gather \@commandlist;
 };

Instructions for the gather stage. May be either a code reference, or a command list. In the root block of the alienfile it will trigger in both share and system build. In the share or sys block it will only trigger in the corresponding build.

  gather_ffi
 share {
   gather_ffi \&code;
   gather_ffi \@commandlist;
 }

[DEPRECATED]

Gather specific to "build_ffi". Not usually necessary.

  ffi
 share {
   ffi {
     patch \&code;
     patch \@commandlist;
     build \&code;
     build \@commandlist;
     gather \&code;
     gather \@commandlist;
   }
 }

Specify patch, build or gather stages related to FFI.

  meta_prop
 my $hash = meta_prop;

Get the meta_prop hash reference.

  meta
 my $meta = meta;

Returns the meta object for your alienfile. For methods that can be used on the meta object, see "META METHODS" in Alien::Build.

  log
 log($message);

Prints the given log to stdout.

  test
 share {
   test \&code;
   test \@commandlist;
 };
 sys {
   test \&code;
   test \@commandlist;
 };

Run the tests

  before
 before $stage => \&code;

Execute the given code before the given stage. Stage should be one of "probe", "download", "fetch", "decode", "prefer", "extract", "patch", "build", "test", and "gather".

The before directive is only legal in the same blocks as the stage would normally be legal in. For example, you can't do this:

 use alienfile;

 sys {
   before 'build' => sub {
     ...
   };
 };

Because a "build" wouldn't be legal inside a "sys" block.

  after
 after $stage => \&code;

Execute the given code after the given stage. Stage should be one of "probe", "download", "fetch", "decode", "prefer", "extract", "patch", "build", "test", and "gather".

The after directive is only legal in the same blocks as the stage would normally be legal in. For example, you can't do this:

 use alienfile;

 sys {
   after 'build' => sub {
     ...
   };
 };

Because a "build" wouldn't be legal inside a "sys" block.

SEE ALSO

Alien
Alien::Build
Alien::Build::MM
Alien::Base

AUTHOR
Author: Graham Ollis <plicease@cpan.org>

Contributors:

Diab Jerius (DJERIUS)

Roy Storey (KIWIROY)

Ilya Pavlov

David Mertens (run4flat)

Mark Nunberg (mordy, mnunberg)

Christian Walde (Mithaldu)

Brian Wightman (MidLifeXis)

Zaki Mughal (zmughal)

mohawk (mohawk2, ETJ)

Vikas N Kumar (vikasnkumar)

Flavio Poletti (polettix)

Salvador Fandiño (salva)

Gianni Ceccarelli (dakkar)

Pavel Shaydo (zwon, trinitum)

Kang-min Liu (劉康民, gugod)

Nicholas Shipp (nshp)

Juan Julián Merelo Guervós (JJ)

Joel Berger (JBERGER)

Petr Písař (ppisar)

Lance Wicks (LANCEW)

Ahmad Fatoum (a3f, ATHREEF)

José Joaquín Atria (JJATRIA)

Duke Leto (LETO)

Shoichi Kaji (SKAJI)

Shawn Laffan (SLAFFAN)

Paul Evans (leonerd, PEVANS)

Håkon Hægland (hakonhagland, HAKONH)

nick nauwelaerts (INPHOBIA)

Florian Weimer

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2011-2022 by Graham Ollis.

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