ExtUtils::Installed - Inventory management of installed modules

   use ExtUtils::Installed;
   my ($inst) = ExtUtils::Installed->new();
   my (@modules) = $inst->modules();
   my (@missing) = $inst->validate("DBI");
   my $all_files = $inst->files("DBI");
   my $files_below_usr_local = $inst->files("DBI", "all", "/usr/local");
   my $all_dirs = $inst->directories("DBI");
   my $dirs_below_usr_local = $inst->directory_tree("DBI", "prog");
   my $packlist = $inst->packlist("DBI");

ExtUtils::Installed provides a standard way to find out what core and module files have been installed. It uses the information stored in .packlist files created during installation to provide this information. In addition it provides facilities to classify the installed files and to extract directory information from the .packlist files.

The new() function searches for all the installed .packlists on the system, and stores their contents. The .packlists can be queried with the functions described below.

new()

This takes no parameters, and searches for all the installed .packlists on the system. The packlists are read using the ExtUtils::packlist module.

modules()

This returns a list of the names of all the installed modules. The perl 'core' is given the special name 'Perl'.

files()

This takes one mandatory parameter, the name of a module. It returns a list of all the filenames from the package. To obtain a list of core perl files, use the module name 'Perl'. Additional parameters are allowed. The first is one of the strings prog, doc or all, to select either just program files, just manual files or all files. The remaining parameters are a list of directories. The filenames returned will be restricted to those under the specified directories.

directories()

This takes one mandatory parameter, the name of a module. It returns a list of all the directories from the package. Additional parameters are allowed. The first is one of the strings prog, doc or all, to select either just program directories, just manual directories or all directories. The remaining parameters are a list of directories. The directories returned will be restricted to those under the specified directories. This method returns only the leaf directories that contain files from the specified module.

directory_tree()

This is identical in operation to directories(), except that it includes all the intermediate directories back up to the specified directories.

validate()

This takes one mandatory parameter, the name of a module. It checks that all the files listed in the modules .packlist actually exist, and returns a list of any missing files. If an optional second argument which evaluates to true is given any missing files will be removed from the .packlist

packlist()

This returns the ExtUtils::Packlist object for the specified module.

version()

This returns the version number for the specified module.

See the example in ExtUtils::Packlist.

Alan Burlison <Alan.Burlison@uk.sun.com>