ExtUtils::Depends - Easily build XS extensions that depend on XS extensions

        use ExtUtils::Depends;
        $package = new ExtUtils::Depends ('pkg::name', 'base::package')
        # set the flags and libraries to compile and link the module
        $package->set_inc("-I/opt/blahblah");
        $package->set_lib("-lmylib");
        # add a .c and an .xs file to compile
        $package->add_c('code.c');
        $package->add_xs('module-code.xs');
        # add the typemaps to use
        $package->add_typemaps("typemap");
        # install some extra data files and headers
        $package->install (qw/foo.h data.txt/);
        # save the info
        $package->save_config('Files.pm');

        WriteMakefile(
                'NAME' => 'Mymodule',
                $package->get_makefile_vars()
        );

This module tries to make it easy to build Perl extensions that use functions and typemaps provided by other perl extensions. This means that a perl extension is treated like a shared library that provides also a C and an XS interface besides the perl one.

This works as long as the base extension is loaded with the RTLD_GLOBAL flag (usually done with a

        sub dl_load_flags {0x01}

in the main .pm file) if you need to use functions defined in the module.

The basic scheme of operation is to collect information about a module in the instance, and then store that data in the Perl library where it may be retrieved later. The object can also reformat this information into the data structures required by ExtUtils::MakeMaker's WriteMakefile function.

When creating a new Depends object, you give it a name, which is the name of the module you are building. You can also specify the names of modules on which this module depends. These dependencies will be loaded automatically, and their typemaps, header files, etc merged with your new object's stuff. When you store the data for your object, the list of dependencies are stored with it, so that another module depending on your needn't know on exactly which modules yours depends.

For example:

  Gtk2 depends on Glib

  Gnome2::Canvas depends on Gtk2

  ExtUtils::Depends->new ('Gnome2::Canvas', 'Gtk2');
     this command automatically brings in all the stuff needed
     for Glib, since Gtk2 depends on it.

Create a new depends object named $name. Any modules listed in @deps (which may be empty) are added as dependencies and their dependency information is loaded. An exception is raised if any dependency information cannot be loaded.

$depends->add_deps (@deps)

Add modules listed in @deps as dependencies. Fetch information on the dependencies of $depends as a hash of hashes, which are dependency information indexed by module name. See CWload.

$depends->set_inc (@newinc)

Add strings to the includes or cflags variables.

$depends->set_libs (@newlibs)

Add strings to the libs (linker flags) variable.

$depends->add_pm (%pm_files)

Add files to the hash to be passed through ExtUtils::WriteMakefile's PM key.

$depends->add_xs (@xs_files)

Add xs files to be compiled.

$depends->add_c (@c_files)

Add C files to be compiled.

$depends->typemaps (@typemaps)

Add typemap files to be used and installed.

$depends->add_headers (list)

No-op, for backward compatibility.

$depends->install (@files)

Install @files to the data directory for $depends. This actually works by adding them to the hash of pm files that gets passed through WriteMakefile's PM key.

$depends->save_config ($filename)

Save the important information from $depends to $filename, and set it up to be installed as name::Install::Files. Note: the actual value of $filename seems to be irrelevant, but its usage is kept for backward compatibility. Return the information in $depends in a format digestible by WriteMakefile. This sets at least the following keys:

        INC
        LIBS
        TYPEMAPS
        PM

And these if there is data to fill them:

        clean
        OBJECT
        XS

hashref = ExtUtils::Depends::load (name)

Load and return dependency information for name. Croaks if no such information can be found. The information is returned as an anonymous hash containing these keys:

instpath

The absolute path to the data install directory for this module.

typemaps

List of absolute pathnames for this module's typemap files.

inc

CFLAGS string for this module.

libs

LIBS string for this module.

deps

List of modules on which this one depends. This key will not exist when loading files created by old versions of ExtUtils::Depends.

$depends->load_deps

Load $depends dependencies, by calling CWload on each dependency module. This is usually done for you, and should only be needed if you want to call CWget_deps after calling CWadd_deps manually.

As written, this module expects that RTLD_GLOBAL works on your platform, which is not always true, most notably, on win32. We need to include a way to find the actual shared libraries created for extension modules so new extensions may be linked explicitly with them.

Version 0.2 discards some of the more esoteric features provided by the older versions. As they were completely undocumented, and this module has yet to reach 1.0, this may not exactly be a bug.

This module is tightly coupled to the ExtUtils::MakeMaker architecture.

ExtUtils::MakeMaker.

Paolo Molaro <lupus at debian dot org> wrote the original version for Gtk-Perl. muppet <scott at asofyet dot org> rewrote the innards for version 0.2, borrowing liberally from Paolo's code.

The Gtk2 project, http://gtk2-perl.sf.net/

This library is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.