Perl Hacks

Hack #31. Create Personal Module Bundles

Create a personal bundle of your favorite modules.

It never fails. I'm working on a new computer, a friend's computer, or a work computer and I've installed my favorite modules and written some code.

use My::Favorite::Module;
My::Favorite::Module->washes_the_dishes( );

Then I run the program.

Can't locate My/Favorite/Module.pm in @INC (@INC contains ...

I did it again. I forgot to install the one module I really needed. Hopefully it's the last one. Of course, even if you never forget to install your favorites, it's still a pain to laboriously install a bunch of modules every time you have a new Perl installation.

That's where personal bundles come in.

The Hack

A personal bundle is very easy to make. Just create a normal CPAN distribution. You don't even need to write tests for it: the modules you list will (hopefully) test themselves.

Instead, create an empty package with the modules you want listed in your POD contents section [Hack #32]. For example, suppose that you're a testing fanatic. You want to install your favorite testing modules, so you decide to call your bundle Bundle::Personal:: Mine (where Mine is your PAUSE ID).

package Bundle::Personal::Mine; $VERSION = '0.42'; 1; __END__ =head1 NAME Bundle::Personal::Mine - My favorite testing modules =head1 SYNOPSIS perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Personal::Mine' =head1 CONTENTS Test::Class Test::Differences Test::Exception Test::MockModule Test::Pod Test::Pod::Coverage Test::WWW::Mechanize =head1 ...