How Is CPAN Organized?
CPAN materials are grouped into categories, including Perl modules, distributions, documentation, announcements, ports, scripts, and contributing authors. Each category is linked to related categories. For example, links to a graphing module written by an author appear in both the module and the author areas.
Since CPAN provides the same offerings worldwide, the directory structure has been standardized; files are located in the same place in the directory hierarchy at all CPAN sites. All CPAN sites use CPAN as the root directory, from which the user can select a specific Perl item. From the CPAN directory, you have the following choices:
Item | Description |
|---|---|
CPAN.html | CPAN info page; some general information about CPAN |
ENDINGS | Description of the file extensions, such as .tar, .gz, and .zip |
MIRRORED BY | A list of sites mirroring CPAN |
MIRRORING.FROM | A list of sites mirrored by CPAN |
README | A brief description of what you’ll find on CPAN |
README.html | An HTML-formatted version of the README file |
RECENT | Recent additions to the CPAN site |
RECENT.html | An HTML-formatted list of recent additions |
ROADMAP | What you’ll find on CPAN and where |
ROADMAP.html | An HTML-formatted version of ROADMAP |
SITES | An exhaustive list of CPAN sites |
SITES.html | An HTML-formatted version of SITES |
authors | A list of CPAN authors |
clpa | An archive of comp.land.perl.announce |
disclaimer.html | Before you call your lawyer, read these details about CPAN content |
doc | Various Perl documentation, FAQs, etc. |
index.html | CPAN starting point in you prefer ... |
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access