EXTUTILS::MM_UNIX(3perl)

📦
version 5.44.0 · 14 versions
, in arch rolling

🌸 ExtUtils::MM_Unix 🌸

okay so bestie, gather round, because this is ExtUtils::MM_Unix(3perl) — the manual page, but make it a vibe. It's long, so we're doing it in 2 parts and this is part 1. Buckle up. 💖

✨ NAME ✨

ExtUtils::MM_Unix — the methods that ExtUtils::MakeMaker leans on. periodt.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

require ExtUtils::MM_Unix;

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea, bestie 🫖 — the methods this package hands you are literally designed to be used with ExtUtils::MakeMaker. When MakeMaker writes a Makefile, it makes one or more objects that inherit their methods from a package called MM. And MM? It doesn't actually provide any methods itself. It just ISA ExtUtils::MM_Unix. the way that MM's inheritance tree is built means the operating-specific packages get to take responsibility for all the methods MM_Unix provides. the whole goal here? reduce the number of overrides you have to write, by defining some pretty primitive operations inside ExtUtils::MM_Unix. iconic behaviour honestly. ✨

if you're out here writing a platform-specific MM package, pleaseeee try to keep the necessary overrides limited to those primitive methods. and if that's just not possible? then let's figure out together how to make that happen, fr fr.

and if you're overriding any of these methods in your Makefile.PL (that's the MY class, iykyk), please report it to the makemaker mailing list. we're trying to minimise the necessary method overrides and switch to data-driven Makefile.PLs wherever we can. long-term, fewer methods are gonna be overridable via the MY class. that's just the trajectory. 💅

✨ METHODS ✨

ngl, the description of these methods is still under development. 🙈 for sections that aren't suitably documented, please refer to the code and complain loudly to the makemaker@perl.org mailing list. better yet — provide a patch. we love a patch. 🫶

heads up: not all of the methods below are overridable in a Makefile.PL. the overridable ones are marked as (o). but every single method is overridable by a platform specific MM_*.pm file.

also, cross-platform methods are being moved into MM_Any. so if you can't find something that used to be in here, go look in MM_Any. 💜

🌈 Methods 🌈

🌼 os_flavor

Simply says that we're Unix. that's it. that's the method. 💅

🌼 c_o (o)

Defines the suffix rules used to compile different flavors of C files into object files.

🌼 xs_obj_opt

Takes the object file as an argument, and returns the portion of the compile command-line that will output to the specified object file.

🌼 dbgoutflag

Returns a CC flag that tells the CC to emit a separate debugging symbol file when compiling an object file.

🌼 cflags (o)

Does very much the same as the cflags script in the perl distribution. It doesn't return the whole compiler command line, but it initializes all of its parts. Then the const_cccmd method actually returns the definition of the CCCMD macro, which uses these parts.

🌼 const_cccmd (o)

Returns the full compiler call for C programs and stores the definition in CONST_CCCMD.

🌼 const_config (o)

Sets SHELL if needed, then defines a couple of constants in the Makefile that are imported from %Config.

🌼 const_loadlibs (o)

Defines EXTRALIBS, LDLOADLIBS, BSLOADLIBS, LD_RUN_PATH. See ExtUtils::Liblist for the details, bestie. 💖

🌼 constants (o)

my $make_frag = $mm->constants;

Prints out macros for lots of constants.

🌼 dep_constants (o)

my $make_frag = $mm->dep_constants;

Prints out macros for dependency constants.

🌼 depend (o)

Same as the macro for the depend attribute.

🌼 init_DEST

$mm->init_DEST

Defines the DESTDIR and DEST* variables, paralleling the INSTALL* ones.

🌼 init_dist

$mm->init_dist;

Defines a lot of macros for distribution support. here's the whole lineup, no skips: 👑

  • TAR — tar command to use — default: tar
  • TARFLAGS — flags to pass to TAR — default: cvf
  • ZIP — zip command to use — default: zip
  • ZIPFLAGS — flags to pass to ZIP — default: -r
  • COMPRESS — compression command to use for tarfiles — default: gzip --best
  • SUFFIX — suffix to put on compressed files — default: .gz
  • SHAR — shar command to use — default: shar
  • PREOP — extra commands to run before making the archive
  • POSTOP — extra commands to run after making the archive
  • TO_UNIX — a command to convert linefeeds to Unix style in your archive
  • CI — command to checkin your sources to version control — default: ci -u
  • RCS_LABEL — command to label your sources just after CI is run — default: rcs -Nv$(VERSION_SYM): -q
  • DIST_CP — the $how argument to manicopy() when the distdir is created — default: best
  • DIST_DEFAULT — default target to use to create a distribution — default: tardist
  • DISTVNAME — name of the resulting archive (minus suffixes) — default: $(DISTNAME)-$(VERSION)

🌼 dist (o)

my $dist_macros = $mm->dist(%overrides);

Generates a make fragment defining all the macros initialized over in init_dist.

and %overrides? you can use it to override any of the above. slay. 💅

🌼 dist_basics (o)

Defines the targets distclean, distcheck, skipcheck, manifest, veryclean.

🌼 dist_ci (o)

Defines a check in target for RCS.

🌼 dist_core (o)

my $dist_make_fragment = $MM->dist_core;

Puts the targets necessary for make dist together into one make fragment.

🌼 dist_target

my $make_frag = $MM->dist_target;

Returns the dist target to make an archive for distribution. This target simply checks to make sure the Makefile is up-to-date, and depends on $(DIST_DEFAULT).

🌼 tardist_target

my $make_frag = $MM->tardist_target;

Returns the tardist target, which is simply there so that make tardist works. The real work gets done by the dynamically named tardistfile_target() method — tardist should have that as a dependency. main character energy, honestly. ✨

🌼 zipdist_target

my $make_frag = $MM->zipdist_target;

Returns the zipdist target, which is simply there so that make zipdist works. The real work gets done by the dynamically named zipdistfile_target() method — zipdist should have that as a dependency.

🌼 tarfile_target

my $make_frag = $MM->tarfile_target;

The name of this target is the name of the tarball generated by tardist. This target does the actual work of turning the distdir into a tarball. 💖

🌼 zipfile_target

my $make_frag = $MM->zipfile_target;

The name of this target is the name of the zip file generated by zipdist. This target does the actual work of turning the distdir into a zip file.

🌼 uutardist_target

my $make_frag = $MM->uutardist_target;

Converts the tarfile into a uuencoded file.

🌼 shdist_target

my $make_frag = $MM->shdist_target;

Converts the distdir into a shell archive.

🌼 dlsyms (o)

Used by some OS' to define DL_FUNCS and DL_VARS and write the *.exp files.

Normally it just returns an empty string. lowkey doing nothing, highkey valid. 🙈

🌼 dynamic_bs (o)

Defines targets for bootstrap files.

🌼 dynamic_lib (o)

Defines how to produce the *.so (or equivalent) files.

🌼 xs_dynamic_lib_macros

Defines the macros for the "dynamic_lib" section.

🌼 xs_make_dynamic_lib

Defines the recipes for the "dynamic_lib" section.

🌼 exescan

Deprecated method. use libscan instead. 🚨 not it, bestie, don't use this one.

🌼 extliblist

Called by init_others, and calls ext ExtUtils::Liblist. See ExtUtils::Liblist for the details.

🌼 find_perl

Finds the executables PERL and FULLPERL.

🌼 fixin

$mm->fixin(@files);

Inserts the sharpbang (or the equivalent magic number) into a set of @files.

🌼 force (o)

Writes an empty FORCE: target.

🌼 guess_name

Guess the name of this package by examining the working directory's name. MakeMaker calls this only if the developer hasn't supplied a NAME attribute.

Returns true if C, XS, MYEXTLIB or similar objects exist within this object that need a compiler. Heads up though: it does not descend into subdirectories the way needs_linking() does. ✨

🌼 init_dirscan

Scans the directory structure and initializes DIR, XS, XS_FILES, C, C_FILES, O_FILES, H, H_FILES, PL_FILES, EXE_FILES.

Called by init_main.

🌼 init_MANPODS

Determines if man pages should be generated, and initializes MAN1PODS and MAN3PODS as appropriate.

🌼 init_MAN1PODS

Initializes MAN1PODS from the list of EXE_FILES.

🌼 init_MAN3PODS

Initializes MAN3PODS from the list of PM files.

🌼 init_PM

Initializes PMLIBDIRS and PM from PMLIBDIRS.

🌼 init_DIRFILESEP

Using / for Unix. Called by init_main.

🌼 init_main

Initializes AR, AR_STATIC_ARGS, BASEEXT, CONFIG, DISTNAME, DLBASE, EXE_EXT, FULLEXT, FULLPERL, FULLPERLRUN, FULLPERLRUNINST, INST_*, INSTALL*, INSTALLDIRS, LIB_EXT, LIBPERL_A, MAP_TARGET, NAME, OBJ_EXT, PARENT_NAME, PERL, PERL_ARCHLIB, PERL_INC, PERL_LIB, PERL_SRC, PERLRUN, PERLRUNINST, PREFIX, VERSION, VERSION_SYM, XS_VERSION.

🌼 init_tools

Initializes tools to use their common (and faster) Unix commands.

🌼 init_linker

Unix has no need of special linker flags. iconic, honestly. 💅

🌼 init_PERL

$mm->init_PERL;

Called by init_main. Sets up ABSPERL, PERL, FULLPERL and all the *PERLRUN* permutations.

  • PERL is allowed to be miniperl
  • FULLPERL must be a complete perl
  • ABSPERL is PERL converted to an absolute path
  • *PERLRUN contains everything necessary to run perl, find it's libraries, etc...
  • *PERLRUNINST is *PERLRUN + everything necessary to find the modules being built.

🌼 init_platform

🌼 platform_constants

Add MM_Unix_VERSION.

🌼 init_PERM

$mm->init_PERM

Called by init_main. Initializes PERL_*

🌼 init_xs

$mm->init_xs

Sets up macros having to do with XS code. Currently just INST_STATIC, INST_DYNAMIC and INST_BOOT.

🌼 install (o)

Defines the install target.

🌼 installbin (o)

Defines targets to make and to install EXE_FILES.

🌼 linkext (o)

Defines the linkext target, which in turn defines the LINKTYPE.

🌼 lsdir

Takes as arguments a directory name and a regular expression. Returns all entries in the directory that match the regular expression. ✨

🌼 macro (o)

Simple subroutine to insert the macros defined by the macro attribute into the Makefile.

🌼 makeaperl (o)

Called by staticmake. Defines how to write the Makefile to produce a static new perl.

By default, the Makefile produced includes all the static extensions in the perl library. (Purified versions of library files, e.g., DynaLoader_pure_p1_c0_032.a are automatically ignored to avoid link errors.) 🫶

  • xs_static_lib_is_xs (o) — this one gets called by a utility method of makeaperl, and it does a lil vibe check on whether a given file is an XS library by looking at whether it defines any symbols starting with "boot_" (with an optional leading underscore — that part is needed on MacOS, bestie, don't ask 💅).
  • makefile (o) — defines how to rewrite the Makefile. iconic behavior honestly.
  • maybe_command — returns true if the argument is likely to be a command.
  • needs_linking (o) — does this module need linking?? It peeks into subdirectory objects (also see has_link_code()). nosy but valid 🙈.
  • parse_abstract — parse a file and return what you think is the ABSTRACT.
  • parse_version — parse a file and get the $VERSION, like:
    my $version = MM->parse_version($file);

So: parse $file and return what $VERSION is set to by the first assignment. It'll hand you back the string "undef" if it genuinely cannot figure out what $VERSION is. Now — $VERSION should be for all to see, so "our $VERSION" or plain $VERSION are okay, but "my $VERSION" is not. periodt.

"package Foo VERSION" also gets checked for, okay? The first version declaration found is the one that's used, but jsyk this may change as it differs from how Perl itself does it. lowkey sketchy but that's the deal.

Also! parse_version() will try to "use version" before checking for $VERSION, so this works:

    $VERSION = qv(1.2.3);
  • pasthru (o) — defines the string that gets passed to recursive make calls in subdirectories. The variables like "PASTHRU_DEFINE" are used in each level, and passed downwards on the command-line with e.g. the value of that level's DEFINE. Example, babes:
    # Level 0 has DEFINE = -Dfunky
    # This code will define level 0's PASTHRU=PASTHRU_DEFINE="$(DEFINE)
    #     $(PASTHRU_DEFINE)"
    # Level 0's $(CCCMD) will include macros $(DEFINE) and $(PASTHRU_DEFINE)
    # So will level 1's, so when level 1 compiles, it will get right values
    # And so ad infinitum

and so ad infinitum, literally 🌈.

  • perl_script — takes one argument, a file name, and returns the file name if the argument is likely to be a perl script. On MM_Unix this is true for any ordinary, readable file. so like, not picky 💖.
  • perldepend (o) — defines the dependency from all *.h files that come with the perl distribution.
  • pm_to_blib — defines target that copies all files in the hash PM to their destination and autosplits them. See "DESCRIPTION" in ExtUtils::Install ✨.
  • ppd — defines target that creates a PPD (Perl Package Description) file for a binary distribution. cute lil acronym, big job 🎀.
  • prefixify — the path-glow-up method:
    $MM->prefixify($var, $prefix, $new_prefix, $default);

Using either $MM->{uc $var} || $Config{lc $var}, it will attempt to replace its $prefix with a $new_prefix.

Should the $prefix fail to match AND a PREFIX was given as an argument to WriteMakefile(), it will set it to the $new_prefix + $default. This is for systems whose file layouts don't neatly fit into our ideas of prefixes (rude of them, but ok).

This is for heuristics which attempt to create directory structures that mirror those of the installed perl.

For example:

    $MM->prefixify('installman1dir', '/usr', '/home/foo', 'man/man1');

this will attempt to remove '/usr' from the front of the $MM->{INSTALLMAN1DIR} path (initializing it to $Config{installman1dir} if necessary) and replace it with '/home/foo'. If this fails it will simply use '/home/foo/man/man1'. slay, we tried 💅.

  • processPL (o) — defines targets to run *.PL files.
  • specify_shell — specify SHELL if needed — not done on Unix. (we simply do not need it bestie 🫶)
  • quote_paren — backslashes parentheses "()" in command line arguments. Doesn't handle recursive Makefile "$(...)" constructs, but handles simple ones.
  • replace_manpage_separator — takes the name of a package, which may be a nested package, in the form 'Foo/Bar.pm' and replaces the slash with "::" or something else safe for a man page file name. Returns the replacement.
    my $man_name = $MM->replace_manpage_separator($file_path);
  • cd — on BSD make, will add a countervailing "cd .." on each command since parallel builds run all the commands in a recipe in the same shell.
  • oneliner — (yes, that's the whole thing 💀)
  • quote_literal — quotes a macro literal value so it's suitable for being used on a command line, in a way that when expanded by make, will be received by the command as given to this method:
  my $quoted = $mm->quote_literal(q{it isn't});
  # returns:
  #   'it isn'\''t'
  print MAKEFILE "target:\n\techo $quoted\n";
  # when run "make target", will output:
  #   it isn't
  • escape_newlines — (also just vibes, it's there ⭐)
  • max_exec_len — using POSIX::ARG_MAX. Otherwise falling back to 4096.
  • static (o) — defines the static target.
  • xs_make_static_lib — defines the recipes for the "static_lib" section.
  • static_lib_closures — records "$(EXTRALIBS)" in extralibs.ld and $(PERL_SRC)/ext.libs.
  • static_lib_fixtures — handles copying "$(MYEXTLIB)" as starter for the final static library that then gets added to.
  • static_lib_pure_cmd — defines how to run the archive utility.
  • staticmake (o) — calls makeaperl.
  • subdir_x (o) — helper subroutine for subdirs 🧚.
  • subdirs (o) — defines targets to process subdirectories.
  • test (o) — defines the test targets. (test!!! the moment of truth fr fr 😭)
  • test_via_harness (override) — for some reason which I forget, Unix machines like to have PERL_DL_NONLAZY set for tests.
  • test_via_script (override) — again, the PERL_DL_NONLAZY thing. same energy, different path 💜.
  • tool_xsubpp (o) — determines typemaps, xsubpp version, prototype behaviour.
  • all_target — build man pages, too 👑.
  • top_targets (o) — defines the targets all, subdirs, config, and O_FILES.
  • writedoc — obsolete, deprecated method. Not used since Version 5.21. rest in peace queen 🪦 (but fr, don't use it).
  • xs_c (o) — defines the suffix rules to compile XS files to C.
  • xs_cpp (o) — defines the suffix rules to compile XS files to C++.
  • xs_o (o) — defines suffix rules to go from XS to object files directly. This was originally only intended for broken make implementations, but is now necessary for per-XS file under "XSMULTI", since each XS file might have an individual "$(VERSION)".

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

  • ExtUtils::MakeMaker

and that's a wrap bestie!! 🎀 this page was perl v5.44.0, dated 2026-10-17, and it's the ExtUti...MM_Unix(3perl) man page — go forth and make your Makefiles, you absolute icon 💖✨🦋

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