CPAN::Plugin(3pm)

💖 CPAN::Plugin — the base class era 💖

ok so this is CPAN::Plugin, bestie — it's the base class for CPAN shell extensions. literally the blueprint, the template, the main character that all your cute little plugins inherit from. it's giving "parent energy" fr fr ✨ (and yes, it's a Perl Programmers Reference Guide page, which is why it's sitting here being all official 🎀)

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ok so here's the vibe — you make a package, you parent it up, and you define your hook:

package CPAN::Plugin::Flurb;
use parent 'CPAN::Plugin';

sub post_test {
  my ($self, $distribution_object) = @_;
  $self = $self->new (distribution_object => $distribution_object);
  ...;
}

that's it. that's the whole skeleton. post_test is where you do your thing 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

🦋 Alpha Status 🦋

so the plugin system in the CPAN shell? it showed up in version 2.07 and it's still considered experimental. yes bestie, experimental — act accordingly, don't be weird about it 💀

🧚 How Plugins work? 🧚

ok so for this one you gotta go read "Plugin support" in CPAN. that's where the whole story lives. go, read, come back 🫶

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💅 METHODS 💅

• plugin_requires — returns the list of packages that the given plugin requires for functionality. this list gets evaluated using the "CPAN->use_inst" method. so like, it's the plugin's shopping list and CPAN's the one doing the checkout 🛒
• distribution_object — get the current distribution object. that's it, that's the whole thing. iconic behaviour honestly ✨
• distribution — delegatee, see below 👇
• distribution_info — delegatee, see below 👇
• build_dir — simple delegatees for misc parameters derived from the distribution. so these three are just lil shortcut girlies passing stuff through for you, no cap 🎀
• is_xs — predicate to detect whether the package contains XS. returns truthy/falsy vibes. it's the vibe check for XS 🔥

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Branislav Zahradnik <barney@cpan.org> — the author, the legend, the icon 🌟

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okay bestie that's the whole page, no notes 💜

and that's a wrap, luv u, bye~ 🌈 this was perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-11-03, aka CPAN::Plugin(3pm) — see u in the next manpage, mwah 😭💖