CPAN::P...pecfile(3pm)

💅 NAME

Okay so bestie, welcome to CPAN::Plugin::Specfile — it's a proof of concept implementation of a trivial CPAN::Plugin. That's the whole vibe. Lowkey a tiny little demo plugin, highkey adorable. This page lives in the Perl Programmers Reference Guide (the header up top is literally CPAN::P...pecfile(3pm), yes the terminal clipped it, she's mysterious like that 🎀).

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

Here's the whole group chat of commands, fr fr:

# once in the cpan shell
o conf plugin_list push CPAN::Plugin::Specfile

# make permanent
o conf commit

# any time in the cpan shell to write a spec file
test Acme::Meta

# disable
# if it is the last in plugin_list:
o conf plugin_list pop
# otherwise, determine the index to splice:
o conf plugin_list
# and then use splice, e.g. to splice position 3:
o conf plugin_list splice 3 1

Read it like a little ritual: push the plugin in, o conf commit to make it permanent, then any time you run test Acme::Meta in the cpan shell it writes a spec file for you 💖. To disable it — if it's the last thing in plugin_list you just o conf plugin_list pop her out. If she's not last? Run o conf plugin_list to figure out the index to splice, then use splice, e.g. to splice position 3: o conf plugin_list splice 3 1. Slay.

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

So the way this works: it's implemented as a post-test hook, and this plugin writes a specfile after every successful test run. Not just to disk, bestie — the content is also written to the terminal. Double delivery, main character energy ✨.

As a side effect (a cute little bonus, no cap), the timestamps of the written specfiles reflect the linear order of all dependencies. It's giving "accidental timeline feature" and honestly we're obsessed 🦋.

⚠️ WARNING: this code is just a small demo of how to use the plugin system of the CPAN shell. It is not a full fledged spec file writer. Do not expect new features in this plugin. Periodt. 💀

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

The target directory to store the spec files in can be set using dir, like this:

o conf plugin_list push CPAN::Plugin::Specfile=dir,/tmp/specfiles-000042

The default directory for this is the plugins/CPAN::Plugin::Specfile directory in the cpan_home directory. If you don't say anything, that's where she goes 🎀.

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🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

• Andreas Koenig <andk@cpan.org>
• Branislav Zahradnik <barney@cpan.org>

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And that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖 This lil icon was brought to you by perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-11-03 — iykyk 🌸🦋✨