Devel:...::Hints(3pm)

✨ NAME ✨

Devel::PatchPerl::Hints — replacement 'hints' files 💅

(okay so this is a Perl module, it lives in the Perl documentation, and honestly? it fixes something that has been personally victimizing people for years. stay with me bestie 🫶)

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🌸 VERSION 🌸

version 2.14

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

use Devel::PatchPerl::Hints;

if ( my $content = Devel::PatchPerl::Hints->hint_file() ) {
  chmod 0644, 'hints/netbsd.sh' or die "$!";
  open my $hints, '>', 'hints/netbsd.sh' or die "$!";
  print $hints $content;
  close $hints;
}

# Get a list of OS for which we have hints

my @os = Devel::PatchPerl::Hints->hints();

like... look at that. chmod, open, print, close. she's doing the whole file-writing ritual herself and this module is just handing her the goods ✨

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

So here's the tea ☕: sometimes there is a problem with Perl's "hints" file for a particular perl port. Yeah. The hints file. That one file that is supposed to know everything about your OS and occasionally just... doesn't. 😭

This module provides fixed "hints" files encoded using "MIME::Base64". That's it. That's the whole job. The fixed files get base64'd so they can ride along safely inside the module, and you pull them out, decode them, and write them where they belong. no cap 🧚

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💖 FUNCTION 💖

Okay so the function is exported, but has to be implicitly imported into the requesting package. Which means you can't just say use Devel::PatchPerl::Hints; and expect it to appear in your namespace like magic — you have to actually ask for it:

use Devel::PatchPerl::Hints qw[hint_file];

It may also be called as a class method, if that's more your vibe:

use Devel::PatchPerl::Hints;

my $content = Devel::PatchPerl::Hints->hint_file();

"hint_file" 👑

• Takes an optional argument which is the OS name ( as would be returned by $^O ). By default it will use $^O. So if you don't pass her anything, she'll just look at where she's standing and figure it out herself. very main character energy 🌈
• In a scalar context, Will return the decoded content of the "hints" file suitable for writing straight to a file handle or undef list if there isn't an applicable "hints" file for the given or derived OS. (yes, that is genuinely what it says — undef list, okay, we're all just vibing with the wording here 💀)
• If called in a list context, will return a list, the first item will be the name of the "hints" file that will need to be amended, the second item will be a string with the decoded content of the "hints" file suitable for writing straight to a file handle. Otherwise an empty list will be returned.

⭐ little vibe check: scalar context → the content (or undef). list context → filename and content, or an empty list. that's the whole duality bestie, she contains multitudes 🫶

"hints" 🦋

Takes no arguments, returns a list of OS names for which there are "hints" files. That's it! no params, no drama, just a list of every OS she's got receipts for. obsessed 💅

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🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Chris Williams <chris@bingosnet.co.uk>

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👑 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE 👑

This software is copyright (c) 2025 by Chris Williams and Marcus Holland-Moritz.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! that's it!! genuinely ate, no crumbs, no notes 🎀✨

this one shipped with perl v5.40.1, dated 2025-10-04, and it's Devel:...::Hints(3pm) in the perl docs, in case you need to cite your sources 💖