ExtUtil...llPaths(3)

📦
version 0.015 · 13 versions
, in fedora 43

💖 NAME 💖

ExtUtils::InstallPaths — Build.PL install path logic made easy ✨

(also lowkey known as ExtUtil...llPaths(3) in the User Contributed Perl Documentation corner of the manpage world, iykyk 🫶)

🎀 VERSION 🎀

version 0.015 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

use ExtUtils::InstallPaths;
use ExtUtils::Install 'install';
GetOptions(\my %opt, 'install_base=s', 'install_path=s%', 'installdirs=s', 'destdir=s', 'prefix=s', 'uninst:1', 'verbose:1');
my $paths = ExtUtils::InstallPaths->new(%opt, dist_name => $dist_name);
install($paths->install_map, $opt{verbose}, 0, $opt{uninst});

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so bestie, this module is literally here to make install path resolution as easy as possible. that's the whole assignment. periodt. 💅

So when you wanna install a module, something has to figure out where the things go. The nutshell version of how this works: default installation locations are determined from ExtUtils::Config, and they may be individually overridden by using the install_path attribute. Then an install_base attribute lets you specify an alternative installation root like /home/foo, and prefix does something similar in a rather different (and more complicated) way 👀. And destdir lets you specify a temporary installation directory like /tmp/install in case you want to create bundled-up installable packages. iconic behaviour, truly.

The following types are supported by default. 🫶

  • lib — Usually pure-Perl module files ending in .pm or .pod.
  • arch — "Architecture-dependent" module files, usually produced by compiling XS, Inline, or similar code.
  • script — Programs written in pure Perl. In order to improve reuse, you may want to make these as small as possible — put the code into modules whenever possible.
  • bin — "Architecture-dependent" executable programs, i.e. compiled C code or something. Pretty rare to see this in a perl distribution, but it happens.
  • bindoc — Documentation for the stuff in script and bin. Usually generated from the POD in those files. Under Unix, these are manual pages belonging to the 'man1' category. Unless explicitly set, this is only available on platforms supporting manpages.
  • libdoc — Documentation for the stuff in lib and arch. This is usually generated from the POD in .pm and .pod files. Under Unix, these are manual pages belonging to the 'man3' category. Unless explicitly set, this is only available on platforms supporting manpages.
  • binhtml — This is the same as bindoc above, but applies to HTML documents. Unless explicitly set, this is only available when perl was configured to do so.
  • libhtml — This is the same as libdoc above, but applies to HTML documents. Unless explicitly set, this is only available when perl was configured to do so.

👑 ATTRIBUTES 👑

installdirs

The default destinations for these installable things come from entries in your system's configuration. You can select from three different sets of default locations by setting the installdirs parameter as follows:

                                 'installdirs' set to:
                          core          site                vendor

                     uses the following defaults from ExtUtils::Config:

         lib     => installprivlib  installsitelib      installvendorlib
         arch    => installarchlib  installsitearch     installvendorarch
         script  => installscript   installsitescript   installvendorscript
         bin     => installbin      installsitebin      installvendorbin
         bindoc  => installman1dir  installsiteman1dir  installvendorman1dir
         libdoc  => installman3dir  installsiteman3dir  installvendorman3dir
         binhtml => installhtml1dir installsitehtml1dir installvendorhtml1dir [*]
         libhtml => installhtml3dir installsitehtml3dir installvendorhtml3dir [*]

         * Under some OS (eg. MSWin32) the destination for HTML documents is determined by the C<Config.pm> entry C<installhtmldir>.

The default value of installdirs is site. ✨

install_base

You can also set the whole bunch of installation paths by supplying the install_base parameter to point to a directory on your system. For instance, if you set install_base to /home/ken on a Linux system, you'll install as follows:

  lib     => /home/ken/lib/perl5
  arch    => /home/ken/lib/perl5/i386-linux
  script  => /home/ken/bin
  bin     => /home/ken/bin
  bindoc  => /home/ken/man/man1
  libdoc  => /home/ken/man/man3
  binhtml => /home/ken/html
  libhtml => /home/ken/html

prefix

This sets a prefix, identical to ExtUtils::MakeMaker's PREFIX option. This does something similar to install_base in a much more complicated way. 😭

config()

The ExtUtils::Config object used for this object.

verbose

The verbosity of ExtUtils::InstallPaths. It defaults to 0.

create_packlist

Together with module_name this controls whether a packlist will be added; it defaults to 1.

dist_name

The name of the current module.

module_name

The name of the main module of the package. This is required for packlist creation, but in the future it may be replaced by dist_name. It defaults to dist_name =~ s/-/::/gr if dist_name is set.

destdir

If you want to install everything into a temporary directory first (for instance, if you want to create a directory tree that a package manager like rpm or dpkg could create a package from), you can use the destdir parameter. E.g. Setting destdir to /tmp/foo will effectively install to /tmp/foo/$sitelib, /tmp/foo/$sitearch, and the like, except that it will use File::Spec to make the pathnames work correctly on whatever platform you're installing on. 🧚

🔥 METHODS 🔥

new

Create a new ExtUtils::InstallPaths object. All attributes are valid arguments to the constructor, as well as this:

  • install_path — This must be a hashref with the type as keys and the destination as values.
  • install_base_relpaths — This must be a hashref with types as keys and a path relative to the install_base as value.
  • prefix_relpaths — This must be a hashref any of these three keys: core, vendor, site. Each of the values mush be a hashref with types as keys and a path relative to the prefix as value. You probably want to make these three hashrefs identical.
  • original_prefix — This must be a hashref with the legal installdirs values as keys and the prefix directories as values.
  • install_sets — This mush be a hashref with the legal installdirs are keys, and the values being hashrefs with types as keys and locations as values.

install_map()

Return a map suitable for use with ExtUtils::Install. In most cases, this is the only method you'll need. 💅

install_destination($type)

Returns the destination of a certain type.

install_types()

Return a list of all supported install types in the current configuration.

is_default_installable($type)

Given a file type, will return true if the file type would normally be installed when neither install-base nor prefix has been set. I.e. it will be true only if the path is set from the configuration object or set explicitly by the user via install_path.

install_path($type)

Gets the install path for a certain type.

install_sets($installdirs, $type)

Get the path for a certain $type with a certain $installdirs.

install_base_relpaths($type, $relpath)

Get the relative paths for use with install_base for a certain type.

prefix_relative($installdirs, $type)

Gets the path of a certain $type and $installdirs relative to the prefix.

prefix_relpaths($install_dirs, $type)

Get the default relative path to use in case the config install paths cannot be prefixified. You do not want to use this to get any relative path, but may require it to set it for custom types.

original_prefix($installdirs)

Get the original prefix for a certain type of $installdirs.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

💜 AUTHORS 💜

  • Ken Williams <kwilliams@cpan.org>
  • Leon Timmermans <fawaka@gmail.com>

This software is copyright (c) 2011 by Ken Williams, Leon Timmermans.

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

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🎀 this lil' slice of User Contributed Perl Documentation was served up by perl v5.42.0, dated 2025-09-27 — go forth and install things in exactly the right place, you absolute icon 👑💖✨

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