WHAT? Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read (or Manifest::Read for brevity) is a Dist::Zilla plugin. It reads *annotated source* manifest, checks existence of all listed files and directories, and adds selected files to the distribution. Manifest::Read also does FileFinder role, providing the list of files for other plugins. WHY? Dist::Zilla advertises using GatherDir plugin to populate the distribution. However, GatherDir has disadvantage: it grabs really all the files from the source directory, including files which are not meant to be added to distribution, like previously built distribution tarball. You have to use either GatherDir parameters or dedicated plugins (e. g. PruneCruft) to exclude unwanted files from the distribution. However, risk to grab unwanted files remains. There is another (better to my taste) approach: grab only the files explicitly listed in the MANIFEST file. This is implemented by nice GatherFromManifest plugin. However I want a bit more. I also want to specify (and document) files (and directories) which are part of source, but should not be included to the distribution. For example: ex/ / Examples. ex/Assa/ / Very basic example. ex/Assa/dist.ini - dzil config file. ex/Assa/dzil.out - dzil output, included into user manual. lib/ / Modules to install: lib/Assa.pm + The primary module. t/ / Tests: t/advanced.t - Not ready yet, do not distribute. t/basic.t + Basic functional test. tools/ / Build tools: tools/run-examples.sh - Run examples, refresh dzil.out file. Changes + Release history. COPYING + License text. README - Source documentation. TODO - Plans and ideas. VERSION + Version number. NAMING perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read is official software name. However, in Perl world prefix "perl-" is redundant and not used. For example, on meta::cpan this software is named as Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read. In the rest of the documentation shortened name Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read is used as synonym for full name perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read. We are in the Perl world, aren't we? You may notice that name may be spelled with dashes (Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read) or with double colons (Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read). Strictly speaking, there is difference: the first one is software name, while the second is name of Perl package, but often these names are interchangeable especially if software consists of single package. FORMS You may face Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read in *source* or *distribution* forms. If you are going to have annotated source manifest, you will likely be interested in *using* Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read *distribution*. If you are going to *develop* (or *hack*) the Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read itself, you will likely need the *source*, not distribution. Since Perl is an interpreting language, modules in the distribution *look* like sources. Actually, they are Perl source files. But they are not *actual* sources, because they are *built* (preprocessed or generated) by Dist-Zilla. How to distinguish source and distribution: * Source may contain Mercurial files and directories .hgignore, .hgtags, .hg/, while distribution should not. * Source should contain dist.ini file, while distribution may not. * Source should *not* contain xt/ directory, while distribution should. * Name of source directory does *not* include version (e. g. Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read), while name of distribution does (e. g. Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read-v0.7.1). SOURCE Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read source is in Mercurial repository hosted on fedorapeople.org. To clone the entire repository: $ hg clone https://vandebugger.fedorapeople.org/hg/perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read Source Files Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read source files usually include a comment near the top of the file: This file is part of perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read. Not all source files are included into distribution. Some source files are used at distribution build time only, and not required for installation. DISTRIBUTION Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read distributions are published on CPAN . Generated Files Distribution may contain files preprocessed or generated by Dist-Zilla and its plugins. Some generated files are made from Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read source, but some are generated from third-party templates. Files generated from third-party templates usually include a comment near the top of the file: This file was generated with NAME (where *NAME* is a name of the plugin generated the file). Such files are *not* part of Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read source, and Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read copyright and license are not applicable to such files. INSTALLING With cpanm cpanm tool is (probably) the easiest way to install distribution. It automates downloading, building, testing, installing, and uninstalling. To install the latest version from CPAN: $ cpanm Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read To install a specific version (e. g. *v0.7.1*) from CPAN: $ cpanm Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read@v0.7.1 To install locally available distribution (e. g. previously downloaded from CPAN or built from sources): $ cpanm ./Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read-v0.7.1.tar.gz To uninstall the distribution: $ cpanm -U Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read Manually To install distribution tarball manually (let us assume you have version *v0.7.1* of the distribution): $ tar xaf Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read-v0.7.1.tar.gz $ cd Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read-v0.7.1 $ perl Build.PL $ ./Build build $ ./Build test $ ./Build install See Also How to install CPAN modules HACKING For hacking, you will need Mercurial, Perl interpreter and Dist-Zilla (with some plugins), and likely cpanm to install missed parts. Clone the repository first: $ hg clone https://vandebugger.fedorapeople.org/hg/perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read $ cd perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read To build a distribution from the source, run: $ dzil build If required Dist-Zilla plugins are missed, the dzil tool will warn you and show the command to install all the required plugins, e. g.: Required plugin Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Test::EOL isn't installed. Run 'dzil authordeps' to see a list of all required plugins. You can pipe the list to your CPAN client to install or update them: dzil authordeps --missing | cpanm To run the tests (to check primary software functionality): $ dzil test To run extended tests (to check source code style, documentation and other things which are not too important for software end users): $ dzil xtest To install the distribution: $ dzil install or $ cpanm ./Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read-VERSION.tar.gz where *VERSION* is a version of built distribution. To clean the directory: $ dzil clean DOCUMENTATION Online The easiest way is browsing the documentation online at meta::cpan . Locally Installed If you have the distribution installed, use perldoc tool to browse locally installed documentation: $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read::Manual $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read Built from Source Build Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read first (see "HACKING"), then: $ cd Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read-VERSION $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read::Manual $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Manifest::Read where *VERSION* is a version of built distribution. FEEDBACK CPAN Request Tracker The quickest way to report a bug in Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read is by sending email to bug-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read [at] rt.cpan.org. CPAN request tracker can be used via web interface also: Browse bugs Browsing bugs does not require authentication. Report bugs You need to be a CPAN author, have a BitCard account, or OpenID in order to report bugs via the web interface. (On 2015-04-27 I have logged in successfully with my LiveJournal OpenID, but my Google OpenID did not work for CPAN. I did not check other OpenID providers.) Send Email to Author As a last resort, send email to author: Van de Bugger . Please start message subject with "perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Manifest-Read:". GLOSSARY CPAN Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a large collection of Perl software and documentation. See cpan.org , What is CPAN? . Distribution Tarball, containing Perl modules and accompanying files (documentation, metainfo, tests). Usually distributions are uploaded to CPAN, and can be installed with dedicated tools (cpan, cpanm, and others). Module Perl library file, usually with .pm suffix. Usually contains one package. See perlmod . Package Perl language construct. See package and perlmod .