Exclude files and directories in tarfile for CPAN upload

[LanX]

Hi

the title says it already, I have a project directory for a distribution which I want to tar.gz for CPAN.

But it contains backup files, a massive .git dir and a dir with dev stuff (experimental code, etc)

What's the easiest way to filter them out? Kind of similar to .gitignore?

...

Well while typing this post I found those promising exclude options and will test them out.

Posting this anyway as an info for the archives ... ¹

¹) no pun intended :)

[SankoR]

Are you hand rolling dists? The classics (ExtUtils::MakeMaker, Module::Build, Dist::Zilla, and Minilla) all support MANIFEST.SKIP.

[LanX]

I went canonical and read
• https://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_contribute_modules
• https://www.cpan.org/modules/04pause.html
both don't really mention ExtUtils::MakeMaker, Module::Build, Dist::Zilla, and Minilla

As a side note: Confusingly did Module::Starter create a README, but PAUSE says not to upload one...

[Discipulus]

So do you used Module::Starter ?

The short documentation of the module says:

The ignores_type is a new feature that allows one to create SCM-specif
+ic ignore files. These are the mappings:

ignores_type => 'generic'  # default, creates 'ignore.txt'
ignores_type => 'cvs'      # creates .cvsignore
ignores_type => 'git'      # creates .gitignore
ignores_type => 'hg'       # creates .hgignore
ignores_type => 'manifest' # creates MANIFEST.SKIP

Go canonical and use my guide ;)

L*

PS the above module ships with the module-starter program inside /bin and this is the suggested method to follow. The program has the option --ignores=type the sets the above mentioned ignores_type internal option. It defaults to txt creating ignore.txt

[hippo]

Confusingly did Module::Starter create a README, but PAUSE says not to upload one...

The PAUSE document is advising you not to upload a separate README file individually outside of the distribution tarball. That's a totally different thing from including a README inside the tarball which you absolutely should do.

[Discipulus]

Hello,

I'm with SankoR and, for the archives, you can read about MANIFEST.SKIP in What are the files in a CPAN distribution? too.

L*

[stevieb]

I'm with my previously posting Monks... MANIFEST.SKIP.

When first writing for the CPAN, it's easy to manually ensure. When you're to the point of maintaining multiple distributions, it's equally easy to automate.