What does this ABSTRACT warning from MakeMaker mean?

[ehdonhon]

Hello monks,

I'm getting an odd warning whenever I try to generate a Makefile using ExtUtils::MakeMaker. I'm using MakeMaker version 5.45 on perl 5.6.1. It only happens with one of my modules. So, there must be something going on in my module that is causing it, but I don't even know where to start looking. Has anybody else ever encountered this warning? Can somebody fill me in on what it means, or what to check for in my module? The module was created using 'h2xs -X'.

WARNING: Setting ABSTRACT via file 'NewModule.pm' failed
 at /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.6.1/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm line 507

Like I said, it's a warning. The Makefile does get generated properly, and it works fine. I'm just really curious about this warning.

[crazyinsomniac]

While converter filled you in on the basics of the warning, there is no need to mess around with pod, although some would disagree, you can simply modify Makefile.PL. what h2xs -AX initially spits out is something like:

use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
# See lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm for details of how to influence
# the contents of the Makefile that is written.
WriteMakefile(
    'NAME'        => 'Foo::Bar::Baz',
    'VERSION_FROM'    => 'Baz.pm', # finds $VERSION
    'PREREQ_PM'        => {}, # e.g., Module::Name => 1.1
    ($] >= 5.005 ?    ## Add these new keywords supported since 5.005
      (ABSTRACT_FROM => 'Baz.pm', # retrieve abstract from module
       AUTHOR     => 'A. U. Thor <[e-mail]>') : 
+()),
);

Just remove the ABSTRACT_FROM line, or cut off the _FROM part, and let 'Baz.pm' be the abstract.

You definetly ought to give the ExtUtils::MakeMaker pod a look see, as well as take a closer look at Makefile.PL and the actual makefile that gets generated. I had lots of fun reading those when I was writing Pod::Stripper, or should I say, when I was writing the Pod::Stripper "distribution". Concidentally, the Pod::Stripper abstract is (in pod form):

=head1 NAME

Pod::Stripper - strip all pod, and output what's left

It's just a convention that most folk use Mod::Name - abstract here ... but since of the advent of ABSTRACT_FROM, I doubt anyone will change (I plan on staying lazy on that part).

Ok, enough shameless plugs. On a final note, I, and him, bot suggest you give perlmod and perlmodlib a few reads whilst devouring all the Make(file|Maker) stuff.

 


______crazyinsomniac_____________________________ Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. perl -e "$q=$_;map({chr unpack qq;H*;,$_}split(q;;,q*H*));print;$q/$q;"

[converter]

The ExtUtils::MakeMaker man page mentions this:

ABSTRACT_FROM
         Name of the file that contains the package description. MakeM
+aker looks for a line in the POD matching /^($pack­age\s-\s)(.*)/. Th
+is is typically the first line in the "=head1 NAME" section. $2 becom
+es the abstract.

MakeMaker wants to use the NAME section of your module's POD to generate an abstract. Visit the perlpod page for more information on POD.

[cnd]

Remove the spaces from in front of the module name in the NAME section.

e.g. WRONG:

=head1 NAME

        App::Btree - Native perl implimentation of Btree structure

Right:-

=head1 NAME

App::Btree - Native perl implimentation of Btree structure