Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan?

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

So I'm trying to install Pod::ProjectDocs and it requires Syntax::Highlight::Universal. P/PA/PALANT/Syntax-Highlight-Universal-0.4.tar.gz from CPAN fails to build on my machine for some reason, but I downloaded M/MI/MISHOO/Syntax-Highlight-Universal-0.5.tar.gz and it builds fine with a perl Makefile.PL && make && make test && make install.

Version 0.4 was added to cpan in 2005 and 0.5 in 2009.

So, question: Even though the newer version (by a different author?) has been in CPAN for a while, why isn't it showing up when I search for it? It's not being mirrored by CPAN::Mini either apparently because it's not in 02packages.details.txt, but who decides what goes in there?

    cpan[4]> i /syntax::highlight::universal/          
    Module id = Syntax::Highlight::Universal
        DESCRIPTION  Syntax highlighter based on Colorer library
        CPAN_USERID  MISHOO (Mihai Bazon <mihai.bazon@gmail.com>)
        CPAN_VERSION 0.4
        CPAN_FILE    P/PA/PALANT/Syntax-Highlight-Universal-0.4.tar.gz
        UPLOAD_DATE  2005-03-13
        DSLIP_STATUS Rd+hp (released,developer,C++,hybrid,Standard-Per
+l)
        MANPAGE      Syntax::Highlight::Universal - Syntax highlightin
+g module based on the Colorer library
        INST_FILE    /opt/perl/perl-5.12.2/lib/site_perl/5.12.2/i686-l
+inux/Syntax/Highlight/Universal.pm
        INST_VERSION 0.5
    
    cpan[5]> d /syntax-highlight-universal/  
    Distribution id = P/PA/PALANT/Syntax-Highlight-Universal-0.4.tar.g
+z
        CPAN_USERID  PALANT (Wladimir Palant <palant@cpan.org>)
        CONTAINSMODS Syntax::Highlight::Universal
        UPLOAD_DATE  2005-03-13
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Re: Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan? by DStaal (Chaplain) on Feb 04, 2011 at 20:57 UTC
Sounds like the official maintainer is still PALANT, and unless they either give maintainership away or it it gets taken from them by the CPAN gods, their most recent version will be the official 'latest release'. (This prevents modules from getting stolen/hijacked.) MISHOO can petition for maintainership if they want, and it sounds like they probably should, if PALANT's version no longer is building on current boxes.	[reply]
Re^2: Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan? by Anonymous Monk on Feb 04, 2011 at 22:17 UTC
Sounds like the official maintainer is still PALANT, ... Actually, no that doesn't sound like the problem :) If you go to http://search.cpan.org/dist/Syntax-Highlight-Universal/ it shows http://search.cpan.org/~mishoo/Syntax-Highlight-Universal-0.5/ as the latest official release. This means its a bug with 02packages.details.txt.gz/modlist, which happens from time to time	[reply]
Re^3: Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan? by syphilis (Archbishop) on Feb 04, 2011 at 23:36 UTC
Furthermore, we find that the module is actually registered with mishoo ! Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re: Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan? by Khen1950fx (Canon) on Feb 05, 2011 at 08:51 UTC
If you look at the Makefile.PL, you'll find that PALANT is still listed as the author, so when you try to download it from CPAN, the PALANT v0.4 supplants MISHOO's v0.5, even though v0.5 is the current version.	[reply]
Re^2: Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan? by Anonymous Monk on Feb 05, 2011 at 10:15 UTC
If you look at the Makefile.PL, you'll find that PALANT is still listed as the author, so when you try to download it from CPAN, the PALANT v0.4 supplants MISHOO's v0.5, even though v0.5 is the current version. Nice theory, got anything to back it up?	[reply]
Re^3: Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan? by Khen1950fx (Canon) on Feb 05, 2011 at 12:20 UTC
Yes. In addition to the Makefile.PL, PALANT is still listed as the author in the README and META.yml.	[reply]
Re^4: Why isn't a newer version of a module installable from cpan? by Anonymous Monk on Feb 05, 2011 at 12:34 UTC

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