# NAME

Module::Implementation - Loads one of several alternate underlying implementations for a module

# VERSION

version 0.09

# SYNOPSIS

    package Foo::Bar;

    use Module::Implementation;

    BEGIN {
        my $loader = Module::Implementation::build_loader_sub(
            implementations => [ 'XS',  'PurePerl' ],
            symbols         => [ 'run', 'check' ],
        );

        $loader->();
    }

    package Consumer;

    # loads the first viable implementation
    use Foo::Bar;

# DESCRIPTION

This module abstracts out the process of choosing one of several underlying
implementations for a module. This can be used to provide XS and pure Perl
implementations of a module, or it could be used to load an implementation for
a given OS or any other case of needing to provide multiple implementations.

This module is only useful when you know all the implementations ahead of
time. If you want to load arbitrary implementations then you probably want
something like a plugin system, not this module.

# API

This module provides two subroutines, neither of which are exported.

## Module::Implementation::build\_loader\_sub(...)

This subroutine takes the following arguments.

- implementations

    This should be an array reference of implementation names. Each name should
    correspond to a module in the caller's namespace.

    In other words, using the example in the ["SYNOPSIS"](#synopsis), this module will look
    for the `Foo::Bar::XS` and `Foo::Bar::PurePerl` modules.

    This argument is required.

- symbols

    A list of symbols to copy from the implementation package to the calling
    package.

    These can be prefixed with a variable type: `$`, `@`, `%`, `&`, or
    `*)`. If no prefix is given, the symbol is assumed to be a subroutine.

    This argument is optional.

This subroutine _returns_ the implementation loader as a sub reference.

It is up to you to call this loader sub in your code.

I recommend that you _do not_ call this loader in an `import()` sub. If a
caller explicitly requests no imports, your `import()` sub will not be run at
all, which can cause weird breakage.

## Module::Implementation::implementation\_for($package)

Given a package name, this subroutine returns the implementation that was
loaded for the package. This is not a full package name, just the suffix that
identifies the implementation. For the ["SYNOPSIS"](#synopsis) example, this subroutine
would be called as `Module::Implementation::implementation_for('Foo::Bar')`,
and it would return "XS" or "PurePerl".

# HOW THE IMPLEMENTATION LOADER WORKS

The implementation loader works like this ...

First, it checks for an `%ENV` var specifying the implementation to load. The
env var is based on the package name which loads the implementations. The
`::` package separator is replaced with `_`, and made entirely
upper-case. Finally, we append "\_IMPLEMENTATION" to this name.

So in our ["SYNOPSIS"](#synopsis) example, the corresponding `%ENV` key would be
`FOO_BAR_IMPLEMENTATION`.

If this is set, then the loader will **only** try to load this one
implementation.

If the env var requests an implementation which doesn't match one of the
implementations specified when the loader was created, an error is thrown.

If this one implementation fails to load then loader throws an error. This is
useful for testing. You can request a specific implementation in a test file
by writing something like this:

    BEGIN { $ENV{FOO_BAR_IMPLEMENTATION} = 'XS' }
    use Foo::Bar;

If the environment variable is _not_ set, then the loader simply tries the
implementations originally passed to `Module::Implementation`. The
implementations are tried in the order in which they were originally passed.

The loader will use the first implementation that loads without an error. It
will copy any requested symbols from this implementation.

If none of the implementations can be loaded, then the loader throws an
exception.

The loader returns the name of the package it loaded.

# AUTHOR

Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org>

# COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is Copyright (c) 2014 by Dave Rolsky.

This is free software, licensed under:

    The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible)