README
1NAME
2 Parse::CPAN::Packages - Parse 02packages.details.txt.gz
3
4SYNOPSIS
5 use Parse::CPAN::Packages;
6
7 # must have downloaded
8 my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new("02packages.details.txt.gz");
9 # either a filename as above or pass in the contents of the file
10 # (uncompressed)
11 my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($packages_details_contents);
12
13 my $m = $p->package("Acme::Colour");
14 # $m is a Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package object
15 print $m->package, "\n"; # Acme::Colour
16 print $m->version, "\n"; # 1.00
17
18 my $d = $m->distribution();
19 # $d is a Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution object
20 print $d->prefix, "\n"; # L/LB/LBROCARD/Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz
21 print $d->dist, "\n"; # Acme-Colour
22 print $d->version, "\n"; # 1.00
23 print $d->maturity, "\n"; # released
24 print $d->filename, "\n"; # Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz
25 print $d->cpanid, "\n"; # LBROCARD
26 print $d->distvname, "\n"; # Acme-Colour-1.00
27
28 # all the package objects
29 my @packages = $p->packages;
30
31 # all the distribution objects
32 my @distributions = $p->distributions;
33
34 # the latest distribution
35 $d = $p->latest_distribution("Acme-Colour");
36 is($d->prefix, "L/LB/LBROCARD/Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz");
37 is($d->version, "1.00");
38
39 # all the latest distributions
40 my @distributions = $p->latest_distributions;
41
42DESCRIPTION
43 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) is a very useful
44 collection of Perl code. It has several indices of the files that it
45 hosts, including a file named "02packages.details.txt.gz" in the
46 "modules" directory. This file contains lots of useful information and
47 this module provides a simple interface to the data contained within.
48
49 In a future release Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package and
50 Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution might have more information.
51
52 Methods
53 new Creates a new instance from a details file.
54
55 The constructor can be passed either the path to the
56 "02packages.details.txt.gz" file, a path to an ungzipped version of
57 this file, or a scalar containing the entire uncompressed contents
58 of the file.
59
60 Note that this module does not concern itself with downloading this
61 file. You should do this yourself. For example:
62
63 use LWP::Simple qw(get);
64 my $data = get("http://www.cpan.org/modules/02packages.details.txt.gz");
65 my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($data);
66
67 package($packagename)
68 Returns a "Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package" that represents the named
69 package.
70
71 my $p = Parse::CPAN::Distribution->new($gzfilename);
72 my $package = $p->package("Acme::Colour");
73
74 packages()
75 Returns a list of Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package objects
76 representing all the packages that were extracted from the file.
77
78 package_count()
79 Returns the numebr of packages stored.
80
81 distribution($filename)
82 Returns a Parse::CPAN::Distribution that represents the filename
83 passed:
84
85 my $p = Parse::CPAN::Distribution->new($gzfilename);
86 my $dist = $p->distribution('L/LB/LBROCARD/Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz');
87
88 distributions()
89 Returns a list of Parse::CPAN::Distribution objects representing all
90 the known distributions.
91
92 distribution_count()
93 Returns the number of distributions stored.
94
95 latest_distribution($distname)
96 Returns the "Parse::CPAN::Distribution" that represents the latest
97 distribution for the named disribution passed, that is to say it
98 returns the distribution that has the highest version number (as
99 determined by version.pm or number comparison if that fails):
100
101 my $p = Parse::CPAN::Distribution->new($gzfilename);
102 my $dist = $p->distribution('Acme-Color');
103
104 latest_distrbutions()
105 Returns a list of Parse::CPAN::Distribution objects representing all
106 the latest distributions.
107
108 latest_distribution_count()
109 Returns the number of distributions stored.
110
111 Preamble Methods
112 These methods return the information from the preamble at the start of
113 the file. They return undef if for any reason no matching preamble line
114 was found.
115
116 file()
117 url()
118 description()
119 columns()
120 intended_for()
121 written_by()
122 line_count()
123 last_updated()
124
125 Addtional Methods
126 These are additional methods that you may find useful.
127
128 parse($filename)
129 Parses the filename. Works in a similar fashion to the the
130 constructor (i.e. you can pass it a filename for a
131 compressed/1uncompressed file, a uncompressed scalar containing the
132 file. You can also pass nothing to indicate to load the compressed
133 file from the current working directory.)
134
135 Note that each time this function is run the packages and
136 distribtions found will be "added" to the current list of packages.
137
138 add_quick($package_name, $package_version, $prefix)
139 Quick way of adding a new package and distribution.
140
141 add_package($package_obj)
142 Adds a package. Note that you'll probably want to add the
143 corrisponding distribution for that package too (it's not done
144 automatically.)
145
146 add_distribution($distribution_obj)
147 Adds a distribution. Note that you'll probably want to add the
148 corrisponding packages for that distribution too (it's not done
149 automatically.)
150
151AUTHOR
152 Leon Brocard <acme@astray.com>
153
154COPYRIGHT
155 Copyright (C) 2004-9, Leon Brocard
156
157LICENSE
158 This module is free software; you can redistribute it or modify it under
159 the same terms as Perl itself.
160
161BUGS
162 This module leaks memory as packages hold distributions and
163 distributions hold packages. No attempt has been made to fix this as
164 it's not anticpated that this will be used in long running programs that
165 will dispose of the objects once created.
166
167 The old interface for "new" where if you passed no arguments it would
168 look for a "02packages.details.txt.gz" in your current directory is no
169 longer supported.
170
171TODO
172 delete_* methods. merge_into method. Documentation for other modules.
173
174SEE ALSO
175 CPAN::DistInfoname, Parse::CPAN::Packages::Writer.
176
177