NAME

       Parse::CPAN::Packages - Parse 02packages.details.txt.gz

SYNOPSIS

         use Parse::CPAN::Packages;

         # must have downloaded
         my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new("02packages.details.txt.gz");
         # either a filename as above or pass in the contents of the file
         # (uncompressed)
         my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($packages_details_contents);

         my $m = $p->package("Acme::Colour");
         # $m is a Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package object
         print $m->package, "\n";   # Acme::Colour
         print $m->version, "\n";   # 1.00

         my $d = $m->distribution();
         # $d is a Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution object
         print $d->prefix, "\n";    # L/LB/LBROCARD/Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz
         print $d->dist, "\n";      # Acme-Colour
         print $d->version, "\n";   # 1.00
         print $d->maturity, "\n";  # released
         print $d->filename, "\n";  # Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz
         print $d->cpanid, "\n";    # LBROCARD
         print $d->distvname, "\n"; # Acme-Colour-1.00

         # all the package objects
         my @packages = $p->packages;

         # all the distribution objects
         my @distributions = $p->distributions;

         # the latest distribution
         $d = $p->latest_distribution("Acme-Colour");
         is($d->prefix, "L/LB/LBROCARD/Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz");
         is($d->version, "1.00");

         # all the latest distributions
         my @distributions = $p->latest_distributions;

DESCRIPTION

       The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) is a very useful collection of Perl code. It
       has several indices of the files that it hosts, including a file named
       "02packages.details.txt.gz" in the "modules" directory. This file contains lots of useful
       information and this module provides a simple interface to the data contained within.

       In a future release Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package and Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution
       might have more information.

   Methods
       new Creates a new instance from a details file.

           The constructor can be passed either the path to the "02packages.details.txt.gz" file,
           a path to an ungzipped version of this file, or a scalar containing the entire
           uncompressed contents of the file.

           Note that this module does not concern itself with downloading this file. You should
           do this yourself.  For example:

              use LWP::Simple qw(get);
              my $data = get("http://www.cpan.org/modules/02packages.details.txt.gz");
              my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($data);

           If you have a configured CPAN, then there's usually already a cached file available:

              use CPAN;
              $CPAN::Be_Silent = 1;
              CPAN::HandleConfig->load;
              my $file = $CPAN::Config->{keep_source_where} . "/modules/02packages.details.txt.gz";
              my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($file);

       package($packagename)
           Returns a "Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package" that represents the named package.

             my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($gzfilename);
             my $package = $p->package("Acme::Colour");

       packages()
           Returns a list of Parse::CPAN::Packages::Package objects representing all the packages
           that were extracted from the file.

       package_count()
           Returns the number of packages stored.

       distribution($filename)
           Returns a Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution object that represents the filename
           passed:

             my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($gzfilename);
             my $dist = $p->distribution('L/LB/LBROCARD/Acme-Colour-1.00.tar.gz');

       distributions()
           Returns a list of Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution objects representing all the
           known distributions.

       distribution_count()
           Returns the number of distributions stored.

       latest_distribution($distname)
           Returns the "Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution" object that represents the latest
           distribution for the named disribution passed, that is to say it returns the
           distribution that has the highest version number (as determined by version.pm or
           number comparison if that fails):

             my $p = Parse::CPAN::Packages->new($gzfilename);
             my $dist = $p->distribution('Acme-Color');

       latest_distrbutions()
           Returns a list of Parse::CPAN::Packages::Distribution objects representing all the
           latest distributions.

       latest_distribution_count()
           Returns the number of distributions stored.

   Preamble Methods
       These methods return the information from the preamble at the start of the file. They
       return undef if for any reason no matching preamble line was found.

       file()
       url()
       description()
       columns()
       intended_for()
       written_by()
       line_count()
       last_updated()

   Addtional Methods
       These are additional methods that you may find useful.

       parse($filename)
           Parses the filename.  Works in a similar fashion to the the constructor (i.e. you can
           pass it a filename for a compressed/1uncompressed file, a uncompressed scalar
           containing the file.  You can also pass nothing to indicate to load the compressed
           file from the current working directory.)

           Note that each time this function is run the packages and distribtions found will be
           "added" to the current list of packages.

       add_quick($package_name, $package_version, $prefix)
           Quick way of adding a new package and distribution.

       add_package($package_obj)
           Adds a package.  Note that you'll probably want to add the corrisponding distribution
           for that package too (it's not done automatically.)

       add_distribution($distribution_obj)
           Adds a distribution.  Note that you'll probably want to add the corresponding packages
           for that distribution too (it's not done automatically.)

       distribution_from_prefix($prefix)
           Returns a distribution given a prefix.

       latest_distributions
           Returns all the latest distributions:

             my @distributions = $p->latest_distributions;

AUTHOR

       Leon Brocard <acme@astray.com>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2004-9, Leon Brocard

LICENSE

       This module is free software; you can redistribute it or modify it under the same terms as
       Perl itself.

BUGS

       This module leaks memory as packages hold distributions and distributions hold packages.
       No attempt has been made to fix this as it's not anticpated that this will be used in long
       running programs that will dispose of the objects once created.

       The old interface for "new" where if you passed no arguments it would look for a
       "02packages.details.txt.gz" in your current directory is no longer supported.

TODO

       delete_* methods.  merge_into method.  Documentation for other modules.

SEE ALSO

       CPAN::DistInfoname, Parse::CPAN::Packages::Writer.