Ubuntu Manpage: Perl::MinimumVersion - Find a minimum required version of perl for Perl code

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oracular (3) Perl::MinimumVersion.3pm.gz

Provided by: libperl-minimumversion-perl_1.40-1_all

NAME

       Perl::MinimumVersion - Find a minimum required version of perl for Perl code

SYNOPSIS

         # Create the version checking object
         $object = Perl::MinimumVersion->new( $filename );
         $object = Perl::MinimumVersion->new( \$source  );
         $object = Perl::MinimumVersion->new( $ppi_document );

         # Find the minimum version
         $version = $object->minimum_version;

DESCRIPTION

       "Perl::MinimumVersion" takes Perl source code and calculates the minimum version of perl required to be
       able to run it. Because it is based on PPI, it can do this without having to actually load the code.

       Currently it tests both the syntax of your code, and the use of explicit version dependencies such as
       "require 5.005".

       Future plans are to also add support for tracing module dependencies.

       Using "Perl::MinimumVersion" is dead simple, the synopsis pretty much covers it.

       The distribution comes with a script called perlver, which is the easiest way to run
       "Perl::MinimumVersion" on your code:

        % perlver lib/Foo/Bar.pm

       See the documentation for perlver for more details.

METHODS

new
# Create the version checking object
$object = Perl::MinimumVersion->new( $filename );
$object = Perl::MinimumVersion->new( \$source );
$object = Perl::MinimumVersion->new( $ppi_document );

The "new" constructor creates a new version checking object for a PPI::Document. You can also provide the
document to be read as a file name, or as a "SCALAR" reference containing the code.

Returns a new "Perl::MinimumVersion" object, or "undef" on error.

Document
The "Document" accessor can be used to get the PPI::Document object back out of the version checker.

minimum_version
The "minimum_version" method is the primary method for finding the minimum perl version required based on
"all" factors in the document.

At the present time, this is just syntax and explicit version checks, as Perl::Depends is not yet
completed.

Returns a version object, or "undef" on error.

minimum_explicit_version
The "minimum_explicit_version" method checks through Perl code for the use of explicit version
dependencies such as.

use 5.006;
require 5.005_03;

Although there is almost always only one of these in a file, if more than one are found, the highest
version dependency will be returned.

Returns a version object, false if no dependencies could be found, or "undef" on error.

minimum_syntax_version $limit
The "minimum_syntax_version" method will explicitly test only the Document's syntax to determine it's
minimum version, to the extent that this is possible.

It takes an optional parameter of a version object defining the lowest known current value. For example,
if it is already known that it must be 5.006 or higher, then you can provide a param of qv(5.006) and the
method will not run any of the tests below this version. This should provide dramatic speed improvements
for large and/or complex documents.

The limitations of parsing Perl mean that this method may provide artificially low results, but should
not artificially high results.

For example, if "minimum_syntax_version" returned 5.006, you can be confident it will not run on anything
lower, although there is a chance that during actual execution it may use some untestable feature that
creates a dependency on a higher version.

Returns a version object, false if no dependencies could be found, or "undef" on error.

minimum_external_version
WARNING: This method has not been implemented. Any attempted use will throw an exception

The "minimum_external_version" examines code for dependencies on other external files, and recursively
traverses the dependency tree applying the same tests to those files as it does to the original.

Returns a "version" object, false if no dependencies could be found, or "undef" on error.

version_markers
This method returns a list of pairs in the form:

($version, \@markers)

Each pair represents all the markers that could be found indicating that the version was the minimum
needed version. @markers is an array of strings. Currently, these strings are not as clear as they
might be, but this may be changed in the future. In other words: don't rely on them as specific
identifiers.

BUGS

       Perl::MinimumVersion does a reasonable job of catching the best-known explicit version dependencies.

       However it is exceedingly easy to add a new syntax check, so if you find something this is missing, copy
       and paste one of the existing 5 line checking functions, modify it to find what you want, and report it
       to rt.cpan.org, along with the version needed.

       I don't even need an entire diff... just the function and version.

TO DO

       Write lots more version checkers

       - Perl 5.10 operators and language structures

       - Three-argument open

       Write the explicit version checker

       Write the recursive module descend stuff

       _while_readdir for postfix while without brackets

       Check for more 5.12 features (currently only detecting "package NAME VERSION;", "...", and "use feature
       ':5.12'")

SUPPORT

       All bugs should be filed via the CPAN bug tracker at

       <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Perl-MinimumVersion>

       For other issues, or commercial enhancement or support, contact the author.

AUTHORS

       Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

REPOSITORY

       <https://github.com/neilbowers/Perl-MinimumVersion>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2005 - 2014 Adam Kennedy.

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

       The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.