NAME

       Probe::Perl - Information about the currently running perl

VERSION

       version 0.03

SYNOPSIS

        use Probe::Perl;
        $p = Probe::Perl->new();

        # Version of this perl as a floating point number
        $ver = $p->perl_version();
        $ver = Probe::Perl->perl_version();

        # Convert a multi-dotted string to a floating point number
        $ver = $p->perl_version_to_float($ver);
        $ver = Probe::Perl->perl_version_to_float($ver);

        # Check if the given perl is the same as the one currently running
        $bool = $p->perl_is_same($perl_path);
        $bool = Probe::Perl->perl_is_same($perl_path);

        # Find a path to the currently-running perl
        $path = $p->find_perl_interpreter();
        $path = Probe::Perl->find_perl_interpreter();

        # Get @INC before run-time additions
        @paths = $p->perl_inc();
        @paths = Probe::Perl->perl_inc();

        # Get the general type of operating system
        $type = $p->os_type();
        $type = Probe::Perl->os_type();

        # Access Config.pm values
        $val = $p->config('foo');
        $val = Probe::Perl->config('foo');
        $p->config('foo' => 'bar');  # Set locally
        $p->config_revert('foo');  # Revert

DESCRIPTION

       This module provides methods for obtaining information about the currently running perl
       interpreter.  It originally began life as code in the "Module::Build" project, but has
       been externalized here for general use.

METHODS

       new()
           Creates a new Probe::Perl object and returns it.  Most methods in the Probe::Perl
           packages are available as class methods, so you don't always need to create a new
           object.  But if you want to create a mutable view of the "Config.pm" data, it's
           necessary to create an object to store the values in.

       config( $key [, $value] )
           Returns the "Config.pm" value associated with $key.  If $value is also specified, then
           the value is set to $value for this view of the data.  In this case, "config()" must
           be called as an object method, not a class method.

       config_revert( $key )
           Removes any user-assigned value in this view of the "Config.pm" data.

       find_perl_interpreter( )
           Returns the absolute path of this perl interpreter.  This is actually sort of a tricky
           thing to discover sometimes - in these cases we use "perl_is_same()" to verify.

       perl_version( )
           Returns the version of this perl interpreter as a perl-styled version number using
           "perl_version_to_float()".  Uses $^V if your perl is recent enough, otherwise uses $].

       perl_version_to_float( $version )
           Formats $version as a perl-styled version number like 5.008001.

       perl_is_same( $perl )
           Given the name of a perl interpreter, this method determines if it has the same
           configuration as the one represented by the current perl instance.  Usually this means
           it's exactly the same

       perl_inc( )
           Returns a list of directories in this perl's @INC path, before any entries from "use
           lib", $ENV{PERL5LIB}, or "-I" switches are added.

       os_type( [$osname] )
           Returns a generic OS type (e.g. "Unix", "Windows", "MacOS") for the given OS name. If
           no OS name is given it uses the value in $^O, which is the same as $Config{osname}.

AUTHOR

       Randy W. Sims <randys@thepierianspring.org>

       Based partly on code from the Module::Build project, by Ken Williams <kwilliams@cpan.org>
       and others.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2005 Ken Williams and Randy Sims.  All rights reserved.

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