Dist::Zilla and Module::Build are two popular Perl tools used for automating the process of building, testing, and releasing Perl modules.
Dist::Zilla is a powerful tool that provides a pipeline for various assembly and testing phases. It is designed to automate the process of building, testing, and releasing modules on the CPAN. This tool makes it easy for developers to manage complex module distributions by automating the building process. It provides a few default plugins to automate various stages of the distribution assembly process, including:
- Git: The Git plugin allows for managing source code using the Git version control system. It facilitates managing branches, committing changes, and tagging releases.
- Prereqs: The Prereqs plugin is used to list module dependencies and ensure that they are installed for a development or end user environment.
- Test: The Test plugin provides a suite of automated tests to be executed once the distribution has been built.
Dist::Zilla plugins provide a lot of flexibility to developers who can configure the sequence of tasks and the order in which they are executed. Each module can be customized to meet the specific requirements of the distribution.
Module::Build is a build system used to build, test, and install Perl modules. It offers a better alternative to the standard Perl build tool, ExtUtils::MakeMaker. Module::Build offers a lot of flexibility for configuring and customizing build and test operations. It also offers several built-in plugins for building, testing, and releasing Perl module distributions.
Module::Build provides built-in plugins for tasks like:
- Build: Compiling code and creating the distribution archive.
- Test: Running unit and integration tests.
- Install: Installing the built module and its dependencies.
- Clean: Cleaning up temporary files and directories.
Module::Build also provides hooks to customize the build process. The hooks provide the ability to execute some actions or commands at specific stages of the build, test, or installation process.
Both Dist::Zilla and Module::Build automate the process of building, testing, and releasing Perl modules, saving developers a lot of time and effort. By using these tools, developers can focus more on creating great modules rather than worrying about the tedious build and test process.