Inline::Module - Support for Inline-based CPAN Extension Modules

This document describes Inline::Module version 0.34. ";

In your module (say Acme::Math::XS):

use Acme::Math::XS::Inline C =>
  "long add(long a, long b) { return a + b; }";

In Makefile.PL:

use lib 'inc';
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
use Inline::Module;

WriteMakefile(
  NAME => 'Acme::Math::XS',
  postamble => {
    inline => {
      module => 'Acme::Math::XS',
      stub => 'Acme::Math::XS::Inline',
      ilsm => 'Inline::C',
      makestub => 1,
    },
  },
);

This module provides support and documentation for creating and maintaining CPAN extension modules. ie Writing XS modules without having to learn XS.

The Inline::Module::Tutorial explains the simple processes involved.

When used from a Makefile.PL, this module provides support for modifying the Makefile generated by ExtUtils::MakeMaker.

You just need to provide a postamble section. See below.

You also need to make sure that the inc/ directory is in @INC. This is where the build tools will be when your module is shipped to CPAN.

Arguments are key/value pairs.

module

module => 'My::Module',

Required. This is the module that contains inline C or C++ code. It can be an array ref of multiple modules.

stub

stub => 'My::Module::Inline',

Optional. This is the name of the Inline::Module generated stub module. It's value defaults to the module argument with '::Inline' appended. It can be an array ref of multiple modules.

ilsm

ilsm => 'Inline::CPP',

Optional. This is the Inline Language Support Module (ilsm) that you are using. It defaults to Inline::C. It can be an array ref of multiple ilsm-s.

makestub

makestub => 1,

This will cause the stubs to be updated every time the Makefile.PL is run.

bundle

bundle => 0,

By default Inline::Module will bundle all the dependencies under your distribution's inc/ directory. Setting this option to 0 will disable that, but then you are responsible for declaring all the dependencies yourself. Do this with the knowledge that if Inline::* APIs change, your distribution may break.

During development, Inline::Module needs to generate stub modules. For the case in the synopsis, it would need to generate Acme::Math::XS::Inline. There a couple ways to do this. The explicit way is:

perl -MInline::Module=makestub,Acme::Math::XS::Inline

You can also add makestub => 1 to your Makefile.PL inline section. Every time you run perl Makefile.PL as an author, the stubs will be generated under the lib/ directory.

When Inline is invoked it will use the .inline/ directory to do it. This is temporary build cache directory. You may want to add .inline/ to your .gitignore (or similar) file.

You may also want to add the stub file paths to .gitignore. You may also want to consider committing them. Even though they are generated code, they are very small and should almost never change. Committing them may be easier for your collaborating developers.

This module was written as the major portion of the work for a 2014 Perl Foundation grant:

http://news.perlfoundation.org/2014/09/grant-proposal-inlinecpp-modul.html

• Inline::Module::Tutorial

• Inline

• Inline::C

• Inline::CPP

Also see these modules made with Inline::Module:

• Alt::Acme::Math::XS::EUMM

  • Acme::Math::XS (Pure XS version)

• Alt::Acme::Math::XS::CPP

• Alt::Acme::Math::XS::DistZilla

• Alt::Acme::Math::XS::ModuleBuild

• Alt::Acme::Math::XS::ModuleInstall

• Alt::Acme::Math::XS::ZillaDist

• Alt::Acme::Math::XS::External

• Alt::Devel::GlobalDestruction::XS::Inline

• Alt::Math::Prime::FastSieve::Inline

And see these plugins for your favorite module framework:

• DistZilla::Plugin::InlineModule

• Module::Build::InlineModule

• Module::Install::InlineModule

When this module was first created in November 2014, we belatedly realized that there was already an Inline::Module on CPAN, by Ingy. The other one is to "inline" one module inside another. It appears that nobody uses the old one, but if that is not the case, contact INGY and he'll redo that one under another name.

Ingy döt Net <[email protected]>

Copyright 2014-2015. Ingy döt Net.

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

See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html