Parse::CPAN::Packages(3pm)				User Contributed Perl Documentation				Parse::CPAN::Packages(3pm)

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, "
";   # Acme::Colour
	 print $m->version, "
";   # 1.00

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

perl v5.12.4							    2011-09-12						Parse::CPAN::Packages(3pm)