1MRO::Compat(3)        User Contributed Perl Documentation       MRO::Compat(3)
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NAME

6       MRO::Compat - mro::* interface compatibility for Perls < 5.9.5
7

SYNOPSIS

9          package FooClass; use base qw/X Y Z/;
10          package X;        use base qw/ZZZ/;
11          package Y;        use base qw/ZZZ/;
12          package Z;        use base qw/ZZZ/;
13
14          package main;
15          use MRO::Compat;
16          my $linear = mro::get_linear_isa('FooClass');
17          print join(q{, }, @$linear);
18
19          # Prints: "FooClass, X, ZZZ, Y, Z"
20

DESCRIPTION

22       The "mro" namespace provides several utilities for dealing with method
23       resolution order and method caching in general in Perl 5.9.5 and
24       higher.
25
26       This module provides those interfaces for earlier versions of Perl
27       (back to 5.6.0 anyways).
28
29       It is a harmless no-op to use this module on 5.9.5+.  That is to say,
30       code which properly uses MRO::Compat will work unmodified on both older
31       Perls and 5.9.5+.
32
33       If you're writing a piece of software that would like to use the parts
34       of 5.9.5+'s mro:: interfaces that are supported here, and you want
35       compatibility with older Perls, this is the module for you.
36
37       Some parts of this code will work better and/or faster with
38       Class::C3::XS installed (which is an optional prereq of Class::C3,
39       which is in turn a prereq of this package), but it's not a requirement.
40
41       This module never exports any functions.  All calls must be fully
42       qualified with the "mro::" prefix.
43
44       The interface documentation here serves only as a quick reference of
45       what the function basically does, and what differences between
46       MRO::Compat and 5.9.5+ one should look out for.  The main docs in
47       5.9.5's mro are the real interface docs, and contain a lot of other
48       useful information.
49

Functions

51   mro::get_linear_isa($classname[, $type])
52       Returns an arrayref which is the linearized "ISA" of the given class.
53       Uses whichever MRO is currently in effect for that class by default, or
54       the given MRO (either "c3" or "dfs" if specified as $type).
55
56       The linearized ISA of a class is a single ordered list of all of the
57       classes that would be visited in the process of resolving a method on
58       the given class, starting with itself.  It does not include any
59       duplicate entries.
60
61       Note that "UNIVERSAL" (and any members of "UNIVERSAL"'s MRO) are not
62       part of the MRO of a class, even though all classes implicitly inherit
63       methods from "UNIVERSAL" and its parents.
64
65   mro::import
66       This allows the "use mro 'dfs'" and "use mro 'c3'" syntaxes, providing
67       you "use MRO::Compat" first.  Please see the "USING C3" section for
68       additional details.
69
70   mro::set_mro($classname, $type)
71       Sets the mro of $classname to one of the types "dfs" or "c3".  Please
72       see the "USING C3" section for additional details.
73
74   mro::get_mro($classname)
75       Returns the MRO of the given class (either "c3" or "dfs").
76
77       It considers any Class::C3-using class to have C3 MRO even before
78       Class::C3::initialize() is called.
79
80   mro::get_isarev($classname)
81       Returns an arrayref of classes who are subclasses of the given
82       classname.  In other words, classes in whose @ISA hierarchy we appear,
83       no matter how indirectly.
84
85       This is much slower on pre-5.9.5 Perls with MRO::Compat than it is on
86       5.9.5+, as it has to search the entire package namespace.
87
88   mro::is_universal($classname)
89       Returns a boolean status indicating whether or not the given classname
90       is either "UNIVERSAL" itself, or one of "UNIVERSAL"'s parents by @ISA
91       inheritance.
92
93       Any class for which this function returns true is "universal" in the
94       sense that all classes potentially inherit methods from it.
95
96   mro::invalidate_all_method_caches
97       Increments "PL_sub_generation", which invalidates method caching in all
98       packages.
99
100       Please note that this is rarely necessary, unless you are dealing with
101       a situation which is known to confuse Perl's method caching.
102
103   mro::method_changed_in($classname)
104       Invalidates the method cache of any classes dependent on the given
105       class.  In MRO::Compat on pre-5.9.5 Perls, this is an alias for
106       "mro::invalidate_all_method_caches" above, as pre-5.9.5 Perls have no
107       other way to do this.  It will still enforce the requirement that you
108       pass it a classname, for compatibility.
109
110       Please note that this is rarely necessary, unless you are dealing with
111       a situation which is known to confuse Perl's method caching.
112
113   mro::get_pkg_gen($classname)
114       Returns an integer which is incremented every time a local method of or
115       the @ISA of the given package changes on Perl 5.9.5+.  On earlier Perls
116       with this MRO::Compat module, it will probably increment a lot more
117       often than necessary.
118

USING C3

120       While this module makes the 5.9.5+ syntaxes "use mro 'c3'" and
121       "mro::set_mro("Foo", 'c3')" available on older Perls, it does so merely
122       by passing off the work to Class::C3.
123
124       It does not remove the need for you to call "Class::C3::initialize()",
125       "Class::C3::reinitialize()", and/or "Class::C3::uninitialize()" at the
126       appropriate times as documented in the Class::C3 docs.  These three
127       functions are always provided by MRO::Compat, either via Class::C3
128       itself on older Perls, or directly as no-ops on 5.9.5+.
129

SEE ALSO

131       Class::C3
132
133       mro
134

AUTHOR

136       Brandon L. Black, <blblack@gmail.com>
137
139       Copyright 2007-2008 Brandon L. Black <blblack@gmail.com>
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141       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
142       under the same terms as Perl itself.
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146perl v5.12.0                      2009-05-27                    MRO::Compat(3)
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