1Dist::Milla(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Dist::Milla(3)
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6 Dist::Milla - Distribution builder, Opinionated but Unobtrusive
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9 > milla new Dist-Name
10 > cd Dist-Name
11 > milla build
13 > milla release
14
16 Milla is a Dist::Zilla profile. It is a collection of Dist::Zilla
17 plugin bundle, minting profile and a command line wrapper. It is
18 designed around the "Convention over Configuration" philosophy
19 (Opinionated), and by default doesn't rewrite module files nor requires
20 you to change your workflow at all (Unobtrusive).
21 Experienced CPAN authors who know how to write CPAN distributions can
23 keep writing the code like before, but can remove lots of cruft, then
24 replace Module::Install and ShipIt with Dist::Zilla and Milla profile
25 for authoring, while you don't need to add anything other than a shiny
26 new cpanfile (optional), and a simple "dist.ini" saying:
27 [@Milla]
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31 Milla is opinionated. Milla has a slightly bold assumption and
32 convention like the followings, which are almost compatible to the
33 sister project Minilla.
34 Your module is Pure Perl, and files are stored in "lib"
36 Your executable file is in "script" directory, if any
37 Your dist sharedirs must be in "share" directory, if any
38 Your module is maintained with Git and "git ls-files" matches with what
39 you will release
40 Your module has a static list of prerequisites that can be described in
41 "cpanfile"
42 Your module has a Changes file
43 If you have a module that doesn't work with these conventions, no
45 worries. Because Milla is just a Dist::Zilla profile, you can just
46 upgrade to Dist::Zilla and enable/disable plugins that match with what
47 you need.
48
50 # First time only
51 > cpanm Dist::Milla
52 > milla setup
53 # Make a new distribution
55 > milla new Dist-Name
56 > cd Dist-Name
57 # git is already initialized and files are added for you
59 > git commit -m "initial commit"
60 # Hack your code!
62 > $EDITOR lib/Dist/Name.pm t/dist-name.t cpanfile
63 # (Optional; First time only) Make your build: This will get some boilerplate for git
65 > milla build
66 > git add Build.PL META.json README.md && git commit -m "git stuff"
67 # Done? Test and release it!
69 > $EDITOR Changes
70 > milla build
71 > milla release
72 It's that easy.
74 You already have distributions with Module::Install, Module::Build or
76 ShipIt? Migrating is also trivial. See "MIGRATING" in
77 Dist::Milla::Tutorial for more details.
78
80 WHY Dist::Zilla
81 A lot of you might have heard of Dist::Zilla (dzil). If you already use
82 it and love it, then you can stop reading this, or even using this
83 module at all.
84 If you heard of dzil and think it's overkill or doesn't work for your
86 module, this is why Milla exists.
87 If you have tried dzil ages ago and thought it was slow, or couldn't
89 find how to configure it to do what you want it to do, Milla will be
90 just for you.
91 First, let me tell you what's the reason to like Dist::Zilla.
93 Dist::Zilla doesn't do the job of installing of your module. So you can
95 focus on the authoring side of things with dzil, while letting
96 MakeMaker or Module::Build(::Tiny) to do the installation side of
97 things. I like this design. David Golden also has written an excellent
98 blog post <http://www.dagolden.com/index.php/752/why-im-using-
99 distzilla/> explaining more details about what this means.
100 That said, I myself have avoided switching to Dist::Zilla for a long
102 time. I actually tried a couple of times, but ended up giving up
103 switching to it. You can google for "Hate Dist::Zilla" and will be able
104 to find rants by similarly frustrated developers.
105 In my observation, typical problems/dislikes around Dist::Zilla can be
107 categorized into one of the following thoughts.
108 Dist::Zilla is slow
110 Dist::Zilla has too many dependencies
111 Dist::Zilla is obtrusive
112 Dist::Zilla makes contributing difficult
113 Dist::Zilla isn't just worth it
114 Let's see how we can address them by using Milla, one at a time.
116 Dist::Zilla is slow
118 Moose, the object system Dist::Zilla uses under the hood, has been
119 improved a lot for the past few years, and your development machine
120 has got a much better CPU and SSD as well. For me personally, with
121 all of Milla plugins loaded, "milla nop" takes roughly 1.5 second,
122 which I would say is acceptable since I only need to run it at a
123 distribution creation time and release time. More on that later.
124 Dist::Zilla has too many dependencies
126 This is true, and Milla doesn't solve that problem, because it adds
127 more dependencies on top of Dist::Zilla.
128 For a quickstart with Milla-like distribution building environment
130 without installing "half of CPAN", see the sister project Minilla.
131 Dist::Zilla is obtrusive
133 This was my main motivation for not switching to Dist::Zilla - the
134 thought that using Dist::Zilla would require me to change my
135 workflow.
136 The truth is, Dist::Zilla doesn't require you to change your
138 workflow by itself. But a lot of popular plugins and workflow
139 suggests doing so, by using stuff like PodWeaver, which requires
140 you to switch to Dist::Zilla for everything and then generate the
141 boilerplate, or munge your modules from there.
142 I don't care about the real boilerplate such as "MANIFEST",
144 "META.json" or "LICENSE" auto-generated, but don't personally like
145 the idea of generating documentation or munging code.
146 I want to edit and maintain all the code and docs myself, and let
148 the authoring tool figure out metadata from there, not the other
149 way round.
150 With Milla, you don't need to change your workflow, and it won't
152 rewrite your ".pm" files at all. Like Module::Install's "all_from",
153 most of the metadata is figured out from your module and git,
154 automatically.
155 Dist::Zilla makes contributing difficult
157 This is true for most Dist::Zilla based distributions.
158 Milla copies the plain "META.json" and "Build.PL" into the git
160 repository you automatically bump on every release. And there won't
161 be any code munging process required for the release (except
162 bumping $VERSION automatically).
163 This means that the git repository can be installed as a standard
165 CPAN distribution even without Dist::Zilla installed, and
166 collaborators can just hack your modules, run the tests with "prove
167 -l t" and send a pull request just like a normal module without
168 using dzil at all.
169 It's just a releaser who has to install and use Milla.
171 Dist::Zilla isn't just worth it
173 Dist::Zilla has a lot of plugins to search from, and it's so easy
174 for you to spend a few days until you settle with the configuration
175 you need. That is exactly why Milla exists.
176 If you have tried Dist::Zilla before, you might have shared the
178 same experience with me, where the default Basic profile doesn't do
179 much. And when you started wondering or asking what other authors
180 are doing, you would be overwhelmed by the amount of plugins and
181 complexity introduced by the clever workflow.
182 Milla provides a sensible set of defaults that will work for 90% of
184 people, and you don't need to waste time configuring your
185 PluginBundle or searching for the plugin you need.
186 WHY NOT Module::Install
188 I loved Module::Install. I love how it automatically figures out what I
189 want to do with a single "all_from" line. I liked the cleverness of its
190 bundling itself into "inc". But I know many collaborators hated it
191 because you have no idea what plugins have to be installed when you use
192 some funky plugins, and your users are puzzled when they try to install
193 from the git repository because it says "Can't locate
194 inc/Module/Install.pm". This problem can be fixed, but I was not
195 interested in doing so.
196
198 So you basically wrote a simple PluginBundle and some wrapper, and give
199 that a name?
200 Yes. That's the whole point. Think Dist::Zilla as a framework (because
202 it is!) and Milla is a (thin) application built on top of that.
203 That's so egoistic for you! Why not just
205 Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::MIYAGAWA?
206 Part of the reason might be my egoism. But think about it - if I
208 switched to Dist::Zilla and recommend everyone to use, I have to say,
209 "Hey, the way I use dzil is kind of cool. You can get that by using my
210 @MIYAGAWA bundle".
211 Wouldn't that be more egoistic than giving it a different name?
213 I wrote my own PSGI implementation, and didn't give it a name
215 PSGI::MIYAGAWA - it's called Plack. I wrote a kick-ass, lightweight
216 CPAN installer, and didn't give it a name CPAN::Installer::MIYAGAWA -
217 it's called cpanm.
218 Because I think this can be recommended for many people, and want to
220 make it better by incorporating contributions, I gave it a different
221 name other than my own personal name bundle.
222 Dist::Zilla feels overkill. If you don't munge code/docs, what's the
224 point?
225 I agree that it is still overkill. But as of this writing, there's no
227 software other than Dist::Zilla that can correctly create a CPAN style
228 distribution other than ExtUtils::MakeMaker and Module::Build, and I
229 think they're wrong tools for authoring distributions.
230 Check out Minilla if you think Dist::Zilla is overkill and want a
232 lightweight replacement that achieves the same goal but does less.
233 Milla?
235 As stated above, I've been loving the cleverness of Module::Install
237 (MI), but felt its limitation. Milla is an attempt to put
238 Module::Install's smartness into Dist::Zilla (without the "inc" mess).
239 M::I + Zilla = Milla.
241 Milla should also remind you of Milla Jovovich, but I couldn't make up
243 any correlation about it, besides Resident Evil is such a great
244 videogame and movie.
245
247 Tatsuhiko Miyagawa <miyagawa@bulknews.net>
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250 Ricardo SIGNES wrote Dist::Zilla.
251 David Golden wrote Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::DAGOLDEN, which I cargo
253 culted a lot of configuration from, for Milla bundle.
254 Tokuhiro Matsuno has beaten me to writing Minilla, which resulted in me
256 going the Dist::Zilla plugin route. Minilla is a sister project, and we
257 try to make them compatible to each other and make it as trivial as
258 possible to switch from/to each other.
259
261 Copyright 2013- Tatsuhiko Miyagawa
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264 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
265 under the same terms as Perl itself.
266
268 Dist::Zilla, Minilla
269perl v5.36.0 2023-01-20 Dist::Milla(3)