WHAT? Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater is a Dist::Zilla role, a replacement for standard role TextTemplate. Both roles have the same great Text::Template engine under the hood, but this one provides better control over the engine and much better error reporting. WHY? TextTemplate role from Dist::Zilla distribution v5.037 has the same great Text::Template engine under the hood, but lacks of control and has *awful* error reporting. Error Reporting Let us consider an example. Have a look at dist.ini: name = Assa version = 0.001 [GatherDir] [PruneCruft] [GenerateFile/COPYING] filename = COPYING content = This is {{$dist->name}}. content = content = {{$dst->license->notice}} is_template = 1 [TemplateFiles] filename = lib/Assa.pm filename = lib/Assa/Manual.pod [MetaResources::Template] license = {{$dist->license->url}} … … (Do you see a typo? Real dist.ini can be much longer.) Now let us build the distribution: $ dzil build [DZ] beginning to build Assa Can't call method "license" on an undefined value at template line 3. Oops. Ok, it is clear what was happened, but where?? The only weak clue is word "template". However, there are many templates in the project: lib/Assa.pm, lib/Assa/Manual.pod, generated on-the-fly COPYING, and even resources in META.yml — all this stuff is generated from templates. Where is the problem? Have a happy bug hunting, dude. If these plugins (namely, GenerateFile, TemplateFiles and MetaResources::Template) were written with TextTemplater role, result would be: $ dzil build [DZ] beginning to build Assa [COPYING] Can't call method "license" on an undefined value at template line 3. [COPYING] Problem code fragment begins at template line 3. [COPYING] Template text: [COPYING] 1: This is {{$dist->name}}. [COPYING] 2: [COPYING] >>> 3: {{$dst->license->notice}} Aborting... See the difference. Engine Control TextTemplater allows the end-user to specify package and prepender engine options from dist.ini file, while TextTemplate allows to specify prepender only programmatically, and does *not* allow to specify package. NAMING perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater is official software name. However, in Perl world prefix "perl-" is redundant and not used. For example, on meta::cpan this software is named as Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater. In the rest of the documentation shortened name Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater is used as synonym for full name perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater. We are in the Perl world, aren't we? You may notice that name may be spelled with dashes (Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater) or with double colons (Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater). Strictly speaking, there is difference: the first one is software name, while the second is name of Perl package, but often these names are interchangeable especially if software consists of single package. FORMS You may face Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater in *source* or *distribution* forms. If you are going to have text templating capabilities in your Dist::Zilla plugin, you will likely be interested in *using* Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater *distribution*. If you are going to *develop* (or *hack*) the Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater itself, you will likely need the *source*, not distribution. Since Perl is an interpreting language, modules in the distribution *look* like sources. Actually, they are Perl source files. But they are not *actual* sources, because they are *built* (preprocessed or generated) by Dist-Zilla. How to distinguish source and distribution: * Source may contain Mercurial files and directories .hgignore, .hgtags, .hg/, while distribution should not. * Source should contain files dist.ini, weaver.ini, while distribution may not. * Source should *not* contain xt/ directory, while distribution should. * Name of source directory does *not* include version (e. g. Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater), while name of distribution does (e. g. Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater-0.007). SOURCE Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater source is in Mercurial repository hosted on fedorapeople.org. To clone the entire repository: $ hg clone https://vandebugger.fedorapeople.org/hg/perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater/ \ perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater Source Files Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater source files usually include a comment near the top of the file: This file is part of perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater. Not all source files are included into distribution. Some source files are used at distribution build time only, and not required for installation. DISTRIBUTION Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater distributions are published on CPAN . Generated Files Distribution may contain files preprocessed or generated by Dist-Zilla and its plugins. Some generated files are made from Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater source, but some are generated from third-party templates. Files generated from third-party templates usually include a comment near the top of the file: This file was generated with NAME (where *NAME* is a name of the plugin generated the file). Such files are *not* part of Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater source, and Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater copyright and license are not applicable to such files. INSTALLING With cpanm cpanm tool is (probably) the easiest way to install distribution. It automates downloading, building, testing, installing, and uninstalling. To install the latest version from CPAN: $ cpanm Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater To install a specific version (e. g. *0.007*) from CPAN: $ cpanm Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater@0.007 To install locally available distribution (e. g. previously downloaded from CPAN or built from sources): $ cpanm ./Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater-0.007.tar.gz To uninstall the distribution: $ cpanm -U Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater Manually To install distribution tarball manually (let us assume you have version *0.007* of the distribution): $ tar xaf Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater-0.007.tar.gz $ cd Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater-0.007 $ perl Build.PL $ ./Build build $ ./Build test $ ./Build install See Also How to install CPAN modules HACKING For hacking, you will need Mercurial, Perl interpreter and Dist-Zilla (with some plugins), and likely cpanm to install missed parts. Clone the repository first: $ hg clone https://vandebugger.fedorapeople.org/hg/perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater/ \ perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater $ cd perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater To build a distribution from the source, run: $ dzil build If required Dist-Zilla plugins are missed, dzil tool will warn you and show the command to install all the required plugins, e. g.: Required plugin Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Test::EOL isn't installed. Run 'dzil authordeps' to see a list of all required plugins. You can pipe the list to your CPAN client to install or update them: dzil authordeps --missing | cpanm To run the tests: $ dzil test To run all the tests, including release tests: $ dzil test --release To install the distribution: $ dzil install or $ cpanm ./Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater-VERSION.tar.gz where *VERSION* is a version of built distribution. To clean the directory: $ dzil clean DOCUMENTATION Online The easiest way is browsing the documentation online at meta::cpan . Locally Installed If you have the distribution installed, use perldoc tool to browse locally installed documentation: $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater::ReadMe $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater::Manual $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater Built from Source Build Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater first (see "HACKING"), then: $ cd Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater-VERSION $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater::ReadMe $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater::Manual $ perldoc Dist::Zilla::Role::TextTemplater where *VERSION* is a version of built distribution. FEEDBACK CPAN Request Tracker The quickest way to report a bug in Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater is by sending email to bug-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater [at] rt.cpan.org. CPAN request tracker can be used via web interface also: Browse bugs Browsing bugs does not require authentication. Report bugs You need to be a CPAN author, have a BitCard account, or OpenID in order to report bugs via the web interface. (On 2015-04-27 I have logged in successfully with my LiveJournal OpenID, but my Google OpenID did not work for CPAN. I did not check other OpenID providers.) Send Email to Author As a last resort, send email to author: Van de Bugger . Please start message subject with "perl-Dist-Zilla-Role-TextTemplater:". GLOSSARY CPAN Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a large collection of Perl software and documentation. See cpan.org , What is CPAN? . Distribution Tarball, containing Perl modules and accompanying files (documentation, metainfo, tests). Usually distributions are uploaded to CPAN, and can be installed with dedicated tools (cpan, cpanm, and others). Module Perl library file, usually with .pm suffix. Usually contains one package. See perlmod . Package Perl language construct. See package and perlmod .