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NAME
       ExtUtils::MM_Unix - methods used by ExtUtils::MakeMaker

SYNOPSIS
         require ExtUtils::MM_Unix;

DESCRIPTION
       The methods provided by this package are designed to be used in
       conjunction with ExtUtils::MakeMaker. When MakeMaker writes a Makefile,
       it creates one or more objects that inherit their methods from a package
       MM. MM itself doesn't provide any methods, but it ISA ExtUtils::MM_Unix
       class. The inheritance tree of MM lets operating specific packages take
       the responsibility for all the methods provided by MM_Unix. We are
       trying to reduce the number of the necessary overrides by defining
       rather primitive operations within ExtUtils::MM_Unix.

       If you are going to write a platform specific MM package, please try to
       limit the necessary overrides to primitive methods, and if it is not
       possible to do so, let's work out how to achieve that gain.

       If you are overriding any of these methods in your Makefile.PL (in the
       MY class), please report that to the makemaker mailing list. We are
       trying to minimize the necessary method overrides and switch to data
       driven Makefile.PLs wherever possible. In the long run less methods will
       be overridable via the MY class.

METHODS
       The following description of methods is still under development. Please
       refer to the code for not suitably documented sections and complain
       loudly to the makemaker@perl.org mailing list.  Better yet, provide a
       patch.

       Not all of the methods below are overridable in a Makefile.PL.
       Overridable methods are marked as (o). All methods are overridable by a
       platform specific MM_*.pm file.

       Cross-platform methods are being moved into MM_Any.  If you can't find
       something that used to be in here, look in MM_Any.

   Methods
       os_flavor
           Simply says that we're Unix.

       c_o (o)
           Defines  the suffix rules to compile different flavors of C files to
           object files.

       xs_obj_opt
           Takes the object file as an argument, and  returns  the  portion  of
           compile command-line that will output to the specified object file.

       dbgoutflag
           Returns  a  CC  flag  that tells the CC to emit a separate debugging
           symbol file when compiling an object file.

       cflags (o)
           Does  very  much  the  same  as  the  cflags  script  in  the   perl
           distribution. It doesn't return the whole compiler command line, but
           initializes  all  of its parts. The const_cccmd method then actually
           returns the definition of the CCCMD macro which uses these parts.

       const_cccmd (o)
           Returns the full  compiler  call  for  C  programs  and  stores  the
           definition in CONST_CCCMD.

       const_config (o)
           Sets  SHELL  if  needed,  then  defines a couple of constants in the
           Makefile that are imported from %Config.

       const_loadlibs (o)
           Defines  EXTRALIBS,   LDLOADLIBS,   BSLOADLIBS,   LD_RUN_PATH.   See
           ExtUtils::Liblist for details.

       constants (o)
             my $make_frag = $mm->constants;

           Prints out macros for lots of constants.

       depend (o)
           Same as macro for the depend attribute.

       init_DEST
             $mm->init_DEST

           Defines the DESTDIR and DEST* variables paralleling the INSTALL*.

       init_dist
             $mm->init_dist;

           Defines a lot of macros for distribution support.

             macro         description                     default

             TAR           tar command to use              tar
             TARFLAGS      flags to pass to TAR            cvf

             ZIP           zip command to use              zip
             ZIPFLAGS      flags to pass to ZIP            -r

             COMPRESS      compression command to          gzip --best
                           use for tarfiles
             SUFFIX        suffix to put on                .gz
                           compressed files

             SHAR          shar command to use             shar

             PREOP         extra commands to run before
                           making the archive
             POSTOP        extra commands to run after
                           making the archive

             TO_UNIX       a command to convert linefeeds
                           to Unix style in your archive

             CI            command to checkin your         ci -u
                           sources to version control
             RCS_LABEL     command to label your sources   rcs -Nv$(VERSION_SYM): -q
                           just after CI is run

             DIST_CP       $how argument to manicopy()     best
                           when the distdir is created

             DIST_DEFAULT  default target to use to        tardist
                           create a distribution

             DISTVNAME     name of the resulting archive   $(DISTNAME)-$(VERSION)
                           (minus suffixes)

       dist (o)
             my $dist_macros = $mm->dist(%overrides);

           Generates  a  make  fragment  defining all the macros initialized in
           init_dist.

           %overrides can be used to override any of the above.

       dist_basics (o)
           Defines  the  targets  distclean,  distcheck,  skipcheck,  manifest,
           veryclean.

       dist_ci (o)
           Defines a check in target for RCS.

       dist_core (o)
             my $dist_make_fragment = $MM->dist_core;

           Puts  the  targets  necessary for 'make dist' together into one make
           fragment.

       dist_target
             my $make_frag = $MM->dist_target;

           Returns the 'dist' target to make an archive for distribution.  This
           target simply checks to make sure the  Makefile  is  up-to-date  and
           depends on $(DIST_DEFAULT).

       tardist_target
             my $make_frag = $MM->tardist_target;

           Returns  the  'tardist'  target  which  is  simply so 'make tardist'
           works.   The  real  work  is   done   by   the   dynamically   named
           tardistfile_target()   method,   tardist   should  have  that  as  a
           dependency.

       zipdist_target
             my $make_frag = $MM->zipdist_target;

           Returns the 'zipdist' target  which  is  simply  so  'make  zipdist'
           works.    The   real   work   is   done  by  the  dynamically  named
           zipdistfile_target()  method,  zipdist  should  have   that   as   a
           dependency.

       tarfile_target
             my $make_frag = $MM->tarfile_target;

           The  name  of  this  target  is the name of the tarball generated by
           tardist.  This target does the actual work of  turning  the  distdir
           into a tarball.

       zipfile_target
             my $make_frag = $MM->zipfile_target;

           The  name  of  this  target is the name of the zip file generated by
           zipdist.  This target does the actual work of  turning  the  distdir
           into a zip file.

       uutardist_target
             my $make_frag = $MM->uutardist_target;

           Converts the tarfile into a uuencoded file

       shdist_target
             my $make_frag = $MM->shdist_target;

           Converts the distdir into a shell archive.

       dlsyms (o)
           Used  by some OS' to define DL_FUNCS and DL_VARS and write the *.exp
           files.

           Normally just returns an empty string.

       dynamic_bs (o)
           Defines targets for bootstrap files.

       dynamic_lib (o)
           Defines how to produce the *.so (or equivalent) files.

       xs_dynamic_lib_macros
           Defines the macros for the "dynamic_lib" section.

       xs_make_dynamic_lib
           Defines the recipes for the "dynamic_lib" section.

       exescan
           Deprecated method. Use libscan instead.

       extliblist
           Called  by  init_others,  and  calls  ext   ExtUtils::Liblist.   See
           ExtUtils::Liblist for details.

       find_perl
           Finds the executables PERL and FULLPERL

       fixin
             $mm->fixin(@files);

           Inserts the sharpbang or equivalent magic number to a set of @files.

       force (o)
           Writes an empty FORCE: target.

       guess_name
           Guess  the name of this package by examining the working directory's
           name. MakeMaker calls this only if the developer has not supplied  a
           NAME attribute.

       has_link_code
           Returns true if C, XS, MYEXTLIB or similar objects exist within this
           object that need a compiler. Does not descend into subdirectories as
           needs_linking() does.

       init_dirscan
           Scans  the directory structure and initializes DIR, XS, XS_FILES, C,
           C_FILES, O_FILES, H, H_FILES, PL_FILES, EXE_FILES.

           Called by init_main.

       init_MANPODS
           Determines if man pages should be generated and initializes MAN1PODS
           and MAN3PODS as appropriate.

       init_MAN1PODS
           Initializes MAN1PODS from the list of EXE_FILES.

       init_MAN3PODS
           Initializes MAN3PODS from the list of PM files.

       init_PM
           Initializes PMLIBDIRS and PM from PMLIBDIRS.

       init_DIRFILESEP
           Using / for Unix.  Called by init_main.

       init_main
           Initializes AR, AR_STATIC_ARGS, BASEEXT, CONFIG,  DISTNAME,  DLBASE,
           EXE_EXT,  FULLEXT,  FULLPERL,  FULLPERLRUN, FULLPERLRUNINST, INST_*,
           INSTALL*,  INSTALLDIRS,  LIB_EXT,   LIBPERL_A,   MAP_TARGET,   NAME,
           OBJ_EXT,   PARENT_NAME,   PERL,  PERL_ARCHLIB,  PERL_INC,  PERL_LIB,
           PERL_SRC,  PERLRUN,  PERLRUNINST,  PREFIX,   VERSION,   VERSION_SYM,
           XS_VERSION.

       init_tools
           Initializes tools to use their common (and faster) Unix commands.

       init_linker
           Unix has no need of special linker flags.

       init_PERL
               $mm->init_PERL;

           Called  by  init_main.   Sets up ABSPERL, PERL, FULLPERL and all the
           *PERLRUN* permutations.

               PERL is allowed to be miniperl
               FULLPERL must be a complete perl

               ABSPERL is PERL converted to an absolute path

               *PERLRUN contains everything necessary to run perl, find it's
                    libraries, etc...

               *PERLRUNINST is *PERLRUN + everything necessary to find the
                    modules being built.

       init_platform
       platform_constants
           Add MM_Unix_VERSION.

       init_PERM
             $mm->init_PERM

           Called by init_main.  Initializes PERL_*

       init_xs
               $mm->init_xs

           Sets  up  macros  having  to  do  with  XS  code.   Currently   just
           INST_STATIC, INST_DYNAMIC and INST_BOOT.

       install (o)
           Defines the install target.

       installbin (o)
           Defines targets to make and to install EXE_FILES.

       linkext (o)
           Defines the linkext target which in turn defines the LINKTYPE.

       lsdir
           Takes  as  arguments  a  directory  name  and  a regular expression.
           Returns  all  entries  in  the  directory  that  match  the  regular
           expression.

       macro (o)
           Simple  subroutine  to  insert  the  macros  defined  by  the  macro
           attribute into the Makefile.

       makeaperl (o)
           Called by staticmake. Defines how to write the Makefile to produce a
           static new perl.

           By default the Makefile produced includes all the static  extensions
           in  the  perl  library.  (Purified  versions of library files, e.g.,
           DynaLoader_pure_p1_c0_032.a are automatically ignored to avoid  link
           errors.)

       xs_static_lib_is_xs (o)
           Called by a utility method of makeaperl. Checks whether a given file
           is  an  XS library by seeing whether it defines any symbols starting
           with "boot_" (with  an  optional  leading  underscore  -  needed  on
           MacOS).

       makefile (o)
           Defines how to rewrite the Makefile.

       maybe_command
           Returns true, if the argument is likely to be a command.

       needs_linking (o)
           Does  this module need linking? Looks into subdirectory objects (see
           also has_link_code())

       parse_abstract
           parse a file and return what you think is the ABSTRACT

       parse_version
               my $version = MM->parse_version($file);

           Parse a $file and return what  $VERSION  is  set  to  by  the  first
           assignment.   It  will  return the string "undef" if it can't figure
           out what $VERSION is. $VERSION should be for all  to  see,  so  "our
           $VERSION" or plain $VERSION are okay, but "my $VERSION" is not.

           "package  Foo  VERSION"  is  also  checked  for.   The first version
           declaration found is used, but this may change as  it  differs  from
           how Perl does it.

           parse_version()  will  try  to  "use  version"  before  checking for
           $VERSION so the following will work.

               $VERSION = qv(1.2.3);

       pasthru (o)
           Defines the string  that  is  passed  to  recursive  make  calls  in
           subdirectories. The variables like "PASTHRU_DEFINE" are used in each
           level,  and passed downwards on the command-line with e.g. the value
           of that level's DEFINE. Example:

               # Level 0 has DEFINE = -Dfunky
               # This code will define level 0's PASTHRU=PASTHRU_DEFINE="$(DEFINE)
               #     $(PASTHRU_DEFINE)"
               # Level 0's $(CCCMD) will include macros $(DEFINE) and $(PASTHRU_DEFINE)
               # So will level 1's, so when level 1 compiles, it will get right values
               # And so ad infinitum

       perl_script
           Takes one argument, a file name, and returns the file name,  if  the
           argument  is likely to be a perl script. On MM_Unix this is true for
           any ordinary, readable file.

       perldepend (o)
           Defines the dependency from all *.h files that come  with  the  perl
           distribution.

       pm_to_blib
           Defines  target  that  copies  all  files  in  the  hash PM to their
           destination   and   autosplits   them.    See    "DESCRIPTION"    in
           ExtUtils::Install

       ppd Defines  target  that  creates a PPD (Perl Package Description) file
           for a binary distribution.

       prefixify
             $MM->prefixify($var, $prefix, $new_prefix, $default);

           Using either $MM->{uc $var} || $Config{lc $var}, it will attempt  to
           replace it's $prefix with a $new_prefix.

           Should  the  $prefix  fail  to  match  AND  a PREFIX was given as an
           argument to WriteMakefile() it will set  it  to  the  $new_prefix  +
           $default.   This  is for systems whose file layouts don't neatly fit
           into our ideas of prefixes.

           This is for heuristics which attempt to create directory  structures
           that mirror those of the installed perl.

           For example:

               $MM->prefixify('installman1dir', '/usr', '/home/foo', 'man/man1');

           this   will   attempt  to  remove  '/usr'  from  the  front  of  the
           $MM->{INSTALLMAN1DIR}      path      (initializing       it       to
           $Config{installman1dir}   if   necessary)   and   replace   it  with
           '/home/foo'.  If this fails it will simply use '/home/foo/man/man1'.

       processPL (o)
           Defines targets to run *.PL files.

       specify_shell
           Specify SHELL if needed - not done on Unix.

       quote_paren
           Backslashes parentheses "()" in  command  line  arguments.   Doesn't
           handle  recursive  Makefile  "$(...)" constructs, but handles simple
           ones.

       replace_manpage_separator
             my $man_name = $MM->replace_manpage_separator($file_path);

           Takes the name of a package, which may be a nested package,  in  the
           form 'Foo/Bar.pm' and replaces the slash with "::" or something else
           safe for a man page file name.  Returns the replacement.

       cd
       oneliner
       quote_literal
           Quotes macro literal value suitable for being used on a command line
           so  that when expanded by make, will be received by command as given
           to this method:

             my $quoted = $mm->quote_literal(q{it isn't});
             # returns:
             #   'it isn'\''t'
             print MAKEFILE "target:\n\techo $quoted\n";
             # when run "make target", will output:
             #   it isn't

       escape_newlines
       max_exec_len
           Using POSIX::ARG_MAX.  Otherwise falling back to 4096.

       static (o)
           Defines the static target.

       xs_make_static_lib
           Defines the recipes for the "static_lib" section.

       static_lib_closures
           Records "$(EXTRALIBS)" in extralibs.ld and $(PERL_SRC)/ext.libs.

       static_lib_fixtures
           Handles copying "$(MYEXTLIB)" as starter for  final  static  library
           that then gets added to.

       static_lib_pure_cmd
           Defines how to run the archive utility.

       staticmake (o)
           Calls makeaperl.

       subdir_x (o)
           Helper subroutine for subdirs

       subdirs (o)
           Defines targets to process subdirectories.

       test (o)
           Defines the test targets.

       test_via_harness (override)
           For  some  reason  which  I  forget,  Unix  machines  like  to  have
           PERL_DL_NONLAZY set for tests.

       test_via_script (override)
           Again, the PERL_DL_NONLAZY thing.

       tool_xsubpp (o)
           Determines typemaps, xsubpp version, prototype behaviour.

       all_target
           Build man pages, too

       top_targets (o)
           Defines the targets all, subdirs, config, and O_FILES

       writedoc
           Obsolete, deprecated method. Not used since Version 5.21.

       xs_c (o)
           Defines the suffix rules to compile XS files to C.

       xs_cpp (o)
           Defines the suffix rules to compile XS files to C++.

       xs_o (o)
           Defines suffix rules to go from XS to object  files  directly.  This
           was originally only intended for broken make implementations, but is
           now  necessary  for  per-XS file under "XSMULTI", since each XS file
           might have an individual "$(VERSION)".

SEE ALSO
       ExtUtils::MakeMaker

perl v5.40.1                       2026-08-30           ExtUti...MM_Unix(3perl)

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