NAME

    Module::Compile - Perl Module Compilation

VERSION

    This document describes Module::Compile version 0.37.

SYNOPSIS

        package Foo;
        use Module::Compile -base;
    
        sub pmc_compile {
            my ($class, $source) = @_;
            # Convert $source into (most likely Perl 5) $compiled_output
            return $compiled_output;
        }

    In Bar.pm:

        package Bar;
    
        use Foo;
        ...
        no Foo

    or (implied "no Foo;"):

        package Bar;
    
        {
            use Foo;
            ...
        }

    To compile Bar.pm into Bar.pmc:

        perl -c Bar.pm

DESCRIPTION

    This module provides a system for writing modules that compile other
    Perl modules.

    Modules that use these compilation modules get compiled into some
    altered form the first time they are run. The result is cached into
    .pmc files.

    Perl has native support for .pmc files. It always checks for them,
    before loading a .pm file.

EXAMPLE

    You can declare a v6.pm compiler with:

        package v6;
        use Module::Compile -base;
    
        sub pmc_compile {
            my ($class, $source) = @_;
            # ... some way to invoke pugs and give p5 code back ...
        }

    and use it like:

        # MyModule.pm
        use v6-pugs;
        module MyModule;
        # ...some p6 code here...
        no v6;
        # ...back to p5 land...

    On the first time this module is loaded, it will compile Perl 6 blocks
    into Perl 5 (as soon as the no v6 line is seen), and merge it with the
    Perl 5 blocks, saving the result into a MyModule.pmc file.

    The next time around, Perl 5 will automatically load MyModule.pmc when
    someone says use MyModule. On the other hand, Perl 6 can run
    MyModule.pm s a Perl 6 module just fine, as use v6-pugs and no v6 both
    works in a Perl 6 setting.

    The v6.pm module will also check if MyModule.pmc is up to date. If it
    is, then it will touch its timestamp so the .pmc is loaded on the next
    time.

BENEFITS

    Module::Compile compilers gives you the following benefits:

      * Ability to mix many source filterish modules in a much more sane
      manner. Module::Compile controls the compilation process, calling
      each compiler at the right time with the right data.

      * Ability to ship precompiled modules without shipping
      Module::Compile and the compiler modules themselves.

      * Easier debugging of compiled/filtered code. The .pmc has the real
      code you want to see.

      * Zero additional runtime penalty after compilation, because perl has
      already been doing the .pmc check on every module load since 1999!

PARSING AND DISPATCH

    NOTE: *** NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTED YET ***

    Module::Compile attempts to make source filtering a sane process, by
    parsing up your module's source code into various blocks; so that by
    the time a compiler is called it only gets the source code that it
    should be looking at.

    This section describes the rather complex algorithm that
    Module::Compile uses.

    First, the source module is preprocessed to hide heredocs, since the
    content inside heredocs can possibly confuse further parsing.

    Next, the source module is divided into a shallow tree of blocks:

        PREAMBLE:
          (SUBROUTINE | BAREBLOCK | POD | PLAIN)S
        PACKAGES:
          PREFACE
          (SUBROUTINE | BAREBLOCK | POD | PLAIN)S
        DATA

    All of these blocks begin and end on line boundaries. They are
    described as follows:

    PREAMBLE

      Lines before the first package statement.

    PACKAGES

      Lines beginning with a `package statement and continuing

          until the next `package` or `DATA` section.

    DATA

      The DATA section. Begins with the line __DATA__ or

      __END__.

    SUBROUTINE

      A top level (not nested) subroutine. Ending '}' must be

      on its own line in the first column.

    BAREBLOCK

      A top level (not nested) code block. Ending '}' must be

      on its own line in the first column.

    POD

      Pod sections beginning with ^=\w+ and ending with =cut.

    PLAIN

      Lines not in SUBROUTINE, BAREBLOCK or POD.

    PREFACE

      Lines before the first block in a package.

    Next, all the blocks are scanned for lines like:

        use Foo qw'x y z';
        no Foo;

    Where Foo is a Module::Compile subclass.

    The lines within a given block between a use and no statement are
    marked to be passed to that compiler. The end of an inner block
    effectively acts as a no statement for any compile sections in that
    block. use statements in a PREFACE apply to all the code in a PACKAGE.
    use statements in a PREAMBLE apply to all the code in all PACKAGES.

    After all the code has been parsed into blocks and the blocks have been
    marked for various compilers, Module::Compile dispatches the code
    blocks to the

          compilers. It does so in a most specific to most general order.  So inner
          blocks get compiled first, then outer blocks.

    A compiler may choose to declare that its result not be recompiled by
    some other containing parser. In this case the result of the
    compilation is replaced by a single line containing the hexadecimal
    digest of the result in double quotes followed by a semicolon. Like:

        "f1d2d2f924e986ac86fdf7b36c94bcdf32beec15";

    The rationale of this is that random strings are usually left alone by
    compilers. After all the compilers have finished, the digest lines will
    be expanded again.

    Every bit of the default process described above is overridable by
    various methods.

DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT

    Module::Install makes it terribly easy to prepare a module distribution
    with compiled .pmc files. See Module::Install::PMC. All you need to do
    is add this line to your Makefile.PL:

        pmc_support;

    Any of your distrbution's modules that use Module::Compile based
    modules will automatically be compiled into .pmc files and shipped with
    your distribtution precompiled. This means that people who install your
    module distribtution do not need to have the compilers installed
    themselves. So you don't need to make the compiler modules be
    prerequisites.

SEE ALSO

      * Module::Install

      * Module::Install::PMC

AUTHORS

      * Ingy döt Net <ingy@cpan.org>

      * Audrey Tang <audreyt@audreyt.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

    Copyright 2006-2018. Ingy döt Net.

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself.

    See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html

