NAME

CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper - Scaffold a new CPAN distribution in one command

SYNOPSIS

# Create a configuration file (recommended first-time setup)
cpan-maker-bootstrapper create-config > ~/.cpan-makerrc
export CPAN_MAKER_CONFIG=$HOME/.cpan-makerrc

# Create a new plain Perl module project
cpan-maker-bootstrapper --module  My::New::Module

# Create a CLI module project (inherits from CLI::Simple)
cpan-maker-bootstrapper --module My::New::CLI --stub cli

# Use a custom stub
cpan-maker-bootstrapper --module My::Module --stub /path/to/mystub.pm

# Import files from another project
cpan-maker-bootstrapper --module My::Module \
 -I /path/to/my-module/lib -I /path/to/my-module/bin \
 --installdir /tmp/My-Module

# Install into a specific directory
cpan-maker-bootstrapper --module My::Module --installdir ~/git

# Override git identity
cpan-maker-bootstrapper --module My::Module --username "Rob Lauer" --email rob@example.org

# Run a code review on a module (set API key in environment)
export LLM_API_KEY=$(cat ~/.ssh/anthropic-api-key)
cpan-maker-bootstrapper code-review lib/My/Module.pm

DESCRIPTION

https://github.com/rlauer6/CPAN-Maker-Bootstrapper/actions/workflows/build.yml

CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper scaffolds a new CPAN distribution directory ready to build immediately. It installs a project Makefile, a buildspec.yml pre-populated from your git config, stub source and test files, and supporting makefiles - then runs make to generate the initial artifacts.

The result is a project that can produce a distributable tarball with a single additional make invocation, with no manual editing required for a standard project layout.

CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper also provides AI-assisted development tools via the Anthropic Claude API. These include iterative code review with structured finding annotations, POD documentation review with generation, and AI-generated release notes. See "LLM Commands" and "THE REVIEW WORKFLOW" for details regarding how to use the AI tools for enhancing your code review process.

QUICK START

Install the bootstrapper and its dependencies:

cpanm CPAN::Maker CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper

Note: Before scaffolding your first project, consider running create-config to set up a personal configuration file - it pre-populates your git identity, GitHub username, and preferred project directory so you never have to pass them on the command line. See "CONFIGURATION" for details.

Scaffold a new project:

cpan-maker-bootstrapper --module My::Module --installdir ~/git/My-Module

The bootstrapper creates the project directory, installs the build system, generates stub source and test files, and runs make automatically. By the time it finishes you already have a working distribution tarball in ~/git/My-Module.

cd ~/git/My-Module

Review the generated files - particularly buildspec.yml which controls how the distribution is built, and requires and test-requires which list your module's dependencies. Your git identity is pre-populated from ~/.gitconfig but you may want to adjust the description or resource URLs.

Edit the generated stub in lib/My/Module.pm.in. This is your primary source file - never edit the generated .pm file directly as it will be overwritten on the next make.

As your project grows, add new modules to lib/ and scripts to bin/ as .pm.in and .pl.in files respectively. The build system discovers them automatically - no changes to the Makefile required. Add new test files to t/ as .t files.

When you are ready to build:

make

This scans your source files for dependencies, regenerates requires and test-requires, generates README.md from your POD, and produces a distributable tarball.

To verify your distribution installs cleanly:

cpanm --local-lib=$HOME My-Module-*.tar.gz

To initialize version control and make your first commit:

make git

See "EXTENDING THE BUILD SYSTEM" for customizing the build, dependency management details. See "FAQ" for common questions and recipes.

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER USING YET ANOTHER BUILD TOOL

If you have ever reached for Jenkins, GitHub Actions, CircleCI, or a sprawling shell script to automate your Perl builds, consider what those tools actually require: a server or cloud account, a proprietary YAML DSL, plugin ecosystems with their own release cycles, containers, agents, and configuration files that only run in one specific environment.

The CPAN::Maker build system runs everywhere Perl runs - your laptop, a remote EC2 instance, a colleague's workstation - with no setup beyond cpanm CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper. git clone && make is always sufficient to build a fresh checkout.

The Stack

The build system is built on three tools that have been solving these problems correctly for decades:

Together they give you a complete, auditable, version-controlled build system that is trivially debuggable with make -n and bash -x, self-documents via make help, and needs no external services to run.

Best Practices Out of the Box

The installed build system encourages professional Perl development habits from the start:

Perl Quality Tools

The build system supports optional Perl quality gates controlled via your configuration file. Set the following keys in the [cpan-maker] section:

syntax-checking = on          # enables perl -wc on generated files
perltidyrc = ~/.perltidyrc    # enables perltidy stage gate
perlcriticrc = ~/.perlcriticrc # enables perlcritic stage gate

These can be overridden per-run from the command line:

make SYNTAX_CHECKING=off      # disable syntax checking
make PERLTIDYRC=""            # disable tidy gate
make PERLCRITICRC=""          # disable critic gate

Add modules that cannot be syntax-checked outside their runtime environment to PERLWC_SKIP in project.mk:

PERLWC_SKIP = bin/startup.pl

Add inter-module build dependencies to project.mk when modules depend on each other at build time:

lib/Foo/Bar.pm: lib/Foo.pm

To disable all linting at once:

make LINT=off

Or use make quick to disable both scanning and linting in one step.

A GNU Make Tutorial in Disguise

The .includes/ directory is also a practical demonstration of advanced GNU make techniques that most developers never encounter - working, production-tested examples you can learn from and adapt:

If GNU make is the cast-iron pan of build tools - virtually indestructible, infinitely useful, and unfairly overlooked in favor of shinier alternatives - then CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper is the recipe book that shows you what it can really do.

IMPORTING FILES

The --import|-I option allows you to bring existing Perl source files into a new Bootstrapper project. This is the primary mechanism for migrating an existing project or consuming a scaffold tarball generated by cli-simple -scaffold.

The --import option may be specified multiple times to import from several directories in a single operation:

bootstrapper --module My::Script \
  --import /path/to/roles \
  --import /path/to/bin \
  --installdir .

What Gets Imported

The importer recursively scans the path provided by --import and brings in the following file types:

All imported files receive the .in extension because they become source inputs to the build system. The build generates the final .pm, .pl, and script files from these sources, substituting version tokens and running syntax checks along the way.

Module Name Requirement

When using --import you must also specify --module with the primary module name of the distribution. The importer cannot infer the module name from the imported files alone:

bootstrapper --module My::Script --import /path/to/source --installdir .

The Build After Import

After creating the project source tree the importer runs make with linting disabled but syntax checking and dependency scanning enabled:

make LINT=off SYNTAX_CHECKING=on SCAN=on

This serves two purposes - it validates that the imported files are syntactically correct Perl, and it runs scandeps-static.pl against the source to seed the requires and test-requires dependency files.

The build will attempt to produce a distribution tarball. If the build fails, make.log and make.err are written to your current working directory for diagnosis.

Next Steps After a Successful Import

After a successful build you have a complete, buildable CPAN distribution, although it may not reflect everything you need for your project. Typical next steps:

Limitations

Importing a CLI::Simple Scaffold Tarball

The import-scaffold command is a convenience wrapper around --import specifically designed to consume tarballs generated by cli-simple -scaffold:

bootstrapper import-scaffold my-script-roles.tar.gz \
  --module My::Script --installdir .

The tarball is extracted to a temporary directory and fed to the importer automatically. See CLI::Simple for details on generating scaffold tarballs.

CONFIGURATION

cpan-maker-bootstrapper can read your global .gitconfig file or a properly formatted .ini file to populate some of the options used when creating a distribution and using the AI commands. If you have a GitHub user account add your username:

git config --global user.github <your-username>

If you typically create projects in one directory, add the basedir option:

git config --global cpan-maker.basedir $HOME/git

If you want to create a different configuration file it should have at least the following entries:

[user]
       email = your-email@somedomain
       name = First Last
       # use to construct GitHub resource URLs
       github = github-user

[cpan-maker]
       basedir   = /home/myhome/git
       # indicates the resources section of Makefile.PL should contain github references
       resources = github
       llm-api-key-helper = cat ~/.ssh/anthropic-api-key

Environment

INSTALLED PROJECT FILES

The following files are installed into the project directory:

THE PROJECT MAKEFILE

The installed Makefile is self-configuring. It can derive everything from MODULE_NAME or the package name inside a custom stub file.

MODULE_PATH  - lib/My/New/Module.pm (from MODULE_NAME)
PROJECT_NAME - My-New-Module (from MODULE_NAME)
TARBALL      - My-New-Module-1.0.0.tar.gz (from PROJECT_NAME + VERSION)

If MODULE_NAME is not supplied on the command line, it is inferred from the project directory name.

Key Makefile targets:

README.md

The Makefile will automatically create a README.md from your Perl module's pod. The stock buildspec.yml will include that README.md in the distribution's share directory. If you want the README.md to be included in the distribution but not installed, edit the buildspec.yml file.

Before

extra-files:
  - ChangeLog
  - share:
    - README.md

After extra-files: - ChangeLog - README.md

If you want a different README.md generated create a README.md.in file. That file will be filtered through md-utils.pl (from Markdown::Render) to produce a .md file.

USAGE

cpan-maker-bootstrapper options command

Commands

LLM Commands

The following commands require LLM::API to be installed and a valid Anthropic API key. Set it in the environment before running any LLM command:

export LLM_API_KEY=$(cat ~/.ssh/anthropic-api-key)

The key is deleted from the environment immediately after being read and is never passed to child processes. See CPAN::Maker::ConfigReader for the llm-api-key-helper option which avoids exposing the key in shell history entirely.

SECURITY NOTE: Never pass your API key on the command line where it would be visible in shell history and process listings.

Options

THE REVIEW WORKFLOW

CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper allow you implement a structured iterative code review workflow built around JSON review files and developer-applied disposition annotations. The workflow converges over several rounds, with each round potentially costing less as noise is suppressed and findings are resolved.

Overview

Each review round consists of three steps:

Dry Run Mode

Before your prompt and code are submitted for review, the script will output a table of showing you the estimated cosst based on token counts. The input token count is derived by calling the "COUNT TOKEN" endpoint API with the message to be submitted for review. The input token count is therefore accurate, while the output token count is an estimate.

To stop the script for actually submitting the message for review, use the --dry-run option. This will abort the process immediately prior to submission.

Dispositions

Each finding in the annotations file must be given one of the following dispositions before the next review can be submitted:

Diminishing Returns and When to Stop

Run the annotate command after each review submission to view the findings. Each round tends to surface smaller and more obscure issues as obvious findings are resolved. Stop when you see these signals:

When all findings have dispositions and no new substantive issues appear, the code is ready to ship.

The Release Artifact

When you are satisfied with the review state, finalize it with --finalize-annotations:

cpan-maker-bootstrapper annotate --finalize-annotations \
  -a 1:wrong -a 2:reject \
  lib/My/Module.pm

This applies any remaining dispositions, validates that all findings are annotated, reads the version from the VERSION file, and writes the versioned release artifact:

CPAN-Maker-Bootstrapper-1.1.0-REVIEW.json

This file serves as a code review certification for the release - a machine-readable record of every finding examined, every logic confirmation made, and every disposition applied before the version was published. Commit it to the repository alongside your ChangeLog.

All findings marked WRONG are automatically converted to WRONG-RECONSIDER in the release artifact, prompting careful re-examination on the first review of the next version rather than permanent suppression.

Cost Management

Typical review costs run $0.05-0.10 per run on a moderately sized module with POD stripped depending on the model you choose. The default model used for POD review is claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 and claude-sonnet-4-6 for code review. Costs decrease over successive rounds as the model spends fewer output tokens re-explaining suppressed findings.

Use your own prompt profiles (--prompt-profile) to suppress entire classes of noise before they reach the annotation file. A well-tuned profile for your application type is the highest-leverage cost reduction available.

See Also

"LLM Commands", "PROMPT PROFILES", CPAN::Maker::ConfigReader

PROMPT PROFILES

Prompt profiles are additive prompt fragments that customize the review behavior for specific application types. They are appended to the base review prompt before submission and are intended to focus the review on relevant concerns while suppressing noise that does not apply to the target context.

Using Profiles

Pass one or more profiles using the --prompt-profile option:

cpan-maker-bootstrapper code-review --prompt-profile cli-tool MyModule.pm

Multiple profiles may be combined:

cpan-maker-bootstrapper code-review \
  --prompt-profile cli-tool \
  --prompt-profile security \
  MyModule.pm

Profiles are resolved from the .prompts/ directory in the current project. A profile named cli-tool resolves to .prompts/cli-tool.prompt. Add your own prompt profiles and commit them to your project.

Built-in Profiles

The following profile is installed with the distribution:

Creating Custom Profiles

A profile is a plain text file in .prompts/ containing additional prompt instructions, one per line. Lines beginning with # are treated as comments and stripped before submission. Profile instructions use the same format as the base review prompt.

Example .prompts/security.prompt:

# security profile - add to any review where input handling matters
- Treat all caller-supplied input as untrusted regardless of source.
- Flag any use of eval, system, or exec that incorporates external data.
- Flag missing taint checks on data used in file or system operations.

Planned Profiles

The following profiles are planned for future releases:

Community contributions of additional profiles are welcome. See https://github.com/rlauer6/CPAN-Maker-Bootstrapper/issues.

EXTENDING THE BUILD SYSTEM

The bootstrapper's Makefile is intended to be immutable and work across all of the projects that use CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper. Our goal is to keep Makefile working for you even when we make updates to the bootstrapper.

However, you own Makefile and are free to do with it as you please. But we strongly advise that you read the sections below and follow the recipe as the saying goes, to use and update the build system as it was intended.

The installed Makefile is a managed file - it can be updated by using the make target update when a new version of CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper is released.

make update

You are strongly advised not to modify the Makefile - your changes will be overwritten if you run make update.

Instead, the recommended workflow, should you need to add new make targets or control the order of the build based on dependencies is to add those to project.mk. All managed build system files live in the .includes/ directory where they are write-protected and clearly separated from your project files. The Makefile includes them automatically and conditionally includes project.mk from the project root:

include .includes/perl.mk
include .includes/help.mk
include .includes/version.mk
include .includes/release-notes.mk
include .includes/git.mk
include .includes/update.mk
include .includes/upgrade.mk
-include project.mk

project.mk remains in the project root - it is your file, always writable, and never touched by make update. The leading - on its include means make will not complain if it does not exist yet. This gives you a sanctioned, upgrade-safe extension point for anything project-specific.

How the Makefile Works

The installed Makefile is structured around a few key concepts:

Key variables you can override on the make command line or in project.mk:

What belongs in project.mk

What does NOT belong in project.mk

Keeping the build system up to date

The following targets manage the lifecycle of the build system itself:

What You Should Never Modify

The files in .includes/ - perl.mk, git.mk, help.mk etc. - are managed files that will be overwritten by make update. Do not modify them directly. If you need to override behavior they provide, do so in project.mk using Make's double-colon rule pattern or by setting variables before the include.

The Makefile itself is also managed and will be overwritten by make update. Your extension point is exclusively project.mk.

Dependencies Management

The Makefile will attempt to detect Perl module dependencies by scanning .pm.in and .pl.in files and creating the requires and test-requires files whenever you run make. These files are used by the make-cpan-dist.pl utility to specify the dependencies in your CPAN distribution file. You can prevent that by setting the environment variable SCAN=OFF. The default is SCAN=ON.

To prevent an entry from being removed by a rescan, prefix the module name with +. These entries are sticky and survive all subsequent scans even if the scanner no longer detects them. To pin a specific version, simply edit the version number in the requires file. If the scanner subsequently detects a different version, the Makefile will preserve your pinned version. Note that pinned versions are never updated automatically - if you want to adopt a newer version you must edit the file manually.

In your requires file:

+Foo::Bar 1.0    # sticky - survives all rescans
Baz::Qux  2.5   # version pinned - scanner won't override this version

Note: These two mechanisms are independent - + controls whether an entry survives rescans, while the version number controls what version is required.

MODULINOS

A modulino is a Perl module that doubles as a runnable script by checking whether it was invoked directly or loaded as a library:

package Foo::Bar;

caller or __PACKAGE__->main;

sub main {
  ...
  exit 0;
}

Modulinos are useful for CLI scripts because they encourage encapsulation, simplify unit testing, and keep logic organized in named methods rather than inline code.

The Makefile provides a modulino target that generates a bash wrapper script that invokes your module. By default it uses MODULE_NAME, producing a script named after the module:

make modulino

For a project named Foo::Bar this creates bin/foo-bar.in. make then builds bin/foo-bar from that source file via a pattern rule, and the executable ends up in the distribution.

To create a modulino wrapper for a module other than the primary project module, override MODULE_NAME:

make modulino MODULE_NAME=Foo::Bar::Buz

This creates bin/foo-bar-buz.in invoking Foo::Bar::Buz.

To give the wrapper a short or memorable name independent of the module name, set ALIAS:

make modulino MODULE_NAME=Foo::Bar::Buz ALIAS=fbb

This creates bin/fbb.in which still invokes Foo::Bar::Buz. ALIAS accepts either a plain name (fbb) or a module-style name (Foo::Bar::Buz) - colons are converted to hyphens and the result is lowercased.

The generated wrapper scripts (without the .in suffix) are automatically added to .gitignore since they are build artifacts. The .in source files are tracked by git.

PREREQUISITES

The following tool(s) must be on your PATH:

CAVEATS

FAQ

My build is failing with a module not found error during syntax

checking

This is almost always a build-time dependency ordering issue. If lib/Foo/Bar.pm uses lib/Foo.pm, make may attempt to build and syntax-check Foo/Bar.pm before Foo.pm exists. Declare the dependency in project.mk:

lib/Foo/Bar.pm: lib/Foo.pm

This tells make to build Foo.pm first. See "Inter-module dependencies" for details.

If the module genuinely cannot be loaded outside its runtime environment (an Apache handler, a mod_perl module, etc.), add it to PERLWC_SKIP in project.mk:

PERLWC_SKIP = lib/My/Apache/Handler.pm

How do I do a fast build during development?

make quick

This disables dependency scanning and all linting (syntax checking, perltidy, perlcritic) for the current build. Your requires and test-requires files are not updated and no quality gates run.

Use make without flags when you are ready to do a full build before committing or releasing.

You can also disable individual features:

make SCAN=off          # skip dependency scanning only
make LINT=off          # skip all linting only
make SYNTAX_CHECKING=off  # skip syntax checking only

How do I add a new module or script to the project?

Create the source file with the .pm.in or .pl.in extension in the appropriate directory:

lib/My/New/Module.pm.in
bin/my-script.pl.in

The build system discovers them automatically via find-files - no changes to the Makefile are required. The next make will include them in the dependency scan and the distribution.

How do I include additional files in the distribution?

Edit buildspec.yml and add entries to the extra-files section:

extra-files:
  - ChangeLog
  - README.md
  - share:
    - my-config-template.yml
    - my-data-file.json

Files listed under share: are installed into the distribution's share directory and can be accessed at runtime via File::ShareDir.

I want to pin a version or add a module the scanner missed

Edit requires directly. Prefix the module name with + to make the entry sticky - it will survive all subsequent rescans even if the scanner no longer detects it:

+My::Required::Module 1.5

To pin a version without making the entry sticky, just set the version number. The scanner will preserve your version if it detects a different one on subsequent builds:

Some::Module 2.0

These two mechanisms are independent - + controls survivability, the version number controls what version is required. See "Dependencies" for full details.

I want to exclude a module the scanner found

Create a requires.skip file in the project root with one module name per line:

My::Own::Module
Some::Transitive::Dep

The scanner will never add these to requires. Use test-requires.skip for the same effect on test dependencies.

Note that on a clean first build neither skip file has any effect since there is no prior requires file to compare against. The skip list takes effect from the second build onward.

I edited a .pm file and my changes disappeared

The .pm files in lib/ are generated from the .pm.in sources and are write-protected. Always edit the .pm.in file - the .pm is regenerated on every make and your changes will be lost.

If you are unsure which file to edit:

ls -l lib/My/Module.pm lib/My/Module.pm.in

The .pm.in file is the one you own.

make update overwrote something I changed in a managed file

The managed files in .includes/ should never be edited directly - that is what project.mk is for. However if you did modify a managed file and make update overwrote it, git has you covered:

git diff .includes/perl.mk
git checkout .includes/perl.mk

This is why make git and committing your .includes/ directory is strongly recommended - git is your safety net for the entire build system.

make says nothing to do but my source changed

The most common cause is that the generated .pm file is newer than the .pm.in source. This can happen if you accidentally edited the .pm directly or if file timestamps got out of sync. Force a rebuild:

touch lib/My/Module.pm.in

Or do a clean rebuild:

make clean && make

How do I disable scanning temporarily?

make SCAN=off

This skips the dependency scan entirely for that run - useful when you have many modules and want a fast build during active development. The default is SCAN=ON.

How do I disable syntax checking temporarily?

make SYNTAX_CHECKING=off

Similarly you can disable individual quality gates:

make PERLTIDYRC="" PERLCRITICRC=""

How do I upgrade the build system?

make upgrade

This checks MetaCPAN for a newer version of CPAN::Maker::Bootstrapper, installs it via cpanm, and automatically refreshes the managed files in .includes/ with make update. Review the changes with git diff and revert anything you don't want with git checkout.

If cpanm is not installed:

make cpanm && make upgrade

I want to add a bash script to my distribution

Create the script in bin/ with a .sh.in extension:

bin/my-script.sh.in

The build system will process it through the standard token substitution (replacing @PACKAGE_VERSION@ and @MODULE_NAME@), make it executable, and include it in the distribution automatically.

If your script is more than a few lines of bash, consider writing it as a modulino instead - a Perl module that doubles as a runnable script. Modulinos are easier to test, encourage encapsulation, and give you the full power of Perl and CPAN. The build system has first-class support for them:

make modulino

This generates a bash wrapper in bin/ that invokes your module as a script if it uses the modulino pattern:

caller or __PACKAGE__->main;

See "MODULINOS" for full details.

What is make release-notes used for?

make release-notes generates three artifacts comparing the current working state of your repository against the previous git tag:

These are primarily useful for generating release notes and changelogs, and for submitting targeted patches. Run it after bumping the version with make release, make minor, or make major and before publishing to CPAN:

make minor
make release-notes
# review release-1.1.0.diffs
make

The artifacts are all the clues needed for LLMs to produce accurate and well written release notes for your project.

The release artifacts are cleaned up by make clean.

Can I distribute the POD in my modules separately?

When you package your CPAN distribution you can strip the pod from your modules or you can extract the pod and provide them as separate .pod files. There are two make environment variables you can set to control that behavior.

The dependency resolver keeps adding a file I don't want to

list. How can I tell it to skip those files?

Add a requires.skip file to exclude modules from the scanned list. Sometimes the scanner may include modules that are optional or modules you just don't want to include as requirements because they are already included in a module you have already required.

Similarly, test-requires.skip excludes modules from the test dependency scan.

On a clean first run neither requires nor test-requires exists yet, so the raw scanner output becomes the dependency file - meaning skip list and pins have no effect until the second run.

Something still doesn't work - how do I report an issue?

First check the "FAQ" sections above - your issue may already be covered.

If you believe you have found a bug or want to request a feature, please open an issue on GitHub:

https://github.com/rlauer6/CPAN-Maker-Bootstrapper/issues

When reporting a bug please include:

Pull requests are welcome. The project follows the standard GitHub fork-and-PR workflow.

SEE ALSO

CPAN::Maker - the distribution builder driven by buildspec.yml (includes make-cpan-dist.pl)

CLI::Simple - the CLI framework used by the bootstrapper itself and optionally by generated CLI module stubs

CPAN::Maker::ConfigReader - the git config reader bundled with this distribution, available for use in your own tools.

LLM::API - client interface to Anthropic's Claude API

Module::ScanDeps::Static - the static dependency scanner used by make requires and make test-requires to analyze your source files

DEPENDENCIES

CLI::Simple::Constants
CLI::Simple::Utils
CPAN::Maker::ConfigReader
Cwd
English
Email::Valid
File::Basename
File::Copy
File::Find
File::Path
File::ShareDir
File::Temp
JSON::PP
List::Util
Module::Metadata;

Required for AI Commands

Archive::Tar
Pod::Extract (required for code-review command)
Text::ASCIITable;

Recommend Packages

Term::ANSIColor

VERSION

This documentation refers to version 1.1.1

AUTHOR

Rob Lauer - rlauer@treasurersbriefcase.com

LICENSE

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