Chapter 5

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Pre Upload Checklist

Uploading a new module is an exciting experience. It's the culmination of a great 

deal of planning and development. Unfortunately, that excitement can make for 

some fantastic blunders. Here's a checklist to help you avoid some of the more 

common errors.

  Chec  k you  r MANIFEST. Make sure your MANIFEST file contains all the files in 

your distribution directory. One way to do this is to run a make disttest,

but this will only work if your module's tests are complete enough to notice 

a missing file. It won't catch a missing README, for example, so it's best to 

check by hand.

  Make sure your module distribution filename contains a version number. 

This is a no brainer if you're using make dist to generate your distribution 

(and why wouldn't you?). It's worth adding here because PAUSE won't let 

you upload the same file more than once. If you upload, for example, 

My Module.tar.gz, then you'll have a hard time uploading a new version 

when you fix your first set of bugs.

  Make sure you've updated the version number everywhere. A common 

error is leaving old version numbers in README or Changes files. This can be 

confusing for your users.

  Remember to update the Changes file. Savvy (and/or lazy) users will use 

this file to decide whether or not to upgrade right away. If you fix a problem 

that might cause the premature heat death of the universe, then you want 

to make sure your users know to upgrade immediately.

  Test the distribution on at least one other machine. This step can be time 

consuming, but it definitely pays off. In choosing a test machine, try to find 

a machine as different from your own as possible. If you're developing on 

Linux, try installing your module under Windows and vice versa.

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Uploading Your Module Distribution

When you have a new version of your module to release, you'll use the 

PAUSE upload file form (see Figure 5 2), found in the User Menu sidebar at

http://pause.cpan.org. There are three ways to upload your module distribution 

to CPAN: using HTTP upload, providing a URL, and via FTP.

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