Dist::Zilla is a tool for simplifying the process of authoring and maintaining CPAN distributions. It allows authors to replace complex Makefiles and configuration files with a simple dist.ini file. This file defines the files and metadata needed for the distribution. Dist::Zilla handles common tasks like testing, documentation generation and releases through a simple CLI interface. It aims to reduce the overhead of distribution authoring so authors can focus on writing code.

1. Dist::Zilla
raaaaaaaaar!

2. you @ cpan . org
This talk is about your life as a CPAN author.

3. CPAN == Dists
The CPAN is just a bunch of dists (distributions).

4. YourApp-1.0.tar.gz
isa Dist
and a distribution is just an archive file

5. dists contain files

6. ~/code/YourApp$ find .
./Changes
./LICENSE
./MANIFEST.SKIP
./Makefile.PL
./README
./lib/YourApp.pm
./lib/YourApp/Reticulator.pm
./lib/YourApp/Util/mtfnpy.pm
./lib/YourApp/Xyzzy.pm
./t/unit-tests.t
./t/pod-coverage.t
./t/pod.t
this is all the crap in your working copy where you write this dist
making all these is a boring pain in the ass

7. being a dist author is hard!
let’s go gemming!

8. Module::Starter

9. C K S !
U
Module::Starter
S

10. only gets you to a
starting point

11. can’t rebuild from
templates post facto

12. can’t add files to your dist

13. no good for files that
need to be rebuilt a lot

14. Module::Install

15. generates some files
when running ‘make’

16. Makefile.PL
takes the usually short Makefile.PL

17. Makefile.PL
makes it slightly smaller

18. Module::Install

19. C K S !
U
Module::Install
S

20. relies on
ExtUtils::MakeMaker

21. relies on
ExtUtils::MakeMaker
CK S!
SU

22. puts insane complexity
on user’s computer

23. bundles scary, versioned
code in the dist

24. when bugs are fixed,
everybody re-releases

25. ...to review...

26. writing code == fun

27. writing
=head1 LICENSE
NOT FUN

28. Dist::Zilla
raaaaaaaaar!

29. ~/code/YourApp$ find .
./Changes
./LICENSE
./MANIFEST.SKIP
./Makefile.PL
./README
./lib/YourApp.pm
./lib/YourApp/Reticulator.pm
./lib/YourApp/Util/mtfnpy.pm
./lib/YourApp/Xyzzy.pm
./t/unit-tests.t
./t/pod-coverage.t
./t/pod.t
So, back to this list of files....

30. ~/code/YourApp$ find .
./lib/YourApp.pm
./lib/YourApp/Reticulator.pm
./lib/YourApp/Util/mtfnpy.pm
./lib/YourApp/Xyzzy.pm
./t/unit-tests.t
Let’s get rid of all the crap

31. ~/code/YourApp$ find .
dist.conf
./lib/YourApp.pm
./lib/YourApp/Reticulator.pm
./lib/YourApp/Util/mtfnpy.pm
./lib/YourApp/Xyzzy.pm
./t/unit-tests.t
and replace it with a little config for Dist::Zilla

32. package YourApp;
=head1 NAME
YourApp - my awesome app
=head1 VERSION
version 1.001
=cut
our $VERSION = 0.001;
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=head2 that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
Here’s a .pm file

33. package YourApp;
=head1 NAME
YourApp - my awesome app
=head1 VERSION
version 1.001
=cut
our $VERSION = 0.001;
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=head2 that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
The =name section is annoying.

34. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 VERSION
version 1.001
=cut
our $VERSION = 0.001;
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=head2 that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
We’ll replace it with a comment.

35. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 VERSION
version 1.001
=cut
our $VERSION = 0.001;
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=head2 that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
The =version section is redundant.

36. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
our $VERSION = 0.001;
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=head2 that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
Drop it.

37. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
our $VERSION = 0.001;
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=head2 that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
Even the $VERSION is redundant, since we want it constant across the dist.

38. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=head2 that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
our overarching METHOD section is dumb

39. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=method this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=method that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
let’s just use =method for them all

40. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=method this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=method that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 AUTHOR
Margo Yapp <myapp@example.com>
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
Repeating the author everywhere is annoying, too.

41. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=method this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=method that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
Drop it, use author info found in DZ config.

42. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=method this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=method that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
=head1 LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2008, Margo Yapp.
This is distributed under the terms of the accidental death and
dismemberment license and if you redistribuet this document you
will be “accidentally” deathed or dismembered. You have been
told.
=cut
1;
The license is gigantic! Ugh!

43. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=method this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=method that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
1;
Drop it.

44. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=method this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=method that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
1;
Now our file is simple, just the unique docs and code it needs. It fits on one legible slide!

45. package YourApp;
# ABSTRACT: my awesome app
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This app is awesome.
=method this_method
This method does stuff.
=cut
method this_method { ... }
=method that_method
Also stuff.
method that_method { ... }
1;
And is about half Perl.

46. the CLI interface

47. dzil new
the CLI interface

48. dzil new
dzil test
the CLI interface

49. dzil new
dzil test
dzil build
the CLI interface

50. dzil new
dzil test
dzil build
dzil release
the CLI interface

51. spin-off modules
CPAN::Uploader String::RewritePrefix
Pod::Eventual Config::INI::MVP::Reader
Pod::Weaver Mixin::Linewise
Software::License Data::Section
String::Flogger Pod::Elemental
lots of spin-off modules

52. lots of prereqs

53. ...but that’s okay...

54. dzil replaces “make dist”

55. ...and the dist is boring

56. plain old Makefile.PL
(or Build.PL)

57. users don’t notice that
you used Dist::Zilla

58. they just notice how
productive you are

59. Dist::Zilla
raaaaaaaaar!