NAME
CPAN::Changes::Spec - Specification for CPAN Changes files
VERSION
version 0.500004
SYNOPSIS
Revision history
for
perl module Foo::Bar
0.02 2009-07-17
- Added more foo() tests
0.01 2009-07-16
- Initial release
DESCRIPTION
It is intended as a guide for module authors to encourage them to write meaningful changelogs as well as provide a programmatic interface to reliably read and write Changes files.
DATA TYPES
Version
Versions should be formatted as described in "Version-Formats" in CPAN::Meta::Spec.
Date
A date/time in the format specified by http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime aka W3CDTF. Note: The "T" marker before the time portion is optional.
In order to satisfy release events not made to the public, or dates that are historically unknown, the following strings are also available:
Unknown Release Date
Unknown
Not Released
Development Release
Development
Developer Release
STRUCTURE
Required Elements
In its simplest form, the only required elements are a Version
, a Date
and the noted changes. Blank lines between the Version
line and the first Change
line are optional. Blank lines between Change
lines are also optional.
<Version>(whitespace/non-
"word"
characters)<Date>
(whitespace)<Change>
NOTE: The characters between a Version
and a Date
must start with whitespace, but may subsequently contain any combination of whitespace and non-"word" characters. Example:
0.01 - 2013-12-11
Change
lines have no specific format. Commonly, authors will use a dash -
followed by a space to start a new change, and indent subsequent lines for multi-line changes. Example
- Simple Change
- This is a very very very long
change line
Although there is no limit on line length, authors generally wrap each line at 78 columns.
Optional Elements
Release Note
Any text following the Date
portion of the Version
line will be considered the Release Note
. Example:
0.01 2013-04-01 Codename: April Fool
- First Release
Preamble
Any amount of text before the first Version
line will be considered part of the preamble. Most existing distributions include something along the lines of:
Revision history
for
perl module My::Module
Or
Revision history
for
perl distribution My-Distribution
Groups
Changelog entries may be grouped under headings. Heading lines begin with an opening square bracket ([
), and end with a matching square bracket (]
). When parsing group headings, leading and trailing whitespace inside the brackets should be discarded.
(whitespace)[Grouping Name]
(whitespace)<Change>
Since empty lines hold no special meaning, all Change
lines will fall under the current group until a new group heading is found. Example:
[ First Group ]
- First Change
- Second Change; in first group
[ Second Group ]
- First Change; in second group
EXAMPLES
Basic Example
0.01 2009-07-16
- Initial release
Example with a preamble
Revision history
for
perl module Foo::Bar
0.02 2009-07-17
- Added more foo() tests
0.01 2009-07-16
- Initial release
Example with groups
Revision history
for
perl module Foo::Bar
0.03 2009-07-18
[Important Security Information]
- This release fixes critical bug RT
#1234
[Other Changes]
- Added some feature
0.02 2009-07-17
- Added more foo() tests
0.01 2009-07-16T19:20:30+01:00
- Initial release
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
Brian Cassidy <bricas@cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2011-2013 by Brian Cassidy
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.