App::Info 0.51

App::Info is Perl module information about software packages on a system.

SYNOPSIS

use App::Info::Category::FooApp;

my $app = App::Info::Category::FooApp->new;

if ($app->installed) {
print "App name: ", $app->name, "n";
print "Version: ", $app->version, "n";
print "Bin dir: ", $app->bin_dir, "n";
} else {
print "App not installed on your system. :-(n";
}

App::Info is an abstract base class designed to provide a generalized interface for subclasses that provide metadata about software packages installed on a system. The idea is that these classes can be used in Perl application installers in order to determine whether software dependencies have been fulfilled, and to get necessary metadata about those software packages.

App::Info provides an event model for handling events triggered by App::Info subclasses. The events are classified as "info", "error", "unknown", and "confirm" events, and multiple handlers may be specified to handle any or all of these event types. This allows App::Info clients to flexibly handle events in any way they deem necessary. Implementing new event handlers is straight-forward, and use the triggering of events by App::Info subclasses is likewise kept easy-to-use.

A few sample subclasses are provided with the distribution, but others are invited to write their own subclasses and contribute them to the CPAN. Contributors are welcome to extend their subclasses to provide more information relevant to the application for which data is to be provided (see App::Info::HTTPD::Apache for an example), but are encouraged to, at a minimum, implement the abstract methods defined here and in the category abstract base classes (e.g., App::Info::HTTPD and App::Info::Lib). See Subclassing for more information on implementing new subclasses.