NAME

Probe::Perl - Information about the currently running perl

VERSION

version 0.03

SYNOPSIS

 use Probe::Perl;
 $p = Probe::Perl->new();
 
 # Version of this perl as a floating point number
 $ver = $p->perl_version();
 $ver = Probe::Perl->perl_version();
 
 # Convert a multi-dotted string to a floating point number
 $ver = $p->perl_version_to_float($ver);
 $ver = Probe::Perl->perl_version_to_float($ver);
 
 # Check if the given perl is the same as the one currently running
 $bool = $p->perl_is_same($perl_path);
 $bool = Probe::Perl->perl_is_same($perl_path);
 
 # Find a path to the currently-running perl
 $path = $p->find_perl_interpreter();
 $path = Probe::Perl->find_perl_interpreter();
 
 # Get @INC before run-time additions
 @paths = $p->perl_inc();
 @paths = Probe::Perl->perl_inc();
 
 # Get the general type of operating system
 $type = $p->os_type();
 $type = Probe::Perl->os_type();
 
 # Access Config.pm values
 $val = $p->config('foo');
 $val = Probe::Perl->config('foo');
 $p->config('foo' => 'bar');  # Set locally
 $p->config_revert('foo');  # Revert

DESCRIPTION

This module provides methods for obtaining information about the currently running perl interpreter. It originally began life as code in the "Module::Build" project, but has been externalized here for general use.

METHODS

new(): Creates a new Probe::Perl object and returns it. Most methods in the Probe::Perl packages are available as class methods, so you don't always need to create a new object. But if you want to create a mutable view of the "Config.pm" data, it's necessary to create an object to store the values in.
config( $key [, $value] ): Returns the "Config.pm" value associated with $key. If $value is also specified, then the value is set to $value for this view of the data. In this case, "config()" must be called as an object method, not a class method.
config_revert( $key ): Removes any user-assigned value in this view of the "Config.pm" data.
find_perl_interpreter( ): Returns the absolute path of this perl interpreter. This is actually sort of a tricky thing to discover sometimes - in these cases we use "perl_is_same()" to verify.
perl_version( ): Returns the version of this perl interpreter as a perl-styled version number using "perl_version_to_float()". Uses $^V if your perl is recent enough, otherwise uses $].
perl_version_to_float( $version ): Formats $version as a perl-styled version number like 5.008001.
perl_is_same( $perl ): Given the name of a perl interpreter, this method determines if it has the same configuration as the one represented by the current perl instance. Usually this means it's exactly the same
perl_inc( ): Returns a list of directories in this perl's @INC path, before any entries from "use lib", $ENV{PERL5LIB}, or "-I" switches are added.
os_type( [$osname] ): Returns a generic OS type (e.g. "Unix", "Windows", "MacOS") for the given OS name. If no OS name is given it uses the value in $^O, which is the same as $Config{osname}.

AUTHOR

Randy W. Sims <randys@thepierianspring.org>

Based partly on code from the Module::Build project, by Ken Williams <kwilliams@cpan.org> and others.

COPYRIGHT

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