Role::Commons::Authority(3) a class method indicating who published the package

SYNOPSIS


package MyApp;
use Role::Commons -all;
BEGIN { our $AUTHORITY = 'cpan:JOEBLOGGS' };

say MyApp->AUTHORITY; # says "cpan:JOEBLOGGS"

MyApp->AUTHORITY("cpan:JOEBLOGGS"); # does nothing much
MyApp->AUTHORITY("cpan:JOHNTCITIZEN"); # croaks

DESCRIPTION

This module adds an "AUTHORITY" function to your package, which works along the same lines as the "VERSION" function.

The authority of a package can be defined like this: 

   package MyApp;
   BEGIN { our $AUTHORITY = 'cpan:JOEBLOGGS' };

The authority should be a URI identifying the person, team, organisation or trained chimp responsible for the release of the package. The pseudo-URI scheme ``cpan:'' is the most commonly used identifier.

Method

"AUTHORITY"
Called with no parameters returns the authority of the module.
"AUTHORITY($test)"
If passed a test, will croak if the test fails. The authority is tested against the test using something approximating Perl 5.10's smart match operator. (Briefly, you can pass a string for eq comparison, a regular expression, a code reference to use as a callback, or an array reference that will be grepped.)

Multiple Authorities

This module allows you to indicate that your module is issued by multiple authorities. The package variable $AUTHORITY should still be used to indicate the primary authority for the package. 

   package MyApp;
   use Role::Commons
      Authority => { -authorities => [qw( cpan:ALICE cpan:BOB )] };
   BEGIN { $MyApp::AUTHORITY = 'cpan:JOE'; }
    
   package main;
   use feature qw(say);
   say scalar MyApp->AUTHORITY;     # says "cpan:JOE"
   MyApp->AUTHORITY('cpan:JOE');    # lives
   MyApp->AUTHORITY('cpan:ALICE');  # lives
   MyApp->AUTHORITY('cpan:BOB');    # lives
   MyApp->AUTHORITY('cpan:CAROL');  # croaks

The main use case for shared authorities is for team projects. The team would designate a URI to represent the team as a whole. For example, "http://datetime.perl.org/", "http://moose.iinteractive.com/" or "http://www.perlrdf.org/". Releases can then be officially stamped with the authority of the team.

And users can check they have an module released by the official team using: 

   RDF::TakeOverTheWorld->AUTHORITY(
      q<http://www.perlrdf.org/>,
   );

which will croak if package RDF::TakeOverTheWorld doesn't have the specified authority.

BUGS

An obvious limitation is that this module relies on honesty. Don't release modules under authorities you have no authority to use.

Please report any bugs to <http://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=Role-Commons>.

AUTHOR

Toby Inkster <[email protected]>.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

This software is copyright (c) 2012, 2014 by Toby Inkster.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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