# PODNAME: Alien::Build::Manual::AlienUser
# ABSTRACT: Alien user documentation
# VERSION

__END__

=pod

=encoding UTF-8

=head1 NAME

Alien::Build::Manual::AlienUser - Alien user documentation

=head1 VERSION

version 0.32

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 perldoc Alien::Build::Manual::AlienUser

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document is intended for a user of an L<Alien::Base> based L<Alien>
module's user.  Although specifically geared for L<Alien::Base>
subclasses, it may have some useful hints for L<Alien> in general.

The following documentation will assume you are trying to use an L<Alien>
called C<Alien::Foo> which provides the library C<libfoo> and the command
line tool C<foo>.  Many L<Alien>s will only provide one or the other.

What follows are the main use cases.

=head2 Module::Build

 use Module::Build;
 use Alien::Foo;
 
 my $builder = Module::Build->new(
   ...
   configure_requires => {
     'Alien::Foo' => '0',
     ...
   },
   extra_compiler_flags => Alien::Foo->cflags,
   extra_linker_flags   => Alien::Foo->libs,
   ...
 );
 
 $build->create_build_script;

The key gotcha for using L<Alien> from a C<Build.PL> for an XS module
is remembering to explicitly making the L<Alien> a configuration 
prerequisite.

=head2 ExtUtils::MakeMaker

 use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
 use Config;
 use Alien::Foo;
 
 WriteMakefile(
   ...
   CONFIGURE_REQUIRES => {
     'Alien::Foo' => '0',
   },
   CCFLAGS => Alien::Foo->cflags . " $Config{ccflags}",
   LIBS    => [ Alien::Foo->libs ],
   ...
 );

MakeMaker is similar, make sure that you explicitly make your L<Alien>
a configure prerequisite.

=head2 FFI::Platypus

 use FFI::Platypus;
 use Alien::Foo;
 
 my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new(
   lib => [ Alien::Foo->dynamic_libs ],
 );

Not all L<Alien>s provide dynamic libraries, but those that do can be
used by L<FFI::Raw> or L<FFI::Platypus>.  Unlike an XS module, these
need to be a regular run time prerequisite.

=head2 tool

 use Alien::Foo;
 use Env qw( @PATH );
 
 unshift @ENV, Alien::Foo->bin_dir;
 system 'foo', '--bar', '--baz';

Some L<Alien>s provide tools instead of or in addition to a library.
You need to add them to the C<PATH> environment variable though.
(Unless the tool is already provided by the system, in which case
it is already in the path and the C<bin_dir> method will return an
empty list).

=head1 AUTHOR

Graham Ollis <plicease@cpan.org>

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2017 by Graham Ollis.

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

=cut
