Pod::Readme(3)

NAME
Pod::Readme - Convert POD to README file

SYNOPSIS
  use Pod::Readme;
  my $parser = Pod::Readme->new();

  # Read POD from STDIN and write to STDOUT
  $parser->parse_from_filehandle;

  # Read POD from Module.pm and write to README
  $parser->parse_from_file('Module.pm', 'README');

DESCRIPTION
This module is a subclass of Pod::PlainText which provides additional POD markup for generating README files.

Why should one bother with this? One can simply use

  pod2text Module.pm > README

A problem with doing that is that the default pod2text converter will add text to links, so that "L<Module>" is translated to "the Module manpage".

Another problem is that the README includes the entirety of the module documentation! Most people browsing the README file do not need all of this information.

Likewise, including installation and requirement information in the module documentation is not necessary either, since the module is already installed.

This module allows authors to mark portions of the POD to be included only in, or to be excluded from the README file. It also allows you to include portions of another file (such as a separate ChangeLog).

  Markup
Special POD markup options are described below:

begin/end
      =begin readme

      =head1 README ONLY

      This section will only show up in the README file.

      =end readme

    Delineates a POD section that is only available in README file. If you prefer to include plain text instead, add the "text" modifier:

      =begin readme text

      README ONLY (PLAINTEXT)

          This section will only show up in the README file.

      =end readme

    Note that placing a colon before the section to indicate that it is POD (e.g. "begin :readme") is not supported in this version.

stop/continue
      =for readme stop

    All POD that follows will not be included in the README, until a "continue" command occurs:

      =for readme continue

include
      =for readme include file=filename type=type start=Regexp stop=Regexp

      =for readme include file=Changes start=^0.08 stop=^0.06 type=text

    Includes a plaintext file named filename, starting with the line that contains the start "Regexp" and ending at the line that begins with the stop "Regexp". (The start and stop Regexps are optional: one or both may be omitted.)

    Type may be "text" or "pod". If omitted, "pod" will be assumed.

    Quotes may be used when the filename or marks contains spaces:

      =for readme include file="another file.pod"

One can also using maintain multiple file types (such as including TODO, or COPYING) by using a modified constructor:

  $parser = Pod::Readme->new( readme_type => "copying" );

In the above "Markup" commands replace "readme" with the tag specified instead (such as "copying"):

  =begin copying

As of version 0.03 you can specify multiple sections by separating them with a comma:

  =begin copying,readme

There is also no standard list of type names. Some names might be recognized by other POD processors (such as "testing" or "html"). Pod::Readme will reject the following "known" type names when they are specified in the constructor:

    testing html xhtml xml docbook rtf man nroff dsr rno latex tex code

You can also use a "debug" mode to diagnose any problems, such as mistyped format names:

  $parser = Pod::Readme->new( debug => 1 );

Warnings will be issued for any ignored formatting commands.

  Example
For an example, see the Readme.pm file in this distribution.

SEE ALSO
See perlpod, perlpodspec and podlators.

AUTHOR
Robert Rothenberg <rrwo at cpan.org>

  Suggestions and Bug Reporting
Feedback is always welcome. Please use the CPAN Request Tracker at <http://rt.cpan.org> to submit bug reports.

LICENSE
Copyright (c) 2005,2006 Robert Rothenberg. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

Some portions are based on Pod::PlainText 2.02.