Dist::Zilla::Plugin::UsefulReadme - generate a README file with the useful bits
In the dist.ini
[UsefulReadme]
type = markdown
filename = README.md
phase = build
location = build
section = name
section = synopsis
section = description
section = requirements
section = installation
section = bugs
section = source
section = author
section = copyright and license
section = see also
This is a Dist::Zilla plugin to filter the main module POD to generate a README file. It allows developers to
determine which sections are incorporated into the README rather than dumping the entire main module documentation.
This also supports including special sections for showing the most recent entry in the Changes file, showing the
runtime requirements, and including installation instructions.
This was written as a successor to Pod::Readme that works better with Pod::Weaver.
Changes for version v0.5.1 (2025-08-16)
- Enhancements
- Added add_prereqs option.
- Tests
- Add more author tests.
See the Changes file for more details.
This module lists the following modules as runtime dependencies:
- CPAN::Changes::Parser version 0.500002 or later
- Dist::Zilla version 6.003 or later
- Hash::Ordered version 0.005 or later
- List::Util version 1.33 or later
- Module::Metadata version 1.000015 or later
- Module::Runtime
- Moose
- MooseX::MungeHas
- PPI::Token::Pod
- Path::Tiny
- Perl::PrereqScanner version 1.024 or later
- Pod::Elemental
- Pod::Simple version 3.23 or later
- Pod::Weaver::Role::Section
- Types::Common
- experimental
- namespace::autoclean
- perl version v5.20.0 or later
See the cpanfile file for the full list of prerequisites.
The latest version of this module (along with any dependencies) can be installed from CPAN with the cpan tool that is included with Perl:
cpan Dist::Zilla::Plugin::UsefulReadme
You can also extract the distribution archive and install this module (along with any dependencies):
cpan .
You can also install this module manually using the following commands:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
If you are working with the source repository, then it may not have a Makefile.PL file. But you can use the Dist::Zilla tool in anger to build and install this module:
dzil build
dzil test
dzil install --install-command="cpan ."
For more information, see How to install CPAN modules.
Only the latest version of this module will be supported.
This module requires Perl v5.20 or later. Future releases may only support Perl versions released in the last ten years.
Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://github.com/robrwo/perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-UsefulReadme/issues
When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.
If the bug you are reporting has security implications which make it inappropriate to send to a public issue tracker,
then see SECURITY.md for instructions how to report security vulnerabilities.
The development version is on github at https://github.com/robrwo/perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-UsefulReadme and may be cloned from git://github.com/robrwo/perl-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-UsefulReadme.git
Robert Rothenberg rrwo@cpan.org
Some of this code was adapted from similar code in Dist::Zilla::Plugin::ReadmeAnyFromPod and Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Readme::Brief.
This software is copyright (c) 2025 by Robert Rothenberg.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
