This is the topic of one of my TPJ columns: Making New Distributions.

I use Template Toolkit. I create a directory of templates that do exactly what I want then process it with ttree. I can make the templates any way that I like without fooling with someone else's idea of what they should be, and my template cooker script can set any variables it likes so I don't have to specify those with the command.

I've made it even easier since I wrote that article. I use it this like:

prompt> module_cooker Foo::Bar
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Here's the code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Cwd;
use File::Spec;

my $module = $ARGV[0] || prompt( "Module name> " );
my $dist   = $module; $dist =~ s/::/-/g;
my $file   = $module; $file =~ s/.*:://; $file .= ".pm";

my $cwd    = File::Spec->catfile( cwd(), $dist );

system 
        join " ",
        "/usr/local/bin/ttree"        ,
        "-s ~/.templates/modules"     ,
        "-d $cwd"                     ,
        "-define module='$module'"    ,
        "-define module_file='$file'" ,
        "-define module_dist='$dist'"
        ;

chdir $dist;

( my $base = $module ) =~ s/.*:://;

rename 
        File::Spec->catfile( 'lib', 'Foo.pm' ),
        File::Spec->catfile( 'lib', $file );
        

sub prompt
        {
        print join "\n", @_;
        print "> ";
        
        my $line = <STDIN>;
        chomp $line;
        $line;
        }
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