NAME
    Package::Locator - Find a package among CPAN-like repositories

VERSION
    version 0.010

SYNOPSIS
      use Package::Locator;

      # Basic search...
      my $locator = Package::Locator->new();
      my $url = locator->locate( package => 'Test::More' );

      # Search for first within multiple repositories:
      my $repos = [ qw(http://cpan.pair.com http://my.company.com/DPAN) ];
      my $locator = Package::Locator->new( repository_urls => $repos );
      my $url = locator->locate( package => 'Test::More' );

      # Search for first where version >= 0.34:
      my $repos = [ qw(http://cpan.pair.com http://my.company.com/DPAN) ];
      my $locator = Package::Locator->new( repository_urls => $repos );
      my $url = locator->locate( package => 'Test::More' version => 0.34);

      # Search for latest where version  >= 0.34:
      my $repos = [ qw(http://cpan.pair.com http://my.company.com/DPAN) ];
      my $locator = Package::Locator->new( repository_urls => $repos );
      my $url = locator->locate( package => 'Test::More' version => 0.34, latest => 1);

      # Search for specific dist on multiple repositories...:
      my $repos = [ qw(http://cpan.pair.com http://my.company.com/DPAN) ];
      my $locator = Package::Locator->new( repository_urls => $repos );
      my $url = locator->locate( distribution => 'A/AU/AUTHOR/Foo-1.0.tar.gz');

DESCRIPTION
    Package::Locator attempts to answer the question: "Where can I find a
    distribution that will provide this package?" The answer is divined by
    searching the indexes for one or more CPAN-like repositories. If you
    also provide a specific version number, Package::Locator will attempt to
    find a distribution with that version of the package, or higher. You can
    also ask to find the latest version of a package across all the indexes.

    Package::Locator only looks at the index files for each repository, and
    those indexes only contain information about the latest versions of the
    packages within that repository. So Package::Locator is not BackPAN
    magic -- you cannot use it to find precisely which distribution a
    particular package (or file) came from. For that stuff, see "/See Also".

CONSTRUCTOR
  new( %attributes )
    All the attributes listed below can be passed to the constructor, and
    retrieved via accessor methods with the same name. All attributes are
    read-only, and cannot be changed once the object is constructed.

ATTRIBUTES
  repository_urls => [ qw(http://somewhere http://somewhere.else) ]
    An array reference containing the base URLs of the repositories you want
    to search. These are usually CPAN mirrors, but can be any website or
    local directory that is organized in a CPAN-like structure. For each
    request, repositories are searched in the order you specified them here.
    This defaults to http://cpan.perl.org.

  user_agent => $user_agent_obj
    The LWP::UserAgent object that will fetch index files. If you do not
    provide a user agent, then a default one will be constructed for you.

  cache_dir => '/some/directory/path'
    The path (as a string or Path::Class::Dir object) to a directory where
    the index file will be cached. If the directory does not exist, it will
    be created for you. If you do not specify a cache directory, then a
    temporary directory will be used. The temporary directory will be
    deleted when your application terminates.

  force => $boolean
    Causes any cached index files to be removed, thus forcing a new one to
    be downloaded when the object is constructed. This only has effect if
    you specified the "cache_dir" attribute. The default is false.

METHODS
  indexes()
    Returns a list of Package::Locator::Index objects representing the
    indexes of each of the repositories. The indexes are only populated
    on-demand when the "locate" method is called. The order of the indexes
    is the same as the order of the repositories defined by the
    "repository_urls" attribute.

  locate( package => 'Foo::Bar' )
  locate( package => 'Foo::Bar', latest => 1 )
  locate( package => 'Foo::Bar', version => '1.2')
  locate( package => 'Foo::Bar', version => '1.2', latest => 1 )
  locate ( distribution => 'A/AU/AUTHOR/Foo-Bar-1.0.tar.gz' )
    Given the name of a package, searches all the repository indexes and
    returns the URL to a distribution containing that requested package, or
    the distribution you requested.

    If you also specify a "version", then you'll always get a distribution
    that contains that version of the package or higher. If you also specify
    "latest" then you'll always get the distribution that contains the
    latest version of the package that can be found in all the indexes.
    Otherwise you'll just get the first distribution we can find that
    satisfies your request.

    If you give a distribution path instead, then you'll just get back the
    URL to the first distribution we find at that path in any of the
    repository indexes.

    If neither the package nor the distribution path can be found in any of
    the indexes, returns undef.

  clear_cache()
    Deletes the cached index files. Any subsequent calls to the "locate"
    method will cause the index files to be fetched anew.

MOTIVATION
    The CPAN module also provides a mechanism for locating packages or
    distributions, much like Package::Locator does. However, CPAN assumes
    that all repositories are CPAN mirrors, so it only searches the first
    repository that it can contact.

    My secret ambition is to fill the world with lots of DarkPAN
    repositories -- each with its own set of distributions. For that
    scenario, I need to search multiple repositories at the same time.

SEE ALSO
    If you need to locate a distribution that contains a precise version of
    a file rather than just a version that is "new enough", then look at
    some of these:

    Dist::Surveyor

    BackPAN::Index

    BackPAN::Version::Discover

SUPPORT
  Perldoc
    You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

      perldoc Package::Locator

  Websites
    The following websites have more information about this module, and may
    be of help to you. As always, in addition to those websites please use
    your favorite search engine to discover more resources.

    *   Search CPAN

        The default CPAN search engine, useful to view POD in HTML format.

        <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Package-Locator>

    *   CPAN Ratings

        The CPAN Ratings is a website that allows community ratings and
        reviews of Perl modules.

        <http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Package-Locator>

    *   CPAN Testers

        The CPAN Testers is a network of smokers who run automated tests on
        uploaded CPAN distributions.

        <http://www.cpantesters.org/distro/P/Package-Locator>

    *   CPAN Testers Matrix

        The CPAN Testers Matrix is a website that provides a visual overview
        of the test results for a distribution on various Perls/platforms.

        <http://matrix.cpantesters.org/?dist=Package-Locator>

    *   CPAN Testers Dependencies

        The CPAN Testers Dependencies is a website that shows a chart of the
        test results of all dependencies for a distribution.

        <http://deps.cpantesters.org/?module=Package::Locator>

  Bugs / Feature Requests
    <https://github.com/thaljef/Package-Locator/issues>

  Source Code
    <https://github.com/thaljef/Package-Locator>

      git clone git://github.com/thaljef/Package-Locator.git

AUTHOR
    Jeffrey Ryan Thalhammer <jeff@imaginative-software.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    This software is copyright (c) 2011 by Imaginative Software Systems.

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