NAME

lib::abs - "lib" that makes relative path absolute to caller.

SYNOPSIS

Simple use like "use lib ...":

        use lib::abs qw(./mylibs1 ../mylibs2);
        use lib::abs 'mylibs';

Extended syntax (glob)

        use lib::abs 'modules/*/lib';

There are also may be used helper function from lib::abs (see example/ex4):

        use lib::abs;
        # ...
        my $path = lib::abs::path('../path/relative/to/me'); # returns absolute path

DESCRIPTION

The main reason of this library is transformate relative paths to absolute at the "BEGIN" stage, and push transformed to @INC. Relative path basis is not the current working directory, but the location of file, where the statement is (caller file). When using common "lib", relative paths stays relative to curernt working directory,

        # For ex:
        # script: /opt/scripts/my.pl
        use lib::abs '../lib';

        # We run `/opt/scripts/my.pl` having cwd /home/mons
        # The @INC will contain '/opt/lib';

        # We run `./my.pl` having cwd /opt
        # The @INC will contain '/opt/lib';

        # We run `../my.pl` having cwd /opt/lib
        # The @INC will contain '/opt/lib';

Also this module is useful when writing tests, when you want to load strictly the module from ../lib, respecting the test file.

        # t/00-test.t
        use lib::abs '../lib';

Also this is useful, when you running under "mod_perl", use something like "Apache::StatINC", and your application may change working directory. So in case of chdir "StatINC" fails to reload module if the @INC contain relative paths.

RATIONALE

Q: We already have "FindBin" and "lib", why we need this module?

A: There are several reasons:

1) "FindBin" could find path incorrectly under "mod_perl"
2) "FindBin" works relatively to executed binary instead of relatively to caller
3) Perl is linguistic language, and `use lib::abs "..."' semantically more clear and looks more beautiful than `use FindBin; use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../lib";'
4) "FindBin" b<will> work incorrectly, if will be called not from executed binary (see <http://github.com/Mons/lib-abs-vs-findbin> comparison for details)

BUGS

None known

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

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

AUTHOR

Mons Anderson, "<mons@cpan.org>"

CONTRIBUTORS

Oleg Kostyuk, "<cub@cpan.org>"