[Bioperl-l] Build.PL, 'requires', 'recommends', and optional modules

[Dave Messina]

Hey everyone,
So in testing the latest bioperl-live, I noticed that there's a new
dependency for Microarray::Tools::ReseqChip, namely Statistics::Frequency.

I seem to remember at some point during the Build process, I would get
prompted if I want to install optional modules, but I wasn't, and poking
around in the Module::Build docs I couldn't find the details.

Since, according to the docs for Microarray::Tools::ReseqChip indicate it
relies on Statistics::Frequency, I think S::F should go in the 'requires'
block in Build.PL, right?

And wouldn't that also be true for the other external dependencies of
M::T::ReseqChip, Spreadsheet::ParseExcel and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel?

Or do all three of those go in 'recommends'?

Whether 'requires' or 'recommends', could someone refresh my memory on how
this works, and in what way one gets prompted for uninstalled modules?


Thanks,
Dave


(By the way, I know that this module was just added and so all of the
twiddly setup stuff might not have been done quite yet. I'm not complaining
-- this just triggered my curiosity about how this works...)