Olivier Mengué (dolmen)

If you are a CPAN author, this is for you. Otherwise it's still time to become one!

RT.cpan.org has a little known feature called Maintainer's Notes. Maintainers of a CPAN distribution can put a piece of HTML above the tickets list.

Here are a few examples:

• Term-ReadLine-Gnu
• Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
• Tie-iCal
• Path-Class
• HTML-Template-Compiled
• more with Google...

To edit this content, you have access to a Manage link on the top right of the queue of your distribution.

Here are some ideas of useful information to put in Maintainer's Notes:

• A link to known issues (probably already mentioned in your POD)
• A link to your source code repository (especially if you use Dist::Zilla) with instructions on how to rebuild the distribution
• A link to your alternate issue tracker if you don't want to use rt.cpan.org (don't forget to also put the link in META.yml/json, as rt.cpan.org will put the link for you)
• Your contribution guidelines (this can be a link to a rendered version of a CONTRIBUTING.md file, as Github has special support for that):
  • How to properly report an issue
  • How to properly make and submit a patch
• Advertise your development/trial releases (if any), and how to install them with a CPAN client
• If you want to transfer maintainership of the distribution or you are looking for co-maintainers, this is a good place for a detailed announcement

Maintainer's Notes are a good way to improve the experience of users of your distribution, to reduce misunderstandings or wrong expectations, and improve the quality of the contribution you'll receive. So let's use them!

PS: you are invited to post links to other examples of Maintainer's Notes that may help other CPAN authors.