Software distributions released to the CPAN include a _META.json_ or, for older distributions, _META.yml_, which describes the distribution, its contents, and the requirements for building and installing the distribution. The data structure stored in the _META.json_ file is described in the CPAN::Meta::Spec manpage.

CPAN::Meta provides a simple class to represent this distribution metadata (or _distmeta_), along with some helpful methods for interrogating that data.

The documentation below is only for the methods of the CPAN::Meta object. For information on the meaning of individual fields, consult the spec.