PURL Type Definition: cpan

• Type Name: CPAN
• Description: Perl package distributions published on CPAN
• Schema ID: https://packageurl.org/types/cpan-definition.json

PURL Syntax

The structure of a PURL for this package type is:

pkg:cpan/<namespace>/<name>@<version>?<qualifiers>#<subpath>

Repository Information

• Use Repository: Yes
• Default Repository URL: https://www.cpan.org/

Namespace definition

• Requirement: Optional
• Native Label: CPAN author/publisher ID (CPANID)
• Note: When present, it represents the CPAN author/publisher ID (CPANID) and MUST be uppercase. It is appropriate to use 'namespace' for compatibility with existing CPAN purl producers/consumers or when a workflow explicitly requires author-scoped identifiers. For new identifiers, the 'author' qualifier is the preferred way to specify the author/publisher. When 'version' is omitted, author scoping via 'namespace' MAY be ambiguous because a distribution can change maintainers over time.

Name definition

• Requirement: Required
• Case Sensitive: Yes
• Native Label: distribution name
• Note: The name is the distribution name and is case sensitive. A distribution name MUST NOT contain the string '::'

Version definition

• Requirement: Optional
• Native Label: version
• Note: The version is the distribution version

Qualifiers Definition

Key	Requirement	Native name	Default Value	Description
author	Optional			CPAN author/publisher ID (CPANID)
distpath	Optional			Repository-relative path (not a URL) to the distribution archive or directory, typically under 'authors/id/...'
repository_url	Optional			CPAN/MetaCPAN/BackPAN/DarkPAN repository base URL
download_url	Optional			URL of package or distribution
vcs_url	Optional			extra URL for a package version control system
ext	Optional		tar.gz	distribution file extension

Examples

• pkg:cpan/perl@5.42
• pkg:cpan/DBI@1.646
• pkg:cpan/SBOM-CycloneDX
• pkg:cpan/URI-PackageURL?author=GDT
• pkg:cpan/libwww-perl@6.76?author=OALDERS
• pkg:cpan/DateTime@1.55?author=DROLSKY&repository_url=backpan.perl.org
• pkg:cpan/Term-Gnuplot@0.90380906?distpath=authors%2Fid%2FI%2FIL%2FILYAZ%2Fmodules%2FTerm-Gnuplot-0.90380906.zip

Note

The PURL 'name' MUST be the CPAN distribution name (case sensitive) and MUST NOT contain the '::' separator (module name). The CPAN author/publisher ID (CPANID) is OPTIONAL: when needed, it SHOULD be provided using the 'author' qualifier. The PURL 'namespace' is OPTIONAL and, when present, represents the CPANID and MUST be uppercase; it MAY be used for compatibility with existing identifiers or tooling. When PURL 'version' is omitted, author scoping (via 'author' qualifier or 'namespace') MAY be ambiguous because a distribution can change maintainers over time.