Can I build Perl modules with ExtUtils::MakeMaker-based build system "out of tree"?

Instead of adding or modifying files in the directory where the sources of a Perl module are unpacked, I would like to build everything in a separate directory. Is this easily achievable with a fairly standard Makefile.PL that uses ExtUtils::MakeMaker? (By easy, I mean something like one or a few command line parameters.) If no, does any of the other build systems support this?

Update / Reason: The Perl module is a binding to a library whose build system is autoconf/automake/libtool-based. The Perl module is shipped together with this library and calling make in the top directory eventually also builds the Perl library. I am interested in building the entire project in 开发者_如何学Goa separate build tree. At the moment I do something similar to what runrig suggested, only using symlinks. (cp -sru $(srcdir)/. $(builddir)/.). This has worked so far, but if there is a more elegant solution, I'd like to read about it.

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MakeMaker already copies the sources and builds them in a separate directory (that's what blib/ is). You can control the build location with the INST_* set of arguments to WriteMakefile(). This example changes the location from blib/ to foo/.

INST_ARCHLIB        => "foo/arch",
INST_LIB            => "foo/lib",
INST_BIN            => "foo/bin",
INST_SCRIPT         => "foo/script",
INST_MAN1DIR        => 'foo/man1',
INST_MAN3DIR        => 'foo/man3',

In addition you have to tell MakeMaker to cleanup the new build directory.

clean       => {
    FILES           => 'foo'
},

See "Determination of Perl Library and Installation Locations" in the ExtUtils::MakeMaker docs for more info.

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cp -R Module-Directory-0.01 Module-Directory-0.01.copy
cd Module-Directory-0.01.copy
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
...etc.

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I ended up using symlinks:

The library to which the Perl module provides bindings uses an autoconf/automake/libtool-based build system. Makefile.PL is generated from Makefile.PL.in by configure. Makefile.PL generates Makefile-pl (Makefile has already been taken by autoconf/automake).

This is the relevant part of Makefile.am:

all: Makefile-pl src_deps
    $(MAKE) -f Makefile-pl

Makefile-pl: Makefile.PL
    perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=$(INSTALLDIRS) PREFIX=$(prefix)

I changed the second target to:

Makefile-pl: Makefile.PL
    -[ $(srcdir) != $(builddir) ] && cp -rsu $(abs_srcdir)/. $(builddir)/.
    perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=$(INSTALLDIRS) PREFIX=$(prefix)

This should work as long as building or installing the Perl module does not result in any files being modified in-place.