Perl::Critic::Policy::Documentation::ProhibitLinkToSelf - don't L<> link to own POD

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       Copyright 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 Kevin Ryde

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perl v5.32.1                                       2021-02-28              Perl::Critic::...hibitLinkToSelf(3pm)

Description

This policy is part of the "Perl::Critic::Pulp" add-on. It asks you not to use "L<>" markup to refer to
a POD document itself.

=head1 NAME

My::Package - something

=head1 DESCRIPTION

L<My::Package> does blah blah ... # bad

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<My::Package> # bad

The idea is that it doesn't make sense to link to a document from within itself. If rendered as a
clickable link then it may suggest there's somewhere else to go to read about the module when in fact
you're already looking at it.

This is only a minor thing though, so this policy is low severity and under the "cosmetic" theme (see
"POLICY THEMES" in Perl::Critic).

In ordinary text the suggestion is plain "C<>" or similar for one's own module name,

C<My::Package> does something something ... # ok

In a "SEE ALSO" a link to self in very likely a typo, or too much cut and paste, or at least pretty
unnecessary since there's no need to "see also" what you've just read.

If linking to a particular section within one's own document then use "L<>" with just the section part.
This will probably give better looking output from the formatters too,

L<My::Package/SECTION> # bad

L</SECTION> # ok

For this policy the name of the POD is picked out of the "=head1 NAME" section, so doesn't depend on the
filename or directory where "perlcritic" is run. In the current code multiple names can be given in man-
page style. Not sure if that's a good idea.

=head1 NAME

My::Package -- blah

My::Package::Parser -- and its parser

=head1 DESCRIPTION

It's always possible an "L<>" is right and in fact the "NAME" appearing is wrong. A violation on the
"L<>" will at least show there's something fishy in the one or the other.

Disabling
If you don't care about this then you can always disable "ProhibitLinkToSelf" from your .perlcriticrc
file in the usual way (see "CONFIGURATION" in Perl::Critic),

[-Documentation::ProhibitLinkToSelf]

If you like to almost always put "L<>" on module names, including in the module's own POD, then disable
this policy. Maybe an option in the future could allow links to self in ordinary text but prohibit in
"SEE ALSO".

Home Page

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Name

       Perl::Critic::Policy::Documentation::ProhibitLinkToSelf - don't L<> link to own POD