PERLMODINSTALL(1)Perl Programmers Reference GuidPERLMODINSTALL(1)NAMEperlmodinstall - Installing CPAN Modules
DESCRIPTION
You can think of a module as the fundamental unit of
reusable Perl code; see the perlmod manpage for details.
Whenever anyone creates a chunk of Perl code that they
think will be useful to the world, they register as a Perl
developer at http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/04pause.html
so that they can then upload their code to the CPAN. The
CPAN is the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network and can be
accessed at http://www.perl.com/CPAN/.
This documentation is for people who want to download CPAN
modules and install them on their own computer.
PREAMBLE
You have a file ending in .tar.gz (or, less often, .zip).
You know there's a tasty module inside. There are four
steps you must now take:
DECOMPRESS the file
UNPACK the file into a directory
BUILD the module (sometimes unnecessary)
INSTALL the module.
Here's how to perform each step for each operating system.
This is not a substitute for reading the README and
INSTALL files that might have come with your module!
Also note that these instructions are tailored for
installing the module into your system's repository of
Perl modules. But you can install modules into any
directory you wish. For instance, where I say perl
Makefile.PL, you can substitute perl Makefile.PL
PREFIX=/my/perl_directory to install the modules into
/my/perl_directory. Then you can use the modules from
your Perl programs with use lib
"/my/perl_directory/lib/site_perl"; or sometimes just use
"/my/perl_directory";.
o If you're on Unix,
You can use Andreas Koenig's CPAN module (
http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/CPAN ) to
automate the following steps, from DECOMPRESS through
INSTALL.
A. DECOMPRESS
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Decompress the file with gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz
You can get gzip from ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu.
Or, you can combine this step with the next to save
disk space:
gzip -dc yourmodule.tar.gz | tar -xof -
B. UNPACK
Unpack the result with tar -xof yourmodule.tar
C. BUILD
Go into the newly-created directory and type:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
D. INSTALL
While still in that directory, type:
make install
Make sure you have the appropriate permissions to
install the module in your Perl 5 library directory.
Often, you'll need to be root.
That's all you need to do on Unix systems with dynamic
linking. Most Unix systems have dynamic linking -- if
yours doesn't, or if for another reason you have a
statically-linked perl, and the module requires
compilation, you'll need to build a new Perl binary
that includes the module. Again, you'll probably need
to be root.
o If you're running Windows 95 or NT with the
ActiveState port of Perl
A. DECOMPRESS
You can use the shareware Winzip (
http://www.winzip.com ) to decompress and unpack
modules.
B. UNPACK
If you used WinZip, this was already done for you.
C. BUILD
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Does the module require compilation (i.e. does it have
files that end in .xs, .c, .h, .y, .cc, .cxx, or .C)?
If it does, you're on your own. You can try compiling
it yourself if you have a C compiler. If you're
successful, consider uploading the resulting binary to
the CPAN for others to use. If it doesn't, go to
INSTALL.
D. INSTALL
Copy the module into your Perl's lib directory.
That'll be one of the directories you see when you
type
perl -e 'print "@INC"'
o If you're running Windows 95 or NT with the core
Windows distribution of Perl,
A. DECOMPRESS
When you download the module, make sure it ends in
either .tar.gz or .zip. Windows browsers sometimes
download .tar.gz files as _tar.tar, because early
versions of Windows prohibited more than one dot in a
filename.
You can use the shareware WinZip (
http://www.winzip.com ) to decompress and unpack
modules.
Or, you can use InfoZip's unzip utility (
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/Info-Zip.html ) to
uncompress .zip files; type unzip yourmodule.zip in
your shell.
Or, if you have a working tar and gzip, you can type
gzip -cd yourmodule.tar.gz | tar xvf -
in the shell to decompress yourmodule.tar.gz. This
will UNPACK your module as well.
B. UNPACK
All of the methods in DECOMPRESS will have done this
for you.
C. BUILD
Go into the newly-created directory and type:
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perl Makefile.PL
dmake
dmake test
Depending on your perl configuration, dmake might not
be available. You might have to substitute whatever
perl -V:make says. (Usually, that will be nmake or
make.)
D. INSTALL
While still in that directory, type:
dmake install
o If you're using a Macintosh,
A. DECOMPRESS
In general, all Macintosh decompression utilities
mentioned here can be found in the Info-Mac
Hyperarchive (
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html ).
Specificly the "Commpress & Translate" listing (
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Abstracts/cmp/HyperArchive.html
).
You can either use the shareware StuffIt Expander (
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/stuffit-
expander-401.hqx ) in combination with DropStuff with
Expander Enhancer (
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/drop-
stuff-with-ee-40.hqx ) or the freeware MacGzip (
http://persephone.cps.unizar.es/general/gente/spd/gzip/gzip.html
).
B. UNPACK
If you're using DropStuff or Stuffit, you can just
extract the tar archive. Otherwise, you can use the
freeware suntar (
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/suntar-221.hqx
) or Tar (
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/tar-40b.hqx
).
C. BUILD
Does the module require compilation?
1. If it does,
Overview: You need MPW and a combination of new and
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old CodeWarrior compilers for MPW and libraries.
Makefiles created for building under MPW use the
Metrowerks compilers. It's most likely possible to
build without other compilers, but it has not been
done successfully, to our knowledge. Read the
documentation in MacPerl: Power and Ease (
http://www.ptf.com/macperl/ ) on porting/building
extensions, or find an existing precompiled binary, or
hire someone to build it for you.
Or, ask someone on the mac-perl mailing list (mac-
perl@iis.ee.ethz.ch) to build it for you. To
subscribe to the mac-perl mailing list, send mail to
mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch.
2. If the module doesn't require compilation, go to
INSTALL.
D. INSTALL
Make sure the newlines for the modules are in Mac
format, not Unix format. If they are not then you
might have decompressed them incorrectly. Check your
decompression and unpacking utilities settings to make
sure they are translating text files properly. As a
last resort, you can use the perl one-liner:
perl -i.bak -pe 's/(?:\015)?\012/\015/g' filenames
on the source files.
Move the files manually into the correct folders.
Move the files to their final destination: This will
most likely be in $ENV{MACPERL}site_lib: (i.e.,
HD:MacPerl folder:site_lib:). You can add new paths
to the default @INC in the Preferences menu item in
the MacPerl application ($ENV{MACPERL}site_lib: is
added automagically). Create whatever directory
structures are required (i.e., for Some::Module,
create $ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:Some: and put Module.pm
in that directory).
Run the following script (or something like it):
#!perl -w
use AutoSplit;
my $dir = "${MACPERL}site_perl";
autosplit("$dir:Some:Module.pm", "$dir:auto", 0, 1, 1);
Eventually there should be a way to automate the
installation process; some solutions exist, but none
are ready for the general public yet.
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o If you're on the DJGPP port of DOS,
A. DECOMPRESS
djtarx (
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2/ )
will both uncompress and unpack.
B. UNPACK
See above.
C. BUILD
Go into the newly-created directory and type:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
You will need the packages mentioned in Readme.dos in
the Perl distribution.
D. INSTALL
While still in that directory, type:
make install
You will need the packages mentioned in Readme.dos in the Perl distribution.
o If you're on OS/2,
Get the EMX development suite and gzip/tar, from
either Hobbes ( http://hobbes.nmsu.edu ) or Leo (
http://www.leo.org ), and then follow the instructions
for Unix.
o If you're on VMS,
When downloading from CPAN, save your file with a .tgz
extension instead of .tar.gz. All other periods in
the filename should be replaced with underscores. For
example, Your-Module-1.33.tar.gz should be downloaded
as Your-Module-1_33.tgz.
A. DECOMPRESS
Type
gzip -d Your-Module.tgz
or, for zipped modules, type
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unzip Your-Module.zip
Executables for gzip, zip, and VMStar ( Alphas:
http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/000TOOLS/ALPHA/ and
Vaxen: http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/000TOOLS/VAX/
).
gzip and tar are also available at
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS.
Note that GNU's gzip/gunzip is not the same as Info-
ZIP's zip/unzip package. The former is a simple
compression tool; the latter permits creation of
multi-file archives.
B. UNPACK
If you're using VMStar:
VMStar xf Your-Module.tar
Or, if you're fond of VMS command syntax:
tar/extract/verbose Your_Module.tar
C. BUILD
Make sure you have MMS (from Digital) or the freeware
MMK ( available from MadGoat at
http://www.madgoat.com ). Then type this to create
the DESCRIP.MMS for the module:
perl Makefile.PL
Now you're ready to build:
mms
mms test
Substitute mmk for mms above if you're using MMK.
D. INSTALL
Type
mms install
Substitute mmk for mms above if you're using MMK.
o If you're on MVS,
Introduce the .tar.gz file into an HFS as binary;
don't translate from ASCII to EBCDIC.
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A. DECOMPRESS
Decompress the file with C<gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz>
You can get gzip from
http://www.s390.ibm.com/products/oe/bpxqp1.html.
B. UNPACK
Unpack the result with
pax -o to=IBM-1047,from=ISO8859-1 -r < yourmodule.tar
The BUILD and INSTALL steps are identical to those for
Unix. Some modules generate Makefiles that work
better with GNU make, which is available from
http://www.mks.com/s390/gnu/index.htm.
HEY
If you have any suggested changes for this page, let me
know. Please don't send me mail asking for help on how to
install your modules. There are too many modules, and too
few Orwants, for me to be able to answer or even
acknowledge all your questions. Contact the module author
instead, or post to comp.lang.perl.modules, or ask someone
familiar with Perl on your operating system.
AUTHOR
Jon Orwant
orwant@tpj.com
The Perl Journal, http://tpj.com
with invaluable help from Brandon Allbery, Charles Bailey,
Graham Barr, Dominic Dunlop, Jarkko Hietaniemi, Ben
Holzman, Tom Horsley, Nick Ing-Simmons, Tuomas J. Lukka,
Laszlo Molnar, Chris Nandor, Alan Olsen, Peter Prymmer,
Gurusamy Sarathy, Christoph Spalinger, Dan Sugalski, Larry
Virden, and Ilya Zakharevich.
July 22, 1998
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998 Jon Orwant. All Rights Reserved.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim
copies of this documentation provided the copyright notice
and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified
versions of this documentation under the conditions for
verbatim copying, provided also that they are marked
clearly as modified versions, that the authors' names and
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title are unchanged (though subtitles and additional
authors' names may be added), and that the entire
resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations
of this documentation into another language, under the
above conditions for modified versions.
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