PERLMODINSTALL(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLMODINSTALL(1)
NAME
perlmodinstall - Installing CPAN Modules
DESCRIPTION
You can think of a module as the fundamental unit of reusable Perl code;
see perlmod 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 <https://www.cpan.org/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 <https://www.cpan.org/> ,
and searched at <https://metacpan.org/> .
This documentation is for people who want to download CPAN modules and
install them on their own computer.
PREAMBLE
First, are you sure that the module isn't already on your system? Try
"perl -MFoo -e 1". (Replace "Foo" with the name of the module; for
instance, "perl -MCGI::Carp -e 1".)
If you don't see an error message, you have the module. (If you do see
an error message, it's still possible you have the module, but that it's
not in your path, which you can display with perl -e "print qq(@INC)".)
For the remainder of this document, we'll assume that you really
honestly truly lack an installed module, but have found it on the CPAN.
So now 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";". If you're on a system that requires
superuser/root access to install modules into the directories you see
when you type "perl -e "print qq(@INC)"", you'll want to install them
into a local directory (such as your home directory) and use this
approach.
• If you're on a Unix or Unix-like system,
You can use Andreas Koenig's CPAN module (
<https://metacpan.org/release/CPAN> ) to automate the following
steps, from DECOMPRESS through INSTALL.
A. DECOMPRESS
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 test
or
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/my/perl_directory
to install it locally. (Remember that if you do this, you'll have
to put "use lib "/my/perl_directory";" near the top of the program
that is to use this module.
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.
• If you're running ActivePerl (Win95/98/2K/NT/XP, Linux, Solaris),
First, type "ppm" from a shell and see whether ActiveState's PPM
repository has your module. If so, you can install it with "ppm"
and you won't have to bother with any of the other steps here. You
might be able to use the CPAN instructions from the "Unix or Linux"
section above as well; give it a try. Otherwise, you'll have to
follow the steps below.
A. DECOMPRESS
You can use the open source 7-zip ( <https://www.7-zip.org/> ) or
the shareware Winzip ( <https://www.winzip.com> ) to decompress and
unpack modules.
B. UNPACK
If you used WinZip, this was already done for you.
C. BUILD
You'll need either "nmake" or "gmake".
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, life is now
officially tough for you, because you have to compile the module
yourself (no easy feat on Windows). You'll need a compiler such as
Visual C++. Alternatively, you can download a pre-built PPM package
from ActiveState.
<http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/ActivePerl/PPM/>
Go into the newly-created directory and type:
perl Makefile.PL
nmake test
D. INSTALL
While still in that directory, type:
nmake install
• If you're on OS/2,
Get the EMX development suite and gzip/tar from Hobbes (
<http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-browse.php?dir=/pub/os2/dev/emx/v0.9d> ),
and then follow the instructions for Unix.
• 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
unzip Your-Module.zip
Executables for gzip, zip, and VMStar:
http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
and their source code:
http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html
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 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.
• If you're on MVS,
Introduce the .tar.gz file into an HFS as binary; don't translate
from ASCII to EBCDIC.
A. DECOMPRESS
Decompress the file with "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/>
PORTABILITY
Note that not all modules will work with on all platforms. See perlport
for more information on portability issues. Read the documentation to
see if the module will work on your system. There are basically three
categories of modules that will not work "out of the box" with all
platforms (with some possibility of overlap):
• Those that should, but don't. These need to be fixed; consider
contacting the author and possibly writing a patch.
• Those that need to be compiled, where the target platform doesn't
have compilers readily available. (These modules contain .xs or .c
files, usually.) You might be able to find existing binaries on the
CPAN or elsewhere, or you might want to try getting compilers and
building it yourself, and then release the binary for other poor
souls to use.
• Those that are targeted at a specific platform. (Such as the
Win32:: modules.) If the module is targeted specifically at a
platform other than yours, you're out of luck, most likely.
Check the CPAN Testers if a module should work with your platform but it
doesn't behave as you'd expect, or you aren't sure whether or not a
module will work under your platform. If the module you want isn't
listed there, you can test it yourself and let CPAN Testers know, you
can join CPAN Testers, or you can request it be tested.
https://cpantesters.org/
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, ask someone familiar with Perl on your operating system,
or if all else fails, file a ticket at <https://rt.cpan.org/>.
AUTHOR
Jon Orwant
orwant@medita.mit.edu
with invaluable help from Chris Nandor, and valuable help from Brandon
Allbery, Charles Bailey, Graham Barr, Dominic Dunlop, Jarkko Hietaniemi,
Ben Holzman, Tom Horsley, Nick Ing-Simmons, Tuomas J. Lukka, Laszlo
Molnar, Alan Olsen, Peter Prymmer, Gurusamy Sarathy, Christoph
Spalinger, Dan Sugalski, Larry Virden, and Ilya Zakharevich.
First version July 22, 1998; last revised November 21, 2001.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998, 2002, 2003 Jon Orwant. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.
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