


PERLMODINSTALL(1)Perl Programmers Reference GuidPERLMODINSTALL(1)


NAME
       perlmodinstall - 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 CPAN.  CPAN is
       the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network and can be accessed
       at http://www.perl.com/CPAN/, or searched via
       http://cpan.perl.com/ and http://theory.uwin-
       nipeg.ca/mod_perl/cpan-search.pl .

       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.  You must now take
       four steps:

       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 direc-
       tory you wish.  For instance, where I say "perl Make-
       file.PL", you can substitute "perl Makefile.PL PRE-
       FIX=/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_direc-
       tory/lib/site_perl"" or sometimes just "use
       "/my/perl_directory"".

       o   If you're on Unix,

           You can use Andreas Koenig's CPAN module (which comes
           standard with Perl, or can itself be downloaded from
           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 appropriate permissions to install
           the module in your Perl 5 library directory.  Often,
           you'll need to be root.

           Perl maintains a record of all module installations.
           To look at this list, simply type:

                 perldoc perllocal

           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 compi-
           lation, 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 ActiveS-
           tate port of Perl

              A. DECOMPRESS

           You can use the shareware Winzip program (
           http://www.winzip.com ) to decompress and unpack mod-
           ules.

              B. UNPACK



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           If you used WinZip, this was already done for you.

              C. BUILD

           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 suc-
           cessful, consider uploading the resulting binary to
           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 Win-
           dows 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 program (
           http://www.winzip.com ) to decompress and unpack mod-
           ules.

           Or, you can use InfoZip's "unzip" utility (
           http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/ ) 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

           The methods in DECOMPRESS will have done this for you.

              C. BUILD




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           Go into the newly-created directory and type:

                 perl Makefile.PL
                 dmake
                 dmake test

           Depending on your perl configuration, "dmake" might
           not be available.  You might have to substitute what-
           ever "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

           First thing you should do is make sure you have the
           latest cpan-mac distribution (
           http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/CNANDOR/ ), which has
           utilities for doing all of the steps.  Read the cpan-
           mac directions carefully and install it.  If you
           choose not to use cpan-mac for some reason, there are
           alternatives listed here.

           After installing cpan-mac, drop the module archive on
           the untarzipme droplet, which will decompress and
           unpack for you.

           Or, you can either use the shareware StuffIt Expander
           program ( http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/ ) in
           combination with DropStuff with Expander Enhancer (
           http://www.aladdinsys.com/dropstuff/ ) or the freeware
           MacGzip program ( http://persephone.cps.unizar.es/gen-
           eral/gente/spd/gzip/gzip.html ).

           B. UNPACK

           If you're using untarzipme or StuffIt, the archive
           should be extracted now.  Or, you can use the freeware
           suntar or Tar ( http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/Hyper-
           Archive/Archive/cmp/ ).

           C. BUILD

           Check the contents of the distribution.  Read the mod-
           ule's documentation, looking for reasons why you might
           have trouble using it with MacPerl.  Look for .xs and
           .c files, which normally denote that the distribution



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           must be compiled, and you cannot install it "out of
           the box."  (See the section on "PORTABILITY".)

           If a module does not work on MacPerl but should, or
           needs to be compiled, see if the module exists already
           as a port on the MacPerl Module Porters site
           (http://pudge.net/mmp/).  For more information on
           doing XS with MacPerl yourself, see Arved Sandstrom's
           XS tutorial (http://macperl.com/depts/Tutorials/), and
           then consider uploading your binary to the CPAN and
           registering it on the MMP site.

           D. INSTALL

           If you are using cpan-mac, just drop the folder on the
           installme droplet, and use the module.

           Or, if you aren't using cpan-mac, do some manual
           labor.

           Make sure the newlines for the modules are in Mac for-
           mat, not Unix format.  If they are not then you might
           have decompressed them incorrectly.  Check your decom-
           pression 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.

           Then move the files (probably just the .pm files,
           though there may be some additional ones, too; check
           the module documentation) 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).

           Then 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);






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       o   If you're on the DJGPP port of DOS,

              A. DECOMPRESS

           djtarx ( ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtel-
           net/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 down-
           loaded 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/free-
           ware/000TOOLS/ALPHA/ and Vaxen: http://www.open-
           vms.digital.com/freeware/000TOOLS/VAX/ ).

           gzip and tar are also available at ftp://ftp.digi-
           tal.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 com-
           pression 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.mad-
           goat.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 bet-
           ter with GNU make, which is available from
           http://www.mks.com/s390/gnu/index.htm.

PORTABILITY
       Note that not all modules will work with on all platforms.
       See the perlport manpage for more information on portabil-
       ity issues.  Read the documentation to see if the module
       will work on your system.  There are basically three cate-
       gories of modules that will not work "out of the box" with
       all platforms (with some possibility of overlap):

       o   Those that should, but don't.  These need to be fixed;
           consider contacting the author and possibly writing a
           patch.

       o   Those that need to be compiled, where the target plat-
           form 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 else-
           where, or you might want to try getting compilers and
           building it yourself, and then release the binary for
           other poor souls to use.

       o   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.

           http://testers.cpan.org/






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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 acknowl-
       edge 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 Holz-
       man, Tom Horsley, Nick Ing-Simmons, Tuomas J. Lukka, Las-
       zlo Molnar, Chris Nandor, Alan Olsen, Peter Prymmer,
       Gurusamy Sarathy, Christoph Spalinger, Dan Sugalski, Larry
       Virden, and Ilya Zakharevich.

       First version July 22, 1998

       Last Modified August 22, 2000

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 1998, 2000 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 ver-
       sions of this documentation under the conditions for ver-
       batim copying, provided also that they are marked clearly
       as modified versions, that the authors' names and 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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