PERLMODINSTALL

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 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";.

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

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.

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

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"’

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:

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

A. DECOMPRESS

You can either use StuffIt Expander ( http://www.aladdinsys.com/ ) in combination with DropStuff with Expander Enhancer (shareware), 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://www.cirfid.unibo.it/~speranza ).

C. BUILD

Does the module require compilation?

1. If it does,

Overview: You need MPW and a combination of new and 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. 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.

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.

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.

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 ( 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 .

Introduce the .tar.gz file into an HFS as binary; don’t translate from ASCII to EBCDIC .

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 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.