perlmodinstall

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 <http://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
       <http://www.cpan.org/> , and searched at <http://search.cpan.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.

       o   If you're on a Unix or Unix-like system,

           You can use Andreas Koenig's CPAN module (
           <http://www.cpan.org/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 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.

       o   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 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

           You'll need the "nmake" utility, available at
           <http://download.microsoft.com/download/vc15/Patch/1.52/W95/EN-US/nmake15.exe>
           or dmake, available on CPAN.  <http://search.cpan.org/dist/dmake/>

           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

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

              A. DECOMPRESS

           djtarx ( <ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2/> ) will both
           uncompress and unpack.

              B. UNPACK

           See above.

              C. BUILD

           Go into the newly-created directory and type:

                 perl Makefile.PL
                 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

               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.

       o   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):

       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 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.

       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/

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 <http://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.

perl v5.30.0                      2023-11-23                 PERLMODINSTALL(1)
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