perlmodinstall.pod revision 7c478bd95313f5f23a4c958a745db2134aa03244
=head1 NAME
perlmodinstall - Installing CPAN Modules
=head1 DESCRIPTION
You can think of a module as the fundamental unit of reusable Perl
code; See L<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.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
This documentation is for people who want to download CPAN modules
and install them on their own computer.
=head2 PREAMBLE
You have a file ending in F<.tar.gz> (or, less often, F<.zip>).
You know there's a tasty module inside. You must now take four
steps:
=over 5
=item B<DECOMPRESS> the file
=item B<UNPACK> the file into a directory
=item B<BUILD> the module (sometimes unnecessary)
=item B<INSTALL> the module.
=back
Here's how to perform each step for each operating system. This is
I<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 C<perl Makefile.PL>, you can substitute C<perl
Makefile.PL PREFIX=/my/perl_directory> to install the modules
into C</my/perl_directory>. Then you can use the modules
from your Perl programs with C<use lib
"/my/perl_directory/lib/site_perl"> or sometimes just C<use
=over 4
=item *
B<If you're on Unix,>
You can use Andreas Koenig's CPAN module
(which comes standard with Perl, or can itself be downloaded
to automate the following steps, from DECOMPRESS through INSTALL.
A. DECOMPRESS
Decompress the file with C<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 C<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, I<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.
=item *
B<If you're running Windows 95 or NT with the ActiveState port of Perl>
A. DECOMPRESS
You can use the shareware B<Winzip> program ( 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
CPAN for others to use. If it doesn't, go to INSTALL.
D. INSTALL
Copy the module into your Perl's I<lib> directory. That'll be one
of the directories you see when you type
perl -e 'print "@INC"'
=item *
B<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
F<.tar.gz> or F<.zip>. Windows browsers sometimes
early versions of Windows prohibited more than one dot in a filename.
You can use the shareware B<WinZip> program ( http://www.winzip.com ) to
decompress and unpack modules.
Or, you can use InfoZip's C<unzip> utility (
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/ ) to uncompress C<.zip> files; type
C<unzip yourmodule.zip> in your shell.
Or, if you have a working C<tar> and C<gzip>, you can
type
gzip -cd yourmodule.tar.gz | tar xvf -
in the shell to decompress C<yourmodule.tar.gz>. This will
UNPACK your module as well.
B. UNPACK
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, C<dmake> might not be
available. You might have to substitute whatever C<perl
-V:make> says. (Usually, that will be C<nmake> or
C<make>.)
D. INSTALL
While still in that directory, type:
dmake install
=item *
B<If you're using a Macintosh,>
A. DECOMPRESS
First thing you should do is make sure you have the latest B<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
B<untarzipme> droplet, which will decompress and unpack for you.
B<Or>, you can either use the shareware B<StuffIt Expander> program
in combination with B<DropStuff with Expander Enhancer>
or the freeware B<MacGzip> program (
B. UNPACK
If you're using untarzipme or StuffIt, the archive should be extracted
now. B<Or>, you can use the freeware B<suntar> or I<Tar> (
C. BUILD
Check the contents of the distribution.
Read the module's documentation, looking for
reasons why you might have trouble using it with MacPerl. Look for
F<.xs> and F<.c> files, which normally denote that the distribution
must be compiled, and you cannot install it "out of the box."
(See L<"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
B<installme> droplet, and use the module.
B<Or>, if you aren't using cpan-mac, do some manual labor.
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.
Then move the files (probably just the F<.pm> files, though there
may be some additional ones, too; check the module documentation)
to their final destination: This will
most likely be in C<$ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:> (i.e.,
C<HD:MacPerl folder:site_lib:>). You can add new paths to
the default C<@INC> in the Preferences menu item in the
MacPerl application (C<$ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:> is added
automagically). Create whatever directory structures are required
(i.e., for C<Some::Module>, create
C<$ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:Some:> and put
C<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);
=item *
B<If you're on the DJGPP port of DOS,>
A. DECOMPRESS
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 F<README.dos>
in the Perl distribution.
D. INSTALL
While still in that directory, type:
make install
You will need the packages mentioned in F<README.dos> in the Perl distribution.
=item *
B<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.
=item *
B<If you're on VMS,>
When downloading from CPAN, save your file with a F<.tgz>
extension instead of F<.tar.gz>. All other periods in the
filename should be replaced with underscores. For example,
C<Your-Module-1.33.tar.gz> should be downloaded as
A. DECOMPRESS
Type
gzip -d Your-Module.tgz
or, for zipped modules, type
unzip Your-Module.zip
Executables for gzip, zip, and VMStar ( Alphas:
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:
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 C<mmk> for C<mms> above if you're using MMK.
D. INSTALL
Type
mms install
Substitute C<mmk> for C<mms> above if you're using MMK.
=item *
B<If you're on MVS>,
Introduce the F<.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
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.
=back
=head1 PORTABILITY
Note that not all modules will work with on all platforms.
See L<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):
=over 4
=item *
B<Those that should, but don't.> These need to be fixed; consider
contacting the author and possibly writing a patch.
=item *
B<Those that need to be compiled, where the target platform
doesn't have compilers readily available.> (These modules contain
F<.xs> or F<.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.
=item *
B<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.
=back
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.
=head1 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.
=head1 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.
First version July 22, 1998
Last Modified August 22, 2000
=head1 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 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.