=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 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.
=head2 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:
=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
"/my/perl_directory";>.
=over 4
=item *
B<If you're on Unix,>
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 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 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, B<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 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 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
C<.tar.gz> or C<.zip>. Windows browsers sometimes
download C<.tar.gz> files as C<_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 C<unzip> utility (
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/Info-Zip.html ) 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
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, 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
In general, all Macintosh decompression utilities mentioned here
can be found in the Info-Mac Hyperarchive
( http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html ).
Specificly the "Commpress & Translate" listing
( http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Abstracts/cmp/HyperArchive.html ).
You can either use the shareware StuffIt Expander
( http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/stuffit-expander-401.hqx )
in combination with I<DropStuff with Expander Enhancer>
( http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/drop-stuff-with-ee-40.hqx )
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 I<suntar>
( http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/suntar-221.hqx )
or I<Tar> ( http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/tar-40b.hqx ).
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.
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.
Move the files manually into the correct folders.
Move the files 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).
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.
=item *
B<If you're on the DJGPP port of DOS,>
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 C<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.
=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 C<.tgz>
extension instead of C<.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
C<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 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 .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.
=back
=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.
July 22, 1998
=head1 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.