Man1 - perlmodinstall.1perl

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.

• If you’re on a Unix or Unix-like system, You can use Andreas Koenig’s CPAN module ( https://metacpan.org/release/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.

• 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 open source 7-zip ( https://www.7-zip.org/ ) or the shareware Winzip ( https://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 either nmake or gmake. 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
• 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.
• If you’re on OS/2, Get the EMX development suite and gzip/tar from Hobbes ( http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-browse.php?dir=/pub/os2/dev/emx/v0.9d ), and then follow the instructions for Unix.
• 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.
• 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/