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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
       <https://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
       <https://www.cpan.org/> , and searched at <https://metacpan.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.

       •   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 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/>

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):

       •   Those that should, but don't.  These need to be fixed; consider contacting the author
           and possibly writing a patch.

       •   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.

       •   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.

           https://cpantesters.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 <https://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.