How to use PPM (WIN32)...

treebeard has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Below isn't the only way to use PPM, I am sure, nor may it be the optimal way, but since i had difficulty using the PPM knowledge that I found here and elsewhere, I decided to post this to help out who I could.

I am on a WIN2k machine, and using ActiveState's Perl (build 630). Perl is installed to c:\perl

THE SETUP: You are a novice like myself, running in an UNIX unfriendly environment, and are using the above technology. You need a module (e.g. DBI) for Perl.

-open a browser
-go to http://www.activestate.com/packages/
-find the module's ppd file and download to c:\perl
-move browser to http://www.activestate.com/packages/x86/
-download the correspond .tar.gz file to c:\perl\perlmod
-done with browser
-open command window (i.e go to DOS prompt)
-move to c:\perl and run PPM
-at PPM prompt type install "name of .ppd file without extention" (i.e install DBI for DBI.ppd)
-PPM will then unpack and install the .tar.gz file downloaded to c:\perl\perlmod
-when the "install" is finished, type query to confirm module loaded

These steps work for me. I know that PPM should be able to go to activestate web site (right?) but i could never get that to work. If anyone has any comments, or ways to straighten me out, then please help.

Comment on How to use PPM (WIN32)...

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: How to use PPM (WIN32)... by Asim (Hermit) on Nov 21, 2001 at 00:55 UTC
One question: Are you behind a proxy? Well, two: Did you look at the PPM help file that comes with Activestate's Perl (should be installed locally, or you can find the PPM-specific page at http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/Products/ActivePerl/faq/ActivePerl-faq2.html. Usually, with trouble like you describe, I find that it's a proxy issue, and the help file details how to configure PPM to work with proxies.	[reply]
Re: How to use PPM (WIN32)... by hopes (Friar) on Nov 21, 2001 at 05:21 UTC
Hi, I only had to type: c:\>ppm install dbi and it works fine for me. You can do c:\>ppm and then type in the console search dbi PPM should tell you if there is any package like 'DBI' in your repository The repository is the location in which activeperl looks for modules You can view/set your repository with 'set' command on ppm interface. For example c:\>ppm set In my activeperl (build 626) is ActiveState Package Repository: http://ppm.ActiveState.com/cgibin/PPM/ppmserver.pl?urn:/PPMServer If you aren't able to install the module (It should happen) you can "force" PPM to search in one place using the ppm "install" command with "location" This is the syntax for the ppm "install" command, PPM> help install install --location=location package1 ... packageN So you can type install --location=http://www.activestate/packages dbi install --location=http://www.activestate/ppmpackages/5.6 dbi and so on Hope this helps Hopes	[reply]
Re: How to use PPM (WIN32)... by JungleBoy (Scribe) on Nov 20, 2001 at 23:43 UTC
One thing to be aware of: PPM will not work over Terminal Services. Or at least it doesn't for me. I attpted to run it on a server via TS once, and was getting very strange behavior (but no proper error messages). When I finally gave up and hiked down to the server room to log in locally, everything worked fine. Has anyone else had a similar experience and can help explain it? Or perhaps it worked for you?	[reply]
Re: How to use PPM (WIN32)... by $code or die (Deacon) on Nov 21, 2001 at 23:36 UTC
If you are on a system with PPM, then you should be able to type: `perldoc ppm` on the command line for the full documentation. Simon Flack ($code or die) `$,=reverse'"ro_';s,$,\$,;s,$,lc ref sub{},e;$, =~y'_"' ';eval"die";print $_,lc substr$@,0,3;`	[reply] [d/l]


Problems? Is your data what you think it is?
	PerlMonks