"How do I manually install a module in a private/non-standard directory?

You need to set PREFIX and LIB when you run the Makefile.PL. LIB is where the module files will go and PREFIX is the stub directory for everything else. For example:


  foo@barbell$ perl Makefile.PL LIB=/home/foobar/mylib PREFIX=/home/foobar/mylib


Read more about this in the ExtUtils::MakeMaker documentation.