Yes, I now tried to use o conf. But my problem remains. If the 01mailrc.txt.gz has an older date than today, it tries to fetch it via LWP. And this fails. And I want always to use my offline-cpan archive independent of having a connection to internet or not.

Here the errors:

cpan> install Text::Trim
Could not find 'D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan\sources\authors\01mailrc.txt.g
+z'
Fetching with LWP:
file:///D:/Perl/strawberry/cpan/sources/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[404] message[File `D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan\source
+s\authors\01mailrc.txt.gz' does not exist]
Could not find 'D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan\sources\authors\01mailrc.txt.g
+z'
[download]

But the file exists. It just has a date of 27th of January instead of today. Cpan then renames my local file to e.g. 01mailrc.txt.gz.bak4400.

Here my configuration:

cpan> o conf
$CPAN::Config options from D:\Perl\strawberry\perl\lib/CPAN/Config.pm:
    commit             [Commit changes to disk]
    defaults           [Reload defaults from disk]
    help               [Short help about 'o conf' usage]
    init               [Interactive setting of all options]

    allow_installing_module_downgrades undef
    allow_installing_outdated_dists undef
    applypatch         []
    auto_commit        [1]
    build_cache        [50]
    build_dir          [D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan\build]
    build_dir_reuse    [0]
    build_requires_install_policy [yes]
    bzip2              [ ]
    cache_metadata     [1]
    check_sigs         [0]
    cleanup_after_install undef
    colorize_debug     undef
    colorize_output    [0]
    colorize_print     [bold green]
    colorize_warn      [bold red]
    commandnumber_in_prompt [0]
    commands_quote     undef
    connect_to_internet_ok [1]
    cpan_home          [D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan]
    curl               []
    dontload_hash      undef
    dontload_list      undef
    ftp                []
    ftp_passive        [1]
    ftp_proxy          []
    ftpstats_period    undef
    ftpstats_size      undef
    getcwd             [cwd]
    gpg                []
    gzip               [ ]
    halt_on_failure    [1]
    histfile           [D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan\histfile]
    histsize           [1000]
    http_proxy         []
    inactivity_timeout [0]
    index_expire       [1]
    inhibit_startup_message [0]
    keep_source_where  [D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan\sources]
    load_module_verbosity [none]
    lynx               []
    make               [D:\Perl\strawberry\c\bin\gmake.exe]
    make_arg           []
    make_install_arg   [UNINST=1]
    make_install_make_command [D:\Perl\strawberry\c\bin\gmake.exe]
    makepl_arg         []
    mbuild_arg         []
    mbuild_install_arg [--uninst 1]
    mbuild_install_build_command undef
    mbuildpl_arg       []
    ncftp              []
    ncftpget           []
    no_proxy           []
    pager              [C:\Windows\system32\more.COM]
    password           undef
    patch              [D:\Perl\strawberry\c\bin\patch.exe]
    patches_dir        undef
    perl5lib_verbosity [none]
    plugin_list        undef
    prefer_external_tar [0]
    prefer_installer   [MB]
    prefs_dir          [D:\Perl\strawberry\cpan\prefs]
    prerequisites_policy [follow]
    proxy_pass         undef
    proxy_user         undef
    randomize_urllist  undef
    recommends_policy  [1]
    scan_cache         [atstart]
    shell              [C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe]
    show_unparsable_versions [0]
    show_upload_date   [1]
    show_zero_versions [0]
    suggests_policy    [0]
    tar                [ ]
    tar_verbosity      [none]
    term_is_latin      [1]
    term_ornaments     [1]
    test_report        [0]
    trust_test_report_history [0]
    unzip              []
    urllist
        0 [file:///D:/Perl/strawberry/cpan/sources/]
        1 [http://cpan.strawberryperl.com/]
        2 [http://www.cpan.org/]
    urllist_ping_external undef
    urllist_ping_verbose undef
    use_prompt_default [0]
    use_sqlite         [1]
    username           undef
    version_timeout    [15]
    wait_list          undef
    wget               []
    yaml_load_code     [0]
    yaml_module        [YAML::XS]
[download]

Trim your urllist ?

And/or

Tickle this value

    index_expire       [1]

index_expire       refetch index files after this many days
[download]

CPANPLUS doesn't have a days, only a yes/no no_update

Without being able to test it until monday. I'm very sure that setting the index_expire option to a high value is the solution. Because my problem were the index files. And it worked on the same day, but not afterwards. My setting was one day. This explains the complete behaviour although I have to say that the error message given by cpan was a bit misleading. Instead of saying that the index file expired, it tells me that it is not available.

Here a summary, because at the end it does not seem to be much to do. First get a cpan via minicpan. Then add your local path to the urllist and set index_expire to a high value. That should be everything.

cpan> o conf urllist unshift file://D:/Perl/strawberry/cpan/sources/
cpan> o conf index_expire 1000
cpan> o conf commit
[download]

Update

It was that easy. Setting the index_expire to a high value solved the problem. Thank you!!!