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

By mistake, I have installed a number of CPAN modules in /root. I did this by misconfiguring CPAN setup and accidentally picking local::lib as the option.

It doesn't work to have the modules located within /root as I need them to be accessible to all users.

I have read the documentation of local::lib, but I am struggling to understand it all.

My questions, then are:

  • Comment on Mistaken local::lib Module Installation

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Mistaken local::lib Module Installation
by Anonymous Monk on Nov 11, 2015 at 22:06 UTC

    Would it be safe to simply delete the directory /root/perl5?

    Yes

    ...local::lib...

    local::lib is when you want to install stuff in your home directory, when you're NOT root

Re: Mistaken local::lib Module Installation
by syphilis (Archbishop) on Nov 11, 2015 at 23:37 UTC
    •Would it be safe to simply delete the directory /root/perl5?

    Not if it's being used by the operating system. (Is it ?)

    Cheers,
    Rob

      How would I know?

      /root/perl5 was created by CPAN when I ran it with local::lib by accident, as described. It didn't exist before. There are other modules installed through the OS package manager (yum) and they are installed in other locations.

        if cpan/local::lib created that directory, it is safe to delete it :)

        If you type perl -V and you'll see a bunch of stuff that ends like

        %ENV: PERL5LIB="/root/perl5/lib/perl5" @INC: /root/perl5/lib/perl5 /usr/local/lib64/perl5 /usr/local/share/perl5 /usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib64/perl5 /usr/share/perl5 .

        local::lib overrides comes from %ENV vars like PERL5LIB , all the other ones come from Config or are compiled in, to get a list run <c> perl "-V:install.*" </c.

        Stuff from %ENV , once removed from %ENV, its as if it doesn't exist, so you can delete those dirs if you want

        It didn't exist before

        Then it's safe to remove.

        Sorry - in your original post I missed the implication that the directory did not previously exist.
        (I still don't see it there, though Anonymous apparently worked it out ;-)

        Cheers,
        Rob