To clarify: You do not need to download anything in order to use PPM. It automatically fetches the ppd file from the server and installs it. An example; I run PPM from the Start Menu > Programs > Activestate ActivePerl 5.6 > Perl Package Manager. Then:
PPM - Programmer's Package Manager version 3.0 beta 2.
Copyright (c) 2001 ActiveState SRL. All Rights Reserved.
Entering interactive shell. Using Term::ReadLine::Stub as readline library.
Profile tracking is not enabled. If you save and restore profiles manually, your profile may be out of sync with your computer. See 'help profile' for more information.
Type 'help' to get started.
ppm> search *
Searching in repository 2 (ActiveState Package Repository)
Pages of text snipped -- find the package you want
ppm> install Business-ISBN
====================
Install 'Business-ISBN' version 20001010.0 in ActivePerl 630.
====================
Downloaded 7688 bytes.
Extracting package. This may take a few seconds.
Extracting 19/19: blib/html/site/lib/Business/ISBN.html
Installing C:\Perl\html\site\lib\Business\ISBN.html
Installing C:\Perl\site\lib\Business\ISBN.pm
Writing C:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Business\ISBN\.packlist
ppm> exit
..and the package has been installed. That's all there is to it.
perl -pe '"I lo*`+$^X$\"$]!$/"=~m%(.*)%s;$_=$1;y^`+*^e v^#$&V"+@( NO CARRIER'