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

I am trying to use CPAN (i.e. perl -MCPAN -e shell) but keep getting messages about installing Bundle::libnet.
Then when I try to install Bundle::libnet I get errors about Net::FTP.
Then when I try to install that I get stuff about expected files not existing and then it just hangs trying to conect to one of the FTP servers I specified in the setup.
Is there an easy way to remove CPAN and start over?
Thanks.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: CPAN Problems
by jepri (Parson) on Feb 12, 2002 at 23:46 UTC
    Heh. CPAN is just a convenience module to automate installing modules. If you are running a Linux distribution, use your package manager to install modules. If you don't have that option you can still download the raw tar.gz file from the CPAN website and then make install it yourself. This is the last ditch fallback.

    ____________________
    Jeremy
    I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.

    Removing CPAN from the internet would aggravate the thousands of users who do find it more convenient than stuffing around with downloads and makes.

Re: CPAN Problems
by simon.proctor (Vicar) on Feb 13, 2002 at 00:56 UTC
    If you look in the directory of the user you run your command as you will find a .cpan directory. Have a poke about in there and you'll find thats where all the setting up (and such) is done. Ok thats a bit simplified but it should serve.

    You should find that you can remove the .cpan dir and start again. I've done this without a problem. I don't know, in all honesty, if this is the correct method of doing this so if it isn't then I apologise now :)

    If you wish to install by hand, which is what I tend to stick with. Pop over to cpan.org and grab the distro you want (all will have readmes so you should find what you want). Download it and read the install file, if one is present. However most will expect you to:
    perl Makefile.PL make make install
    However, this is covered in more detail at this location and should answer all your questions or make you have more (you never know :P).