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

What do I do?
I am running perl 5.6.1 on a Win2k machine. I use Activestate's PPM to install my perl modules. What do I do when I want to install a module not in Activestate's database
I have tried CPAN.pm, it appears to download the file just fine, but when my script ((see below)) executes it fails on the test and makefile. What can I do?


use CPAN;

for $mod (qw(Mail::Address)){
        my $obj = CPAN::Shell->expand('Module',$mod);
        $obj->install;
    }

[download]
Thanks in advance .. AM.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: cpan and windows2000
by DigitalKitty (Parson) on May 29, 2002 at 02:59 UTC
    What do I do when I want to install a module not in Activestate's database?

    Hi Anonymous Monk,

    I would try and use another repository ( see below ). As far as my module installation experience goes, CPAN is geared more toward *nix machines.

    This is another repository you could use: 

    http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/cgi-bin/ppmserver.pl?urn:/PPMServer

    [download]


    Do you know how to change repositories? If not, do this: 
    set repository name URL

example: set repository test http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg...

    [download]

    More info can be found by perusing the ppm docs with:
    ppm help set

    Hope this helps,
    -Katie.
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      Katie, Thanks for the help!
      I set my repository to what you mentioned...... Searched for my sought after module...Found it .... but when I tried to install it I got an error message. What did I do wrong?
      
PPM>search Email-valid
Packages available from http://theoryx5.uw.. PMServer:
Email-Valid [0.13] Check validity of Internet email addresses
PPM>install Email-Valid
Install package 'Email-Valid?' (y/n): y
Installing package 'email-Valid'...
Error installing package 'Email-Valid': Read a PPD for 'Email-Valid', 
+but it is not intended for this build of Perl (MSWin32-x86-multi-thre
+ad)

      [download]
      What does this mean?
      Thanks.... AM
[reply]
[d/l]

        The package you tried to install will not work with Windows, or the Intel x86 (PC) Architecture.

        The author has stated in the file that there are components in that module that will not work with Windows/x86.

        See This Page

        Check out this thread

        John J Reiser
        newrisedesigns.com

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Re: cpan and windows2000
by LD2 (Curate) on May 29, 2002 at 03:03 UTC
    Take a look at perlmodinstall - it should walk you through installing CPAN modules.

    good luck!
[reply]
Re: cpan and windows2000
by newrisedesigns (Curate) on May 29, 2002 at 04:09 UTC

    Download, uncompress, and put into the appropriate directory(ies).

    You can place them in %PerlDir%/site/lib/ModuleName

    It should work for most modules, with the exception of those with material that needs to be compiled.

    Hope this helps.

    John J Reiser
    newrisedesigns.com
[reply]
Re: cpan and windows2000
by LiTinOveWeedle (Scribe) on May 29, 2002 at 13:49 UTC
    Almost all was written here,
    I can just suggest to check ActiveState docs:
    ActivePerl FAQ -- Modules & Samples -- How can I use modules from CPAN?

    Here is part of this step by step manual:

    How can I use modules from CPAN?

    As of version 5.005, ActivePerl supports the MakeMaker utility. This allows you to install modules from CPAN, but requires you to have a make utility, such as nmake or dmake. Modules are generally distributed in gzipped tar files, such as Data-Dumper-2.08.tar.gz.

    However, ActivePerl includes the Perl Package Manager (PPM), a utility that allows you to install modules, including modules that contain binary extensions. You should consider using PPM to install a module, as this greatly simplifies the management of modules.

    Nevertheless, there are times when it is necessary to build a module from source. Typically, an installation session goes something like this:

    1. Extract the module. This creates a directory based on the name of the archive.

          gzip -d -c Data-Dumper-2.08.tar.gz | tar xvf -

    2. Change directory to the module's directory.

          cd Data-Dumper-2.08

    3. Consult the README file.

          more < README

    4. Run the Makefile.PL script. This uses the MakeMaker module to build a makefile you can build the extension with.

          perl Makefile.PL

    5. Run your make utility. This prepares the module for installation, and compiles any extension if one is present.

          nmake

    6. If this module has tests, run them.

          nmake test

    7. If the tests succeeded, install the module.

          nmake install

    See Where can I find Win32 ports of UNIX tools? for information on the availability of tools like gzip and tar.

    Where do I get make for Win32?

    Nmake is a 'make' like program for Win32 systems by Microsoft. It is available from ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/nmake15.exe

    Hope that this will help you.

    Regards
    Li Tin O've Weedle
    mad Tsort's philosopher

[reply]
Re: cpan and windows2000
by Jenda (Abbot) on May 29, 2002 at 12:25 UTC

    Quite some time ago I wrote an article on this for PerlMonth. You may find it here. Some of the links are dead, but it should give you some hints. (Though it definitely needs to be updated.)

    Basicaly I believe you are missing either nmake or the C compiler. Or you have a different compiler than the one specified in c:\perl\lib\Config.pm.

      Jenda

[reply]

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