in reply to Re: Module installation can be harmful
in thread Module installation can be harmful

I set up perl5.6.1 to share modules with a perl5.6.0 installation. This is a great feature, since I had installed something like 100 modules into perl-5.6.0. Since switching to perl-5.6.1, I have installed another 80 or so modules.

I installed Test::Harness because it seemed to need to be updated in order to install another module that merlyn recommended to me in the CB.

I was able to reproduce this problem by going to a backup and running the module install again. Here is a transcript of what I did and what happened:

[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ echo $PATH
/home/toma/perl58i/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/us
+r/games:/home/toma/bin
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ PATH=/home/toma/perl5i/bin:$PATH
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ export PATH
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ which perl
/home/toma/perl5i/bin/perl
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ perl -V
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5.0 version 6 subversion 1) configuratio
+n:
  Platform:
    osname=linux, osvers=2.2.12-20, archname=i586-linux
    uname='linux turtle 2.2.12-20 #1 mon sep 27 10:25:54 edt 1999 i586
+ unknown '
    config_args=''
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    usethreads=undef use5005threads=undef useithreads=undef usemultipl
+icity=undef
    useperlio=undef d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef
    use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='cc', ccflags ='-fno-strict-aliasing -I/usr/local/include -D_LA
+RGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64',     optimize='-O2',
    cppflags='-fno-strict-aliasing -I/usr/local/include'
    ccversion='', gccversion='egcs-2.91.66 19990314/Linux (egcs-1.1.2 
+release)', gccosandvers=''
    intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234
    d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=1
+2
    ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t',
+ lseeksize=8
    alignbytes=4, usemymalloc=n, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='cc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
    libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib
    libs=-lnsl -lndbm -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lc -lposix -lcrypt -lutil
    perllibs=-lnsl -ldl -lm -lc -lposix -lcrypt -lutil
    libc=/lib/libc-2.1.2.so, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.
+a
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-rdynami
+c'
    cccdlflags='-fpic', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'


Characteristics of this binary (from libperl):
  Compile-time options: USE_LARGE_FILES
  Built under linux
  Compiled at Jun 23 2001 18:47:36
  @INC:
    /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux
    /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1
    /home/toma/perl5i/lib/site_perl/5.6.1/i586-linux
    /home/toma/perl5i/lib/site_perl/5.6.1
    /home/toma/perl5i/lib/site_perl/5.6.0/i586-linux
    /home/toma/perl5i/lib/site_perl/5.6.0
    /home/toma/perl5i/lib/site_perl
    .
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ ls
Changes  examples  lib  Makefile.PL  MANIFEST  NOTES  t  TODO
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ pwd
/home/toma/perl-5.6.0/modules/Test-Harness-2.26
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ perl Makefile.PL
Test::Harness likes to have Devel::CoreStack, but doesn't require it.
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for Test::Harness
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ make
mkdir ../../lib/auto/Test
mkdir ../../lib/auto/Test/Harness
mkdir blib
mkdir blib/man3
cp lib/Test/Harness.pm ../../lib/Test/Harness.pm
cp lib/Test/Harness/Assert.pm ../../lib/Test/Harness/Assert.pm
cp lib/Test/Harness/Iterator.pm ../../lib/Test/Harness/Iterator.pm
cp lib/Test/Harness/Straps.pm ../../lib/Test/Harness/Straps.pm
Manifying blib/man3/Test::Harness.3
Manifying blib/man3/Test::Harness::Assert.3
Manifying blib/man3/Test::Harness::Iterator.3
Manifying blib/man3/Test::Harness::Straps.3
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ make test
PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 ../../perl -I../../lib -I../../lib   -e 'use Test::H
+arness qw(&runtests $verbose); $verbose=0; runtests @ARGV;' t/*.t
t/00compile........ok
t/assert...........ok
t/base.............ok
t/callback.........ok
t/nonumbers........ok
t/ok...............ok
t/strap-analyze....ok
t/strap............ok
t/test-harness.....ok
        48/177 skipped: various reasons
All tests successful, 48 subtests skipped.
Files=9, Tests=447,  6 wallclock secs ( 4.71 cusr +  0.68 csys =  5.39
+ CPU)
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ make install
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/AutoLoader.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/AutoSplit.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Benchmark.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/CGI.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/CPAN.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Cwd.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/English.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/FileHandle.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/SelfLoader.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Shell.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Symbol.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Test.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/base.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/bigint.pl
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/bytes.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/charnames.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/diagnostics.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/fields.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ftp.pl
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/getopts.pl
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/integer.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/lib.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/overload.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/perl5db.pl
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/strict.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/syslog.pl
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/termcap.pl
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/utf8.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/vars.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/warnings.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Config.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/XSLoader.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/DynaLoader.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/O.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ByteLoader.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/DB_File.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/GDBM_File.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Opcode.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/POSIX.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/POSIX.pod
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/SDBM_File.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Socket.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Errno.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Sys/Syslog.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/IO/Select.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/IO/Socket.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/IO/Poll.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/IO/Handle.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/IO/Seekable.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/IO/Socket/INET.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/IO/Socket/UNIX.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Data/Dumper.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Debug.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Assembler.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/C.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/CC.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Bytecode.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Terse.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Deparse.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Disassembler.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Stash.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Showlex.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Lint.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/B/Asmdata.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/re/re.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/attrs/attrs.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Sys/Syslog/Sysl
+og.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Sys/Hostname/Ho
+stname.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Socket/Socket.s
+o
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/SDBM_File/SDBM_
+File.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/POSIX/fstat.al
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/POSIX/load_impo
+rts.al
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/POSIX/POSIX.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Opcode/Opcode.s
+o
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/IPC/SysV/SysV.s
+o
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/IO/IO.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/GDBM_File/GDBM_
+File.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/File/Glob/Glob.
+so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Fcntl/Fcntl.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Devel/Peek/Peek
+.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Devel/DProf/DPr
+of.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Data/Dumper/Dum
+per.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/DB_File/DB_File
+.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/ByteLoader/Byte
+Loader.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/B/B.so
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/DynaLoader/dl_f
+indfile.al
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/unicode/To/Lower.pl
...
  LOTS more lines that look a lot like the above "Installing..." lines
...
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/MM_Cygwin.p
+m
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/MM_OS2.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/MM_Unix.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/MM_VMS.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/MM_Win32.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.p
+m
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/Manifest.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/Mksymlists.
+pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/typemap
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/xsubpp
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/ExtUtils/Miniperl.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Devel/Peek.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Class/Struct.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Carp/Heavy.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/CPAN/FirstTime.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/CGI/Carp.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/CGI/Cookie.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/CGI/Pretty.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/CGI/Push.pm
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/man/man3/Test::Harness.3
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/man/man3/Test::Harness::Assert.3
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/man/man3/Test::Harness::Iterator.3
Installing /home/toma/perl5i/man/man3/Test::Harness::Straps.3
Writing /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/auto/Test/Harness/.pack
+list
Appending installation info to /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/
+perllocal.pod
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$ perl -V
Perl lib version (v5.6.0) doesn't match executable version (v5.6.1) at
+ /home/toma/perl5i/lib/5.6.1/i586-linux/Config.pm line 21.
Compilation failed in require.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted.
[toma@rabbit Test-Harness-2.26]$

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It should work perfectly the first time! - toma

In Section Meditations