use lib connundrum

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

I learned objects and now I want to store all of them in one place so that when I do updates I do not forget to change any files.
so I did :

use lib ( "~my_account/public_html/PERL_TEST/" );
[download]

Now the modules worked when I had the code and the X::Y subirectories in the same directory but now I get this error:

[Mon Dec  2 09:32:44 2002] User.pm: Can't locate Module/User.pm in @IN
+C (@INC contains: ~my_account/public_html/PERL_TEST/ /pkg/perl-5.005_
+02/lib/perl5.005_02/i386-netbsd /pkg/perl-5.005_02/lib/perl5.005_02 /
+usr/local/lib/site_perl/5.005 /usr/local/lib/site_perl .) at registra
+tion.cgi line 18.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at registration.cgi line 18.
[download]

so it sees the lib function any ideas?

update (broquaint): cleaned up formatting

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Re: use lib connundrum by tadman (Prior) on Dec 02, 2002 at 14:59 UTC
Tilde is a feature of the shell which Perl is probably not able to expand for you. You can substitute it with something like this: `use lib "$ENV{HOME}/public_html/PERL_TEST";` There's also no guarantee that you're going to have a HOME environment variable either. A more reliable method might be something like this: `BEGIN { my $home = (getpwuid($<))[7]; # Current user use lib "$home/public_html/PERL_TEST"; }` [download] Update: The above was merely given as an example of how you can replace tilde for the current user, figuring it was fairly obvious how to retool it to be more generic. What I probably should've put was something like this: `BEGIN { my $user = 'someuser'; my ($home) = (getpwnam($user))[7]; # Specific user die "Can't find user $user home directory\n" unless($home); use lib "$home/bin"; print $home; }` [download] While having a hard-coded path is one way to ensure that the application will work, having an application use libraries from the home directory of a particular user isn't all that unusual, although it can be confusing if not documented clearly.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
•Re: Re: use lib connundrum by merlyn (Sage) on Dec 02, 2002 at 15:48 UTC
There's also no guarantee that you're going to have a HOME environment variable either. More importantly, it'll definitely be the wrong HOME if I run your script rather than you. Even your second solution is wrong in this respect. The only solution is to fully hard-code the path. That's the point of "use lib", anyway! -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
(z) Re: use lib connundrum by zigdon (Deacon) on Dec 02, 2002 at 14:43 UTC
Just a guess - perhaps 'lib' doesn't understand ~user? try entering the full path: `use lib ( "/path/to/home/public_html/PERL_TEST/" );` [download] -- Dan	[reply] [d/l]
Re: use lib connundrum by broquaint (Abbot) on Dec 02, 2002 at 14:57 UTC
The `~username` convention is a shell shortcut (much like `~-` and `~/`) so isn't interpreted by perl. So you'll just have to hardcode the path I'm afraid, although I'm sure a tilde expansion module would be most welcome on `CPAN` :) HTH `_________ broquaint`	[reply]
Re: use lib connundrum by rir (Vicar) on Dec 02, 2002 at 20:36 UTC
`use lib ( "~my_account/public_html/PERL_TEST/" );` This is what the environment variable `PERL5LIB` is made for. Set it in the appropriate profile like file. Using the environment may be a security issue, which is the argument for hard coded paths.	[reply] [d/l] [select]