perl Makefile.PL LIB=/used/perl/modules/for/project
make && make test && make install
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XML::Simple, by the way, uses XML::Parser, which uses the C expat library, which is not standard for most systems. You'll need to get the perl version, OS version, probably the C compiler, and all library versions correct if you want to copy the result of an install of XML::Simple to other machines. You might then even be able to use PAR to make the distribution. But probably not.

In short: installing != copying .pm files. That's why this whole Makefile.PL -> make -> make test -> make install thing is there in the first place.

For the XML modules, I think they are way too useful not to be installed anyway. Any decent hosting company should know that. Tell your clients their hosting company sucks. It won't help, but it might make you feel better :-)

-- 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;$;=
";Jtunsitr pa;ngo;t1h\$e;r. )p.e(r;ls ;h;a;c.k^e;rs 
";$_=$;;do{$..=chop}while(chop);$_=$;;eval$.;
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Thanks for the advice Joost, really helpful. I always wondered what all that makefile business was about :-)

I think i'll just opt for slagging off the web hosts that don't have it installed and refuse to do so... and perhaps think about writing a version that doesn't use XML, was a bit over the top for my purpose anyway! :-)

Cheers,
Tom

Depending upon your requirements, you can wrap what you need up in two ways.

Firstly as a PAR file containing the rogue module and all it's dependancies. Using pp (the Perl Packager) you can have:

pp -M XML::Simple -p xmlsimple
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Alternative you can create a specific PAR file, but this will require you to delve into Module::ScanDeps a little and write a script like one I've recently written that can tar (Archive::Tar) or zip (Archive::Zip) the appropriate contents. Having created your PAR file you simple access it in your code as:

use PAR 'xmlsimple.par';
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Secondly as an EXE file that runs as if you'd called your main script. Again using pp:

pp -o myscript.exe myscript.pl
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PAR and it's additional scripts are one of the most useful bundles you'll find on CPAN, when it comes to deploying your Perl applications.

--
Barbie | Birmingham Perl Mongers | http://birmingham.pm.org/

So can anyone give me any advice about this, what should I do?

Assuming XML::Simple has an open source license that allows it to be freely distributed (which, if XML::Simple is on CPAN, it most likely has), simple distribute XML::Simple with your product.

Abigail

Yeah this is what i've tried to do, but it then seems to ask for URI::URL.pm because it obvioyusly uses it. So I installed that as well, then it complained about some problem with XML::Parser::Expat, so I installed that as well. Then it complained about.

Can't locate object method "bootstrap" via package "XML::Parser::Expat
+" at lib/XML/Parser/Expat.pm line 29
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So I started to wonder if this would ever end...

Cheers,
Tom

Did you read the README for XML::Parser? You have to install expat. An alternative is to install XML::SAX, which will install XML::SAX::PurePerl, which will be used by XML::Simple. This way you don't have to install an external library.

You should also install CPANPLUS, that will make installing modules easier (although it will not solve the fact that you have to install expat separately in this case).

CPANPLUS will also let you write a bundle file for your configuration, or just let you automagically install the needed modules, see Perl Module administration with CPANPLUS.

Don't give up, it might be a pain in the short term, but eventually it will save you tons of time, as you will then be able to use all of CPAN and not just the very limited subset included in the core.

Just a hunch, could you not unshift @INC with the desired path, where you install all the relevant modules, matching versions and all

Update:
You might need to do this in a BEGIN block or at least before use-ing the modules

Just a hunch, could you not unshift @INC

How is the trivial difference between this and use lib; supposed to address the OP's problem?

From perldoc lib:

        Saying

           use lib LIST;

       is almost the same as saying

           BEGIN { unshift(@INC, LIST) }

       For each directory in LIST (called $dir here) the lib module also
       checks to see if a directory called $dir/$archname/auto exists.  If so
       the $dir/$archname directory is assumed to be a corresponding architec-
       ture specific directory and is added to @INC in front of $dir.

--Bob Niederman, http://bob-n.com

All code given here is UNTESTED unless otherwise stated.

Until recently (see expat library issue) I've had success using modules from non-standard locations by adding to @INC the PERL5LIB environment variable and the LD_LIBRARY_PATH Module.

Admittedly my process is very manual intensive; building in the standard location then moving as required, but I have achieved the desired result