Installing XML Module in Alternate Directory

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

I am in the process of installing module XML::Parser on a Unix system running Solaris 2.8. The system I inherited has Perl (version 5.00503) installed in a non-standard location, and I am trying to install the module in the appropriate non-standard directory. I have followed the steps outlined below and I'm stumped by the error generated by "make install". I want the XML and auto/XML subdirectories to be located in the ... sun4-solaris directory, but I'm not sure I have the correct values for PREFIX and INSTALLDIRS when running Makefile.PL. Any help you can provide would be most appreciated.

gzip -d XML-Parser-2.34.tar.gz
tar -xf XML-Parser-2.34

perl Makefile.PL \
PREFIX=/apps/midb/perl_5.005/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/sun4-solaris \
INSTALLDIRS=sun4-solaris \
EXPATLIBPATH=/usr/local/lib \
EXPATINCPATH=/usr/local/include

make
make test
make install

Fatal error: Don't know how to make target `pure_sun4-solaris_install'
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Re: Installing XML Module in Alternate Directory by rupesh (Hermit) on Nov 13, 2003 at 04:29 UTC
OK.. Here's what I found when I made a quick search: The first thing, of course, is that you need to install expat first - and I suppose you already did that. The default installation procedure for the expat library is: ./configure make make install However, be aware that this will install the expat library files in /usr/local rather than /usr. If you then go to install the XML::Parser library, the make will fail due to an #include <expat.h> statement with Expat.xs. The reason for this is that expat.h has been installed in /usr/local/include rather than /use/include. When running the expat install, run the expat configure script with the --prefix=/usr; this should ensure that the various expat library components get installed in /usr where XML::Parser expects them to be. There was also this cpan link that would provide you with some extra information. Hope this helps. All the best! "True!" SRK.	[reply]
Re: Installing XML Module in Alternate Directory by bobn (Chaplain) on Nov 13, 2003 at 04:16 UTC
I'm not sure that using a non absolute path as in INSTALLDIRS=sun4-solaris is right. In any case, I've had good luck with perl Makefile.PL LIB=/home/me/lib , so I think perl Makefile.PL LIB=/apps/midb/perl_5.005/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/sun4-solaris might do the trick. update: re-read your post, particularly "The system I inherited has Perl (version 5.00503) installed in a non-standard location,. If perl was made and installed properly in the non-standard location, it should contain the paths, and you should be able to do the classic install with no additional parms to the "perl Makefile.PL". --Bob Niederman, http://bob-n.com All code given here is UNTESTED unless otherwise stated.	[reply]
Re: Installing XML Module in Alternate Directory by roho (Bishop) on Nov 13, 2003 at 18:15 UTC
Thanks to both for your answers. I tried `perl Makefile.PL LIB=(alternate directory)` and that got me to the point where it tried to create the subdirectories. I then discovered that Perl is installed on a different machine than where I am logged on, so I will have to repeat everything over there to see how it finally turns out. (I'm learning much more about sysadmin and network topology stuff than I originally bargained for, let me tell you.) For all its other faults, I installed this module on Windows in about 3 minutes by entering "ppm install XML-Parser". (sigh) "Its not how hard you work, its how much you get done."	[reply] [d/l]