Darn it, I have the same problem! But I have been too busy coding here to worry about it. When I am root on my machine and I use the CPAN shell, I have all those problems, it is a nightmare. BUT - when I am another user it all works like a dream. Except that I cannot complete the install phase. I have another terminal open and I go into the module directory and just do the make install there.

I hope you get some good answers, coz I wanna read em too.
jdtoronto