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

Thanks to all the replies for my question on PPM I now have everything working (touch wood!).

Just one more thing (as Colombo would say!) why is it that I can only install modules from

http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/5.6/

and not

http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/5.005/

I think is is most likely to do with the version (v5.618) of activestate perl I am using but I don't know why.

Any ideas?

Thanks. Billy.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: A Small Question.
by tye (Sage) on Sep 20, 2000 at 19:18 UTC

    Different versions of Perl are often not binary compatible so compiling a module for one version doesn't give you something that will work with another. Usually Perl stays binary compatible between minor versions. And usually you have the option of building a new major version of Perl to have binary compatibility with the previous major version -- but doing so usually involves not getting some of the new features of the new major version.

    ActiveState really wanted some of the new features of Perl 5.6.0 so they didn't build it to be binary compatible with Perl 5.005_0x.

    Now, modules that don't include C code should be installable on any version of Perl. If there are PPM packages of such modules in a 5.005 PPM archive, then you should still be able to use those under 5.6.0. [ Update: Unless PPM isn't smart enough to know the difference -- which appears to be the case (according to Guildenstern's testing). ]

            - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")
[reply]
      Thanks Tye.

      Billy.
[reply]
(Ovid - Installing packages with PPM) Re: A Small Question.
by Ovid (Cardinal) on Sep 20, 2000 at 19:14 UTC
    To install a package from a different location, you can give it a fully qualified path name or URL. For example, to install Agent.ppd from the 5.005 directory on the ActiveState server, type in 
    install http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/5.005/Agent.ppd

    [download]

    Cheers,
    Ovid

    Join the Perlmonks Setiathome Group or just go the the link and check out our stats.

[reply]
[d/l]
      Not really. I just tried that exact line, and PPM complained about not being able to find a "PPM binary for this platform". I tried this with the Net-Daemon package that Billy was trying to install, and got the same problems. I unzipped the Net-Daemon package, and it looks like it's all Perl code, but PPM still won't let it be installed.

      Guildenstern
      Negaterd character class uber alles!
[reply]
Re: A Small Question.
by mrmick (Curate) on Sep 20, 2000 at 19:14 UTC
    I suspect that because of the changes to the new build and to PPM especially, that there are compatibility issues between the Packages. If I'm wrong, I'm certain someone will point it out.

    Mick
[reply]
      I think you are right.I've been at this for ages thinking there was something wrong with my setup but what you say makes sense.
      I would have saved myself a day if I knew that first..aw well:-)
      Any modules I could not get I managed to download from CPAN and build myself using nmake.

      Cheers.

      Billy.
[reply]

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