Note to self, I really must finish off my module installation tutorial in the very near future.

The Perl prerequisites can be found on the cpan page for each module, there should be a link on the right hand side named ''Dependencies''. Other non perl prerequisites are usually listed in the documentation for the module in question. This includes INSTALL and README files. You can browse this via the cpan web interface or by using the cpan client to look at a module or distribution:

cpan> look WWW::Mechanize::Firefox
Database was generated on Tue, 18 Feb 2014 16:54:50 GMT

Updating database file ...
Done!
Running look for module 'WWW::Mechanize::Firefox'

Trying to open a subshell in the build directory...
Checksum for D:\cpan\authors\id\C\CO\CORION\WWW-Mechanize-Firefox-0.74
+.tar.gz ok
Scanning cache D:\perl\cpan\build for sizes
.........................................................-------------
+------DONE
Working directory is D:\perl\cpan\build\WWW-Mechanize-Firefox-0.74-Vy7
+RZ_
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

D:\perl\cpan\build\WWW-Mechanize-Firefox-0.74-Vy7RZ_>
D:\perl\cpan\build\WWW-Mechanize-Firefox-0.74-Vy7RZ_>dir
 Volume in drive D is Data
 Volume Serial Number is F217-BC95

 Directory of D:\perl\cpan\build\WWW-Mechanize-Firefox-0.74-Vy7RZ_> di
+r

20/02/2014  21:20    <DIR>          .
20/02/2014  21:20    <DIR>          ..
29/04/2013  20:53               211 .gitignore
07/05/2013  22:48            27,269 Changes
20/02/2014  21:20    <DIR>          examples
20/02/2014  21:20    <DIR>          inc
29/04/2013  20:53             1,269 INSTALL
20/02/2014  21:20    <DIR>          lib
29/04/2013  20:53             4,402 Makefile.PL
07/05/2013  22:48             3,920 MANIFEST
29/04/2013  20:53               242 MANIFEST.skip
07/05/2013  22:48             1,677 META.json
07/05/2013  22:48               935 META.yml
29/04/2013  21:20            44,804 README
29/04/2013  20:53            39,183 README.mkdn
29/04/2013  20:53             2,011 runtests.pl
20/02/2014  21:20    <DIR>          t
              11 File(s)        125,923 bytes
               6 Dir(s)  161,661,272,064 bytes free

D:\perl\cpan\build\WWW-Mechanize-Firefox-0.74-Vy7RZ_>type INSTALL
=head1 MODULE INSTALLATION

Installing the module is easy:

1. Download the distribution
2. Unpack it
3. Start a shell in the distribution directory

4a. With a recent version of the cpan tool, run
        cpan .
    there.

4b. Alternatively run the following commands:
        perl Makefile.PL
        make
        make test
        make install

=head1 TROUBLESHOOTING

If you notice that tests get skipped and/or the module installs
but "does not seem to work", there are some more steps required
to configure Firefox:

1. Install mozrepl from

      http://wiki.github.com/bard/mozrepl/

   A direct link is

      http://repo.hyperstruct.net/mozrepl/1.0/mozrepl.xpi

2. Launch Firefox

3. Start mozrepl in Firefox by going to the menu:
   "Tools" -> "MozRepl" -> "Start"
   You may want to tick the "Activate on startup" item.


If tests still fail, especially t/50-click.t and 51-mech-submit.t ,
this might be because you use the NoScript Mozilla extension
and have it blocking Javascript for file:// URLs. While this is good,
the tests need Javascript enabled.

Solution:
    1. Open t/50-click.html in Firefox
    2. Allow Javascript for all file:// URLs
    3. Re-run tests
    4. No test should fail

D:\perl\cpan\build\WWW-Mechanize-Firefox-0.74-Vy7RZ_>

[download]

Note that the cpan client dropped me into a shell (command prompt on windows) and I type the contents of INSTALL, the Linux/Unix equivalent (as I'm sure you know, but for the benefit of others) is cat.

Some modules require external programs or as is well documented in the WWW::Mechanize::Firefox example above, other programs and/or plugins.

-dev packages contain library headers and other development files for a package. These may be required and ideally should be listed in a perl modules documentation. Feel free to submit a patch for this module suggesting this :)

In reply to Re^3: Linux: Problem installing Filter::Crypto by marto
in thread Linux: Problem installing Filter::Crypto by jowe

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