Don't :)

1) use a package manager instead of -MCPAN. IE, if you're on a debian system and you want to install DBI and the mysql drivers, do 

 apt-get -y install libdbd-mysql-perl libdbi-perl
Easy to automate across your 100 machines.

This assumes someone (perhaps yourself) has already created packages of these modules.

2) create a directory structure for your perl modules. (IE /organization/opt/perl-modules/.) On a master machine (build box), install your modules into this hierarchy. Then rsync the 'perl-modules' directory structure to the 100 boxes.

CPAN as an archive is awesome. -MCPAN as a method for software installation .. not so much. It was cool when I discovered it back in the day, but now I really really really wish that CPAN defined a standard 'perl module package format' -- a single archive file containing the module, and a package manager tool to add/list/remove packages. Failing that, it would be cute if CPAN would automagically create .debs, .rpms, or Solaris pkgs.

In reply to Re: Automating CPAN Configuration by Anonymous Monk
in thread Automating CPAN Configuration by dsheroh

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.