"If I want to install a Perl module manually (without CPAN) on Linix, in what format do I need to download the module. Specifically what is the proper name for this format so I can search for repositories of these modules"

They are usually in a compressed format. You will need to decompress them first before install.

One of my favorites (example) (thank you Gisle Aas and Martijn Koster) libwww-perl-5.837.tar.gz

"If I want to install a Perl module using CPAN, what format must the module be in? Is it just called CPAN format or does it have a specific name?"

CPAN is the depository where they are held. CPAN also has a handy dandy helpfull installer program. Which is also called CPAN which probably is your best bet to get these things installed

http://search.cpan.org/~andk/CPAN-1.9402/lib/CPAN.pm

without doing the below. 

$HOME/localperl/bin/perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

[download]

Which just to let you know in advance can get messy since they are also dependent upon other installs. You may need some help if you choose this route.

"If I want to install modules using apt-get, what format must be modules be in? I've seen them described as apt-get packages but I don't know if this is the proper name"

I believe they are all in Tar.gz

"Lastly, although you may have already answered this question by this point, I am presuming that for manual installation and CPAN you are downloading source code. With a manual installation you have to compile and build it yourself whereas CPAN takes care of those steps for you. Is this right? "

yes

In reply to Re: Help needed with terminology - different formats of modules by Monkomatic
in thread Help needed with terminology - different formats of modules by Anonymous Monk

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.