Generally, I go for the "official install method", even if it means installing to a private directory and adding that to my @INC via use lib .... Yes, that means extra stuff is there. But which extra stuff may not always be obvious.

I simply automate the installation of everything with its prereqs, which makes switching providers, perl versions, developer machines, etc., much easier. And it makes it easier to get help from both the author and other monks if you have everything installed, otherwise it becomes painful to debug. Many people will get annoyed if they see that you've gone and not installed parts of the distro that are required when you thought they weren't.

The best practice is always to follow the documentation when installing software. Whether that's a perl module or a RDBMS or a word processor. Anything else is left for advanced users and masochists. Oddly, those two groups have a lot of overlap.

In reply to Re: make install or not by Tanktalus
in thread make install or not by arlaneenalra

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