Installing Crypt::Blowfish

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

I've created a password encrypting application. Currently it uses Crypt::CBC with Crypt::DES_EDE3 as the cipher. Its all working fine. BUT ... initially I wanted to use Crypt::Blowfish because from what I understand this is a better encryption algorithm. Problem is ... I'm on a win32 system and you can't install Blowfish with ppm3 (its not available on ppm3). I've attempted to download and install Blowish module from CPAN using nmake. I get the below error

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility   Version 1.50
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp 1988-94. All rights reserved.

cp Blowfish.pm blib\lib\Crypt\Blowfish.pm
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe C:\Perl\lib\ExtUtils/xsubpp  -typemap C:\
+Perl\lib\ExtUtils\typemap -typemap typemap  Blowfish.xs > Blowfish.xs
+c && C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe -MExtUtils::Com
mand -e mv Blowfish.xsc Blowfish.c
        cl -c    -nologo -Gf -W3 -MD -Zi -DNDEBUG -O1 -DWIN32 -D_CONSO
+LE -DNO_STRICT -DHAVE_DES_FCRYPT -DNO_HASH_SEED -DPERL_IMPLICIT_CONTE
+XT -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -DPER
L_MSVCRT_READFIX -MD -Zi -DNDEBUG -O1    -DVERSION=\"2.09\"  -DXS_VERS
+ION=\"2.09\"  "-IC:\Perl\lib\CORE"   Blowfish.c
'cl' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'C:\WINNT\system32\cmd.exe' : return code '
+0x1'
Stop.
[download]

I've read the README notes. Not knowing a lot about this installing method I'm a little stuck. Call me retarted but I'm calling on people who know a little more about this than me. Thanks. :-)

Dean
The Funkster of Mirth
Programming these days takes more than a lone avenger with a compiler. - sam
RFC1149: A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers

Comment on Installing Crypt::Blowfish Download Code

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Re: Installing Crypt::Blowfish by gellyfish (Monsignor) on Jul 06, 2004 at 12:47 UTC
Yes, you require a C compiler to build the XS parts of the module. You can download the VC++ Toolkit here, you may also require some additional stuff from the Win32 SDK. /J\	[reply]
Re^2: Installing Crypt::Blowfish by olivierp (Hermit) on Jul 06, 2004 at 12:58 UTC
Or, the easy way is to get a "ppm"ed package from this repository: http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms/ If you are unable to get to the repository, download & edit the ppd, to find where the corresponding .tar.gz package is, download it and create your own local repository. -- Olivier	[reply]
Re^3: Installing Crypt::Blowfish by crabbdean (Pilgrim) on Jul 06, 2004 at 13:16 UTC
Thanks (++) to both of you. Both answers were helpful. I'll look more into J's answer later as its an area I want to learn more about, but at this juncture Olivier's answer gave immediate results. I ppm'd into the your suggested repository and it immediately installed (hassle free!), changed my program to utilise Blowfish and ran the encryption. Perfect! All done in less than a minute. A big cheers! Dean The Funkster of Mirth Programming these days takes more than a lone avenger with a compiler. - sam RFC1149: A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers	[reply]
Re: Installing Crypt::Blowfish by iburrell (Chaplain) on Jul 06, 2004 at 16:30 UTC
Crypt::Rijndael looks like it is available in the ActiveState repository. Rijndael is the AES standard and a better algorithm than DES or Blowfish. Since it is available, and standard, you might as well use it.	[reply]