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

Hi, all! A quick question here, hope someone can help me... Anyway, here it is; I have a standalone computer (not connected to the Internet), and need to install on it Cryptix and DES so I can get a password and a key and encrypt/decrypt the password. I've tried installing Cryptix on the computer using CPAN, but it keeps on asking me to connect to the Internet which is not possible. I usually move data to and from the computer using a floppy disk, raring files and splitting them. Anyway, can anyone please help me by giving me a step-by-step guide to installing modules (specifically the two mentioned above) since I think I messed it up at some point? Thanks a bundle.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Installing Modules on a Standalone
by Fletch (Bishop) on Mar 28, 2005 at 13:33 UTC

    Can't get more step-by-step than perldoc perlmodinstall.

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Re: Installing Modules on a Standalone
by ambs (Pilgrim) on Mar 28, 2005 at 13:19 UTC
    Hi. There are some modules which try to connect to the Internet to download other modules. I don't know if that is the case.

    If not, the usual procedure would be download the tarballs for those two modules and try to install them using the usual way: 

     tar zxvf module.tar.gz
 cd module
 perl Makefile.PL
 make
 make install

    [download]
    When you run perl Makefile.PL you can get dependencies missing (in which case you need to download a new tarball) or (if the module tries to connect to the internet) you need to look at the Makefile.PL code and check what it tries to download.

    Hope this helps.

    Alberto Simões

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      I'm on a Windows machine. Does that make any difference? The most I can do through the command prompt is run DOS shell commands (don't think the TAR command works).
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        Well, yes. I suppose you have the perl command. So, you unrar the file (or unzip, or extract someway), run the perl Makefile.PL. Then you need a make command. I think there are some freely available make commands for DOS. Something like nmake, if I am not wrong.

        Hope this helps.

        Alberto Simões

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Re: Installing Modules on a Standalone
by perlfan (Parson) on Mar 28, 2005 at 13:44 UTC
    You'll have to manually download, transfer the files to the target machine, and install individually. Remember that if you are installing as non-root, you should set the PERL5LIB environmental variable.
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Re: Installing Modules on a Standalone
by manav (Scribe) on Mar 28, 2005 at 16:40 UTC
    On windows means you have ActivePerl version 5.x .
    Go to the activestate module repository and select the your version of Perl.
    Next download the zip file for your module and unzip in a temp directory.

    The unzipped files will have a README file. Follow the instruction in that file.
    It would be something like 
    ppm install Foo-Bar.ppd

    [download]


    Manav
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Re: Installing Modules on a Standalone
by Old_Gray_Bear (Bishop) on Mar 28, 2005 at 17:40 UTC
    I just found myself in the same position last week -- a Windows machine with limited access to the Net. I can get to the ActiveState web-site and download the Perl MSI package since port 80 is allowed through the firewall, but the port that ppm() uses was blocked, so I couldn't get any CPAN modules.

    I ended up doing a full installation of Perl and all of the needed modules on an external machine, using a flash drive as my installation device. I took the flash drive back into the Lab (after making sure that the Security Powers understood exactly why I was doing this) and copied the flash-drive onto the hard-drive of the Target machine, overlaying the existing Perl installation. The same process will have to be followed when they want to add another module or upgrade the Perl.

    The Lab owners are currently in negotiation with the Secutiry group to get the ppm-port allowed, but it is going to be a long slog.

    ----
    I Go Back to Sleep, Now.

    OGB

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      I can get to the ActiveState web-site and download the Perl MSI package since port 80 is allowed through the firewall, but the port that ppm() uses was blocked, so I couldn't get any CPAN modules.
      In my experience the port ppm uses is 80.

      Perhaps in reality 80 is blocked but the browser is condigured to use a proxy.

      To get ppm to use the proxy try the following at the command prompt before you run it: 

      SET http_proxy=http://myproxy.example.com:3128

      [download]

      (Obviously use the hostname and port of your proxy).

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