Manually installing DBI (without using ppm)

heigold1 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

There is something wrong with my Internet connection at work here, where if I try to just use PPM to install DBI, I get the message:

Error: No valid repositories: Error: 500 Can't connect to
ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (Bad hostname 'ppm.ActiveState.com') at
c:/Perl/site/lib/PPM/Repository.pm line 84 Error: 500 Can't connect to
ppm.ActiveState.com:80 (Bad hostname 'ppm.ActiveState.com') at
c:/Perl/site/lib/PPM/Repository.pm line 84

Anyways, so I have to manually install DBI by grabbing the DBI-1.48.tar.gz file off CPAN and building the Makefile.

The problem is that, in the README file that comes with this gz file specifically has in its installation instrucitons, to carry out the following tasks:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

It doesn't give any other instructions, like what to do in case of an error.

After performing the "perl Makefile.pl" command, I get the following error:

Can't create variants of tests in 't' directory: No such file or directory at c:/Perl/lib/DBI/DBD.pm line 2812.

Am I doing something wrong here, like maybe these unzipped files need to be in a specific directory first?

Your response is greatly appreciated,

Brent.

Comment on Manually installing DBI (without using ppm)

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Re: Manually installing DBI (without using ppm) by VSarkiss (Monsignor) on May 11, 2005 at 01:41 UTC
Before you give up on PPM, make sure you don't have problems with the firewall and/or proxy. Follow the instructions on ActiveState's site to make sure that's not the problem. Then, if that still doesn't work, you can grab zip files directly, copy them to your box (i.e., set up a local repository) and still use ppm to install. Do not rebuke them with harsh words ... but rather lead them gently - with URLs - so that they may learn wisdom.	[reply]
Re: Manually installing DBI (without using ppm) by thcsoft (Monk) on May 11, 2005 at 00:00 UTC
probably you should better grab the package from activestate.com and try to install that manually. perhaps your problem will disappear then. language is a virus from outer space.	[reply]
Re: Manually installing DBI (without using ppm) by davidrw (Prior) on May 11, 2005 at 01:43 UTC
As thcsoft said, you can go grab the ppd file yourself and then have ppm install it. You should be able to find it by going to activestate's site and browsing their repository, and then download the file. Or google(DBI ppd) to find alternative repositories that have it. Or, in ppm, try the command "search DBI" and see if it is able to list anything. Another good resource for information is the perlmonks tutorial A guide to installing modules for Win32, specifically the Creating a local repository section, which describes how to use ppm to install the package once you've found the ppd file and saved it locally.	[reply]