Activestate 5.6.1.638 - Module instalation freezing with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and others

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

Hello my code friends,

I have just upgraded to Active Perl`s 5.6.1.638 (my OS is Win98) and installed all the extra modules with success, with exception of Spreadsheet::ParseExcel, wich freezes after nmake, nmake test and nmake install. At first, when I issue the perl makefile.pl, it says the kit is ok and gives me back the prompt. But when I run the nmake, the following output is generated:

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

c:\Perl\bin\Perl.exe -IC:\Perl\lib -IC:\Perl\lib -MExtUtils::Command -
+e cp bin/chartex blib\script\chartex
c:\Perl\bin\Perl.exe -IC:\Perl\lib -IC:\Perl\lib -e "system qq]pl2bat.
+bat \.shift" blib\script\chartex
[download]

And after that he freezes. So, I type Ctrl+Break to take back the prompt. But when I issue nmake test and nmake install the same happens. (Same output too)

I`ve looked into \perl\site\lib\spreadsheet\ folder and there`s no trace of the \writer folder after all that.

Any ideas? Does this Ativestate build have bugs regarding that? Or maybe its my nmake 1.5 that`s outdated? I`m lost.

UPDATE: I decided to try installing the module through CPAN module, but guess what? The same error has ocurred after I issued CPAN's nmake!

Thanks a lot

Andre

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Re: Activestate 5.6.1.638 - Module instalation freezing with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and others by jmcnamara (Monsignor) on Aug 03, 2005 at 09:09 UTC
The output shown is a little odd. The qq in the system call isn't correct: `"system qq]pl2bat.bat \.shift"` [download] It should be: `"system qq[pl2bat.bat ].shift"` [download] If this isn't a copy and paste error then it looks like the problem is with MakeMaker. For what it's worth, the module installs fine for me with ActivePerl 5.6.1.638 on WinXP: C:\>perl -v This is perl, v5.6.1 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread (with 1 registered patch, see perl -V for more detail) Copyright 1987-2001, Larry Wall Binary build 638 provided by ActiveState Corp. http://www.ActiveSt +ate.com ... C:\Temp\Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-2.14>perl Makefile.PL Writing Makefile for Spreadsheet::WriteExcel C:\Temp\Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-2.14>nmake Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility Version 1.50 Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp 1988-94. All rights reserved. C:\Perl561\bin\perl.exe -IC:\Perl561\lib -IC:\Perl561\lib +-MExtUtils::Command -e cp bin/chartex blib\script\chartex C:\Perl561\bin\perl.exe -IC:\Perl561\lib -IC:\Perl561\lib + -e "system qq[pl2bat.bat ].shift" blib\script\chartex C:\Temp\Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-2.14>nmake test ... [download] -- John.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Activestate 5.6.1.638 - Module instalation freezing with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and others by Andre_br (Pilgrim) on Aug 03, 2005 at 15:08 UTC
Hey John! In fact, that was a minor typo. The `nmake` output is just like yours, only that it freezes before returning to the prompt. If I Ctrl+break and recover the prompt by force, the `nmake test` and `nmake install`commands generate this same output. And nothing is installed there on \perl\site\lib\Spreadsheet. I´ve checked the link you gave me, but it´s been riped. I reinstalled the ExtUtils::Makemaker module (don´t know if this is the point you referred) but the freezing goes on. You think I should step down to a more reliable build of Activestate? Wich one? Where to find it? Or maybe the solution can be installing through PPM(X), but the problem is that I can´t find any repository that has "suitable installation target" for your package. `ppm> install Spreadsheet::WriteExcel Error: no suitable installation target found for package Spreadsheet:: +WriteExcel >ppm` [download] Thanks for the help André	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Activestate 5.6.1.638 - Module instalation freezing with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and others by jmcnamara (Monsignor) on Aug 03, 2005 at 15:40 UTC
You have to do a search for a package before you install it: `ppm> search WriteExcel` [download] Then install whichever item number you want. Make sure that your firewall allows the ppm traffic through. I also have ppm builds available from a repository: `ppm> rep add swe http://homepage.eircom.net/~jmcnamara/perl Repositories: [1] ActiveState PPM2 Repository [2] ActiveState Package Repository [3] swe ppm> search WriteExcel Searching in Active Repositories 1. Spreadsheet-WriteExcel [2.14] Write to a cross platform Excel + binary file ppm> install 1 Package 1: ==================== Install 'http://homepage.eircom.net/...' version 2.14 in ActivePerl 5.6.1.638. ==================== Downloaded 169242 bytes. ...` [download] However, I'd recomend the ActivePerl 5.8.7 build (the documentation is nicer and the Unicode support is better than 5.6 releases). -- John.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: Activestate 5.6.1.638 - Module instalation freezing with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and others by Andre_br (Pilgrim) on Aug 03, 2005 at 20:55 UTC