Need help getting started with CPAN

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

A friend sent me word that she swore by Spreadsheet::Parse EXCEL, so, for the first time ever, I pulled a CPAN file off the web. UgH! the error messages!!! Directories can't be found in @INC (like where do I go to change this) -- and that was after I went in and fiddled with the code. How am I supposed to go about handling these problems? Poke around in the code hoping to make it work? Write a letter to the author? Please at least tell me where the ropes are for this wonderful and praiseworthy body of knowledge that you monks are caring for. Mary Anderson

Comment on Need help getting started with CPAN

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Need help getting started with CPAN by davidrw (Prior) on Aug 24, 2005 at 21:18 UTC
Be sure to check out the relevant Tutorials: A Guide to Installing Modules A guide to installing modules for Win32 Installing Modules on a Web Server In order for us to help you, what OS are you on? how did you try to install it (using the CPAN module or cpan command? tarball and perl Makefile.PL/make/make test/make install? what (exact) errors did you get? My guess from @INC errors is that you are missing dependencies that need to be installed first (or use cpan and let it do the work for you -- see the guide above)	[reply]
Re: Need help getting started with CPAN by Tanktalus (Canon) on Aug 25, 2005 at 00:08 UTC
Just curious, but what was not answered in your previous question - it seems to be pretty much identical to this question without actually being verbatim...	[reply]
Re: Need help getting started with CPAN by runrig (Abbot) on Aug 24, 2005 at 21:23 UTC
How did you install it? What OS are you installing it on? What errors do you get (from running or installing)? This should be one of the simpler modules to install.	[reply]
Re: Need help getting started with CPAN by Ven'Tatsu (Deacon) on Aug 24, 2005 at 21:39 UTC
ActiveState has a slightly older version (0.26 insted of 0.2603) of the module that can be installed by PPM. It should be as simple as opening a command prompt and entering `ppm install Spreadsheet-ParseExcel`	[reply] [d/l]