in reply to non-standard package management

If you can depend on the make application being there (it usually is on *NIX systems), then you should look into ExtUtils::MakeMaker. This is the same thing CPAN modules use to get installed.

Basically, you construct a Makefile.PL that enumerates where you should be installed and what dependencies you have. You could write a small, general-purpose installer that uses the CPAN module to make sure those dependencies are downloaded and installed automatically.

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