rootbeer277 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

It was recommended to me to install WWW::Mechanize for a project I would like to do. However I'm having trouble installing the required modules. Mechanize requires the following modules that I cannot install:

They all fail the tests
live/activestate
live/validator
and HTTP::Daemon additionally fails live/apache-listing

I am using Mac OS X 10.2 with Perl 5.8.7. I don't know what to do from here. How do I solve these problems so I can continue my installation?

  • Comment on Installing Perl modules on Mac OS X 10.2

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Re: Installing Perl modules on Mac OS X 10.2
by Corion (Patriarch) on Dec 09, 2005 at 07:51 UTC

    To expand a bit on PodMasters advice: Live tests of modules against websites which are beyond the control of the module author are subject to bit-rot - the tests will start to fail as soon as the website is changed.

    Because only "live" tests fail for you, it is safe to assume that the cause for failure is not in the module but in the tests, and such it is relatively safe for you to ignore these failures and force the install.

[reply]

      Thank you for your help. I was able to force the install and after a few test scripts WWW::Mechanize appears to be working properly for me.

      For future reference, is there a way to peek at these tests and determine for myself whether the failure is critical or not?

[reply]

        Yes - just look at the source code and determine which features it uses. CPAN.pm downloads and extracts a module distribution, usually into ~/.cpan/build/<distribution> - you can look there. Alternatively you can look on http://search.cpan.org - the "browse" link of a distribution lets you browse the whole distribution directory.

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[d/l]
Re: Installing Perl modules on Mac OS X 10.2
by PodMaster (Abbot) on Dec 09, 2005 at 07:14 UTC
    You can always "force" install any module

    MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"
    I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).
    ** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.

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Re: Installing Perl modules on Mac OS X 10.2
by donarb (Beadle) on Dec 10, 2005 at 17:44 UTC
    Those modules are part of libwww. As part of the install process, when you generate the makefile, it asks if you would like to run the live (net access) tests or not.
[reply]

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