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

Howdy Brethren,

I come to you with a confusion. I ocassionally use the wonderful Graph module. However, I've been unable to update to the most recent version (0.69), although I could install 0.68. The error message I get is a bit puzzling:

$ perl -w Makefile.PL
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for Graph
Weak references are not implemented in the version of perl at (eval 13
+) line 1

You do not have Scalar::Util::weaken, cannot continue, aborting.
# Looks like your test died before it could output anything.

[download]

This was puzzling, but I thought "hmm, I must be missing a module." But no, when I do:

$ perl -MCPAN -e shell

cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v1.8)
ReadLine support enabled

cpan>
cpan> install Scalar::Util
CPAN: Storable loaded ok
Going to read /db2/dlink/.cpan/Metadata
  Database was generated on Tue, 13 Dec 2005 01:06:49 GMT
Scalar::Util is up to date.

[download]

Indeed, I found:

$ perl -MScalar::Util -e 'print $Scalar::Util::VERSION'
1.18

[download]

And here is my system-info:

$ perl -v

This is perl, v5.8.7 built for aix

Copyright 1987-2005, Larry Wall

Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License
+ or the
GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5 source ki
+t.

Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found 
+on
this system using `man perl' or `perldoc perl'.  If you have access to
+ the
Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.org/, the Perl Home Pa
+ge.

$ oslevel
5.2.0.0

[download]

Any guidance would be much appreciated!

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Graph 0.69 on AIX
by randyk (Parson) on Dec 13, 2005 at 15:48 UTC
    The relevant section of Graph's Makefile.PL: 
    # Some Debian distributions have a broken List::Util 
# (see rt.cpan.org #9568)
eval 'require Scalar::Util; import Scalar::Util qw(weaken)';
if ($@) {
    die <<__EOF__;
$@
You do not have Scalar::Util::weaken, cannot continue, aborting.
__EOF__
}

    [download]
    and the referenced bug suggests that this check is to detect a broken List::Util installation. Try reinstalling List::Util manually and see if that helps.
[reply]
[d/l]

      Ahh, thanks that does seem to set me on the right path. Wnen I try an install of List::Util I get:

      t/weak..........skipped
        all skipped: weaken requires XS version

      [download]

      The full install log is below, but I'm not sure why I'm not installing the xs version -- the README and perldocs didn't suggest how to do so, and in Makefile.PL I only saw a reference to can_cc(), which I couldn't find any documentation on? Any more guidance on where I could go looking?

      Incidentally, for some silly reason its never occurred to me to look at the *code* that was giving the error, but that'll be a useful thing for debugging installs -- thanks!

      $ perl -w Makefile.PL
Name "Module::Install::AUTOLOAD" used only once: possible typo at inc/
+Module/Install.pm - /home/gbarr/perl/Module/Install.pm line 172.
Subroutine new redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gbarr/p
+erl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 29.
Subroutine AUTOLOAD redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gb
+arr/perl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 47.
Subroutine _top redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gbarr/
+perl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 58.
Subroutine admin redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gbarr
+/perl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 69.
Subroutine is_admin redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gb
+arr/perl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 74.
Subroutine DESTROY redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gba
+rr/perl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 79.
Subroutine new redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gbarr/p
+erl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 84.
Subroutine AUTOLOAD redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gb
+arr/perl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 85.
Subroutine DESTROY redefined at inc/Module/Install/Base.pm - /home/gba
+rr/perl/Module/Install/Base.pm line 86.
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for List::Util
$ make
cp lib/List/Util.pm blib/lib/List/Util.pm
cp lib/Scalar/Util.pm blib/lib/Scalar/Util.pm
/db2blast/Paul/perl5.8.7/bin/perl -Iinc -e 'use ExtUtils::Mksymlists; 
+\
Mksymlists("NAME" => "List::Util", "DL_FUNCS" => {  }, "FUNCLIST" => [
+], "DL_VARS" => []);'
/db2blast/Paul/perl5.8.7/bin/perl -Iinc /db2blast/Paul/perl5.8.7/lib/5
+.8.7/ExtUtils/xsubpp  -typemap /db2blast/Paul/perl5.8.7/lib/5.8.7/Ext
+Utils/typemap  Util.xs > Util.xsc && mv Util.xsc Util.c
gcc -c   -D_ALL_SOURCE -D_ANSI_C_SOURCE -D_POSIX_SOURCE -DUSE_NATIVE_D
+LOPEN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGE_FILES 
+-O   -DVERSION=\"1.18\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.18\"  "-I/db2blast/Paul/perl
+5.8.7/lib/5.8.7/aix/CORE"  -DPERL_EXT Util.c
Running Mkbootstrap for List::Util ()
chmod 644 Util.bs
rm -f blib/arch/auto/List/Util/Util.so
gcc  -Wl,-bhalt:4 -Wl,-bexpall -Wl,-G -Wl,-bnoentry -lc -L/usr/local/l
+ib Util.o  -o blib/arch/auto/List/Util/Util.so    \
        \

chmod 755 blib/arch/auto/List/Util/Util.so
cp Util.bs blib/arch/auto/List/Util/Util.bs
chmod 644 blib/arch/auto/List/Util/Util.bs
Manifying blib/man3/List::Util.3
Manifying blib/man3/Scalar::Util.3
$ make test
PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /db2blast/Paul/perl5.8.7/bin/perl "-MExtUtils::Comma
+nd::MM" "-e" "test_harness(0, 'inc', 'blib/lib', 'blib/arch')" t/*.t
t/00version.....ok
t/blessed.......ok
t/dualvar.......skipped
        all skipped: dualvar requires XS version
t/first.........ok
        2/17 skipped: Poor man's MULTICALL can't cope
t/isvstring.....skipped
        all skipped: isvstring requires XS version
t/lln...........ok
t/max...........ok
t/maxstr........ok
t/min...........ok
t/minstr........ok
t/openhan.......ok
t/p_blessed.....ok
t/p_first.......ok
t/p_lln.........ok
t/p_max.........ok
t/p_maxstr......ok
t/p_min.........ok
t/p_minstr......ok
t/p_openhan.....ok
t/p_readonly....ok
t/p_reduce......ok
t/p_refaddr.....ok
t/p_reftype.....ok
t/p_shuffle.....ok
t/p_sum.........ok
t/p_tainted.....ok
t/proto.........skipped
        all skipped: set_prototype requires XS version
t/readonly......ok
t/reduce........ok
        2/23 skipped: Poor man's MULTICALL can't cope
t/refaddr.......ok
t/reftype.......ok
t/shuffle.......ok
t/sum...........ok
t/tainted.......ok
t/weak..........skipped
        all skipped: weaken requires XS version
All tests successful, 4 tests and 4 subtests skipped.
Files=35, Tests=327,  3 wallclock secs ( 1.52 cusr +  1.49 csys =  3.0
+1 CPU)

      [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
        The full install log is below, but I'm not sure why I'm not installing the xs version -- the README and perldocs didn't suggest how to do so, and in Makefile.PL I only saw a reference to can_cc(), which I couldn't find any documentation on? Any more guidance on where I could go looking?
        The can_cc() routine referenced in the Makefile.PL refers to the included Module::Install::Can (a private helper module). For some reason this fails for you, which is why the XS version wasn't built. You might try building the package as 
        perl Makefile.PL -xs

        [download]
        which should override the setting returned by can_cc().
[reply]
[d/l]

Back to Seekers of Perl Wisdom