It is set to "ask" by default, which for me seems counterintuitive, since the whole point of cpan is to make life easier, and answering yes, yes, yes, yes, yes for prereq after prereq seems not the way to go.

As I recall, when I installed CPAN on my box, it asked me whether I wanted it to ask or follow automatically. The default, if you press return, is ask. So, basically, you are making the decision when you install the CPAN package. Scott