Installing CPAN module with histfile permission error

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

Dear Masters,
Generally I have no problem in installing a CPAN module in my home directory. But in this particular server I encounter this error.

[myname@somehost ~]$ cpan
CPAN: File::HomeDir loaded ok

cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v1.87)
ReadLine support enabled

cpan> install Some::Module

CPAN: Storable loaded ok
mkdir /tmp/.cpan/sources: Permission denied at /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/CP
+AN.pm line 2541
Couldn't open >/tmp/.cpan/histfile: Permission denied
Couldn't open >/tmp/.cpan/histfile: Permission deniedCouldn't open >/t
+mp/.cpan/histfile: Permission denied
[download]

Can anybody suggest how to go about this? And my MyConfig.pm looks like this:

# This is CPAN.pm's systemwide configuration file. This file provides
# defaults for users, and the values can be changed in a per-user
# configuration file. The user-config file is being looked for as
# ~/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm.

$CPAN::Config = {
  'build_cache' => q[10],
  'build_dir' => q[/tmp/.cpan/build],
  'bzip2' => q[/usr/bin/bzip2],
  'cache_metadata' => q[1],
  'cpan_home' => q[/home/myname/.cpan],
  'curl' => q[/usr/bin/curl],
  'dontload_hash' => {  },
  'ftp' => q[/usr/kerberos/bin/ftp],
  'ftp_passive' => q[1],
  'ftp_proxy' => q[],
  'getcwd' => q[cwd],
  'gpg' => q[/usr/bin/gpg],
  'gzip' => q[/bin/gzip],
  'histfile' => q[/tmp/.cpan/histfile],
  'histsize' => q[100],
  'http_proxy' => q[],
  'inactivity_timeout' => q[0],
  'index_expire' => q[1],
  'inhibit_startup_message' => q[0],
  'keep_source_where' => q[/tmp/.cpan/sources],
  'lynx' => q[/usr/bin/lynx],
  'make' => q[/usr/bin/make],
  'make_arg' => q[],
  'make_install_arg' => q[],
  'make_install_make_command' => q[/usr/bin/make],
  'makepl_arg' => q[ PREFIX=/home/myname],
  'mbuild_arg' => q[],
  'mbuild_install_arg' => q[],
  'mbuild_install_build_command' => q[./Build],
  'mbuildpl_arg' => q[],
  'ncftpget' => q[/usr/bin/ncftpget],
  'no_proxy' => q[],
  'pager' => q[/usr/bin/less],
  'prefer_installer' => q[EUMM],
  'prerequisites_policy' => q[follow],
  'scan_cache' => q[atstart],
  'shell' => q[/bin/bash],
  'show_upload_date' => q[1],
  'tar' => q[/bin/tar],
  'term_is_latin' => q[1],
  'unzip' => q[/usr/bin/unzip],
  'urllist' => [q[ftp://ftp.oss.eznetsols.org/cpan], q[ftp://mirror.av
+erse.net/pub/CPAN]],
  'wget' => q[/usr/bin/wget],
};
1;
[download]

---
neversaint and everlastingly indebted.......

Comment on Installing CPAN module with histfile permission error Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Installing CPAN module with histfile permission error by liverpole (Monsignor) on Aug 18, 2006 at 10:37 UTC
Hi neversaint, Is it just an issue of file permissions, perhaps? The line: Couldn't open >/tmp/.cpan/histfile: Permission denied seems to indicate that you simply can't write to the file "histfile" in your .cpan directory. Please check both the ownership and permissions of the file and its parent directories, with these commands: `[myname@somehost ~]$ ls -ld /tmp [myname@somehost ~]$ ls -ld /tmp/.cpan [myname@somehost ~]$ ls -l /tmp/.cpan/histfile` [download] It's likely a fix as easy as something like: [myname@somehost ~]$ chown -R /tmp/.cpan `whoami` [myname@somehost ~]$ chmod -R u+rwx /tmp/.cpan [download] s''(q.S:$/9=(T1';s;(..)(..);$..=substr+crypt($1,$2),2,3;eg;print$..$/	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Installing CPAN module with histfile permission error by davorg (Chancellor) on Aug 18, 2006 at 10:23 UTC
Your username shouldn't really have rights to install modules into the central library repository, so it looks like this server is configured correctly (and I'd be a bit worried about the ones where you can install modules like this!) You either need root permissions to install modules into the central library (I like to use 'sudo' for this) or you can install modules into a local library and use the appropriate "use lib" line. Update: Hmm... re-reading your post I see there's a specific problem with /tmp/.cpan. Perhaps someone else has been installing modules on that server and has left that directory with problematic permissions. I suggest either removing or renaming that directory (you'll probably need to be root to do that) and trying again. -- <http://dave.org.uk> "The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club." -- Chip Salzenberg	[reply]
Re: Installing CPAN module with histfile permission error by gellyfish (Monsignor) on Aug 18, 2006 at 10:23 UTC
I would suggest changing the CPAN 'home' directory to somewhere you have write permission. In the CPAN shell do: `cpan> o conf cpan_home /your/path/of/choice/.cpan cpan> o conf commit` [download] /J\	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Installing CPAN module with histfile permission error by izut (Chaplain) on Aug 18, 2006 at 10:56 UTC
Actually the problem is here: `'histfile' => q[/tmp/.cpan/histfile],` [download] Change the options are pointing to `/tmp` to somewhere like `/home/user/tmp` or like. Igor 'izut' Sutton your code, your rules.	[reply] [d/l] [select]