There is a section in the ActivePerl docs entitled "Using PPM", which looks quite helpful. Read the docs (which can be found at http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/docs/ActivePerl/5.8/faq/ActivePerl-faq2.html), play around with the GUI, and let us know if you still have questions. I found the GUI fairly easy to use. Good luck.

Update: please also read "Question" vs "Doubt"

• When the GUI package manager starts up it shows an hour glass for the better part of a minute (with a DSL line). It's resynchronizing, so be patient.
• The 4 little boxes on the upper left that all look alike are the key to navigation. They actually are subtly different, and if you put the mouse over them they will tell you which icon does what. They control what's displayed in the main window. You probably want the left one, which is not the one the program first starts with. The left one is the one that shows all the packages you can download.
• Select a module with the mouse
• Click the first box on the right, where the mouse-over says "Mark for Install"
• Click the green arrow on the right, where the mouse-over says "Run marked actions"
• Wait for the box at the bottom to say "DONE"

You can also use ppm as a DOS command to install a single package, as in

ppm install YAML-Tiny
[download]

The GUI does offer a lot more information about what versions are out there and what versions you already have installed, at the expense of time to resynchronize on loading. However, the interface does take some getting used to, especially since the button icons are so similar to eachother.

I can't see anyplace where the old line-at-a-time DOS interface is still available. Maybe someone else knows that it's still available and where to find it.

If you have repositories other than ActiveState's included, there's a bug which makes installing via a command line such as

   C:\>ppm install Whatever-Package
[download]

not do what you want. Installing via the GUI works OK in this respect.

The old interactive command-line interface isn't available in ppm4. However, you can issue individual sub-commands via a DOS prompt; see

  C:\> ppm help
[download]

for what's available. For example, adding repositories can be done through

  C:\> ppm rep add alias_name http://wherever.org/ppms/
[download]

as well as through the menu Edit -> Preferences -> Repositories of the GUI.

What has worked for me was to first install an earlier version of ActivePerl that contains the command line PPM, then upgrade to the newest ActivePerl. Upgrading to the newest version retains the command line PPM and adds the GUI.

For instance, you could install 5.8.7 build 817 (later versions might still contain the command line PPM, but I know 817 still has it), and then install the most recent version.

In this set up, if you open a command prompt and enter ppm, it will start the GUI PPM and ppm3 will start the command line version.

Cheers,

Brent

When you have figured out how to install modules using the GUI ppm you should write it up and reply to Holli's node. It may even be that Holli will add the material as an update to his node.

You do realise that not all CPAN modules are available through ppm repositories don't you?