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

I've just gotten OSX, and so I'm still learning my way around it.. its my first real in-depth experience with any *nix machine. I want to install a perl module (Net::Telnet), and I've got it downloaded, and then I proceed to do the 'perl Makefile.PL' step, but, I get an error message:

Error: Unable to locate installed Perl libraries or Perl source code.

It is recommended that you install perl in a standard location before building extensions. Some precompiled versions of perl do not contain these header files, so you cannot build extensions. In such a case, please build and install your perl from a fresh perl distribution. It usually solves this kind of problem.

(You get this message, because MakeMaker could not find "/System/Library/Perl/darwin/CORE/perl.h")
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So, my question is this: How can I get perl.h and install it to get rid of the error msg, or how/where do I get a new distribution of perl for OSX? I've gone to apple's website, and also cpan, but they say that OSX ships with the latest version of perl. Apparently that isn't the case here?

Advice/encouragement is welcome =)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perl and OSX
by Trimbach (Curate) on Apr 06, 2001 at 01:49 UTC
    First off, you ought to investigate the excellent CPAN.pm to help automate module installation. It really does take a lot of the drudgery out of the whole process.

    Mac OS X indeed comes installed with Perl 5.6... your problem may be related to a flaw in your main Perl installation, or it could simply be that you aren't installing as root. If you are relatively new to UNIX-think, generally you have to be logged in as root (aka the "superuser") in order to compile and install new programs. One way to do this is to simply type "su root". The system will ask for your root user password, and then you should be able to compile and install to your heart's delight.

    It's possible that the "root" user account on your machine hasn't been enabled yet... if so you can enable it through the NetInfo program in the utilities folder in applications IIRC. (I didn't have to enable it, but then I had previously installed the Public Beta.)

    If you're still having trouble let us know and we'll see what the deal is.

    Gary Blackburn
    Trained Killer

[reply]
      Update
      Turns out the basic OSX install is actually incomplete... its only with the addition of the developer cd that extra binaries are added (autoconf, make, about 100+), and the extra perl headers, libraries and extra whatnot are added in. Its fixed ALL my problems, so if anyone else has problems w/OSX.. just install the developer's kit!
      Thanks to everyone who offered advice, I appreciate it =)


      The status of things so far...

      Running it as root gives the same error message. However, I did actually take the time to go check the /System/Library/Perl/darwin/CORE/perl.h path... and there is no Perl directory under the /System/Library directory.

      In between checking responses here, I'm combing through Apple's help forums to see if there's any info about the Perl installation there. I went to perl.com, but looking for any files there took me to that same ports page on CPAN telling me that OSX has the latest perl on it.

      So all I've got so far is its not a module issue (I learned all about modules when I first signed up to this site....), nor a permissions situation, but something with the perl files itself. Bah, humbug! =)
[reply]
        Well, if you don't have a /System/Library/Perl directory then you've got big problems. I just checked my installation and I've got one... you may need to do a recompile of Perl from source, as it is extremely unlikely that you'll be able to find a binary anywhere. The good news is that the BSD layer may take Perl without a hitch... the bad news is that you may learn a alot about compiling in the process. :-P

        Gary Blackburn
        Trained Killer

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Re: Perl and OSX
by fpi (Monk) on Apr 06, 2001 at 02:08 UTC
    Trimbach is right - I used CPAN and installed Net::Telnet on my OSX machine with no problem. Here's what I did:

    1. su to root, first by setting a password using the netinfo method, the sudo method, or any of the other methods
    2. type perl -MCPAN -e shell
    3. if this is the first time to run CPAN, you will be asked a bunch of configuration questions. All defaults seemed to work ok for me, but I changed the cache location from /var/root/.cpan to /private/var/root/.cpan, but I don't know if that is necessary
    4. when you get to the CPAN prompt, type install Bundle::libnet, which includes Net::Telnet

    I also successfully (?) installed Bundle::CPAN (i.e.updated CPAN), libwww-perl (which includes LWP), and DBI so far. And I followed larsen's suggestion to join the OSX-perl mailing list, which is a good place to ask if anyone else successfully installed a particular module.

    By the way, I'm using a fresh installation of OSX, with no alterations to perl...update: I should add that I did install the developer's CD also...

    Hope this helps...
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      It does! Thanks so much... I'll love having an easy way to install modules after I get the rest of the problem cleared up. Thanks!
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Re: Perl and OSX
by ChemBoy (Priest) on Apr 06, 2001 at 07:12 UTC

    I haven't gotten up the nerve to get the real deal yet, but I remember in the Beta I had some issues with Perl that magically disappeared when I installed the Development Tools--have you done that? It might randomly solve your problems, too. :-)

    And you'll need the development tools (gcc, make et al) if you want to build it from the source, which you can find right here (or more conventionally by poking around http://www.opensource.apple.com).

    Good luck!

    --Ben

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Re: Perl and OSX
by larsen (Parson) on Apr 06, 2001 at 01:50 UTC
    My first advice is to join this mailing list.
    There's enough traffic about module installation.
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