Re: Dedicated/Managed host ... install CPAN mods as root?

If you can live with the versions of the modules that come with the system's package management, I'd go with that — it's usually the easiest way. If you need/want bleeding edge versions which in turn might require bleeding edge versions of other modules already installed with the system, there's the potential risk of destabilizing system tools that rely on the specific Perl that's originally shipped with the system, in case you simply install those newer versions over the existing ones... (installing your own stuff (with all its incompatible dependencies) into a separate directory is fine, though).

In such cases, I usually compile/install my own Perl under /usr/local, so I can mess with it at free will, without interfering with the system Perl. You'd then install modules via the cpan shell. And use lib ... isn't required in this case, because the perl binary under /usr/local already knows where to look for its modules...

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Re^2: Dedicated/Managed host ... install CPAN mods as root? by Fletch (Bishop) on Mar 09, 2009 at 16:42 UTC
Not much more to add, but chiming in with a hearty "seconded". It's much safer to have your own separate "application" perl (which can be owned by a non-privileged user if you so desire) and don't touch the OS' copy. You'll be more than glad you took the 15-20 minutes it takes to build `/usr/local/perl-5.10.0` when you realize after updating things that the package manager would have rolled you back to `Foo-0.31` despite your having upgraded to `Foo-0.42` and you've saved at least that much time not having to diagnose that (to say nothing of the next n times something similar is going to happen; or of the flexibility you get by being able to move to 5.10.1 6 months before your OS finally gets 5.8.9). The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie.	[reply] [d/l] [select]

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Re^2: Dedicated/Managed host ... install CPAN mods as root?
by Fletch (Bishop) on Mar 09, 2009 at 16:42 UTC

Not much more to add, but chiming in with a hearty "seconded". It's much safer to have your own separate "application" perl (which can be owned by a non-privileged user if you so desire) and don't touch the OS' copy.

You'll be more than glad you took the 15-20 minutes it takes to build /usr/local/perl-5.10.0 when you realize after updating things that the package manager would have rolled you back to Foo-0.31 despite your having upgraded to Foo-0.42 and you've saved at least that much time not having to diagnose that (to say nothing of the next n times something similar is going to happen; or of the flexibility you get by being able to move to 5.10.1 6 months before your OS finally gets 5.8.9).

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

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