own search.cpan.org

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

Hi,

More of a sysadmin question this time, but certainly related to perl..

We are behind several firewalls and some servers do not even have access to outside via proxy. We do already have a cpan-mirror inside here and it works fine.

Now we want to install some of the cpan modules as RPMs. I found cpan2rpm to be a nice tool to convert cpan modules directly from cpan into rpms, but after some tests I found out that it makes heavy use of the URL http://search.cpan.org... a real showstopper :-(

Now - does anybody here know how to make one's own search.cpan.... mirror? Is it possible and - is it feasible? Or are there some other usable tools out there (besides cpanflute2) that might work for me instead?

Any ideas and comments greatly appreciated.

Regards,
svenXY

Comment on own search.cpan.org

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Re: own search.cpan.org by Corion (Patriarch) on Mar 18, 2009 at 14:54 UTC
You can easily create and maintain your own copy of CPAN using CPAN::Mini, and if you want an actual http://search.cpan.org, or something that closely resembles it, have a look at CPAN::Mini::Webserver. You might also want to look at whether you need to reconfigure your `CPAN` configuration to use your local repository instead of `http://search.cpan.org`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: own search.cpan.org by perrin (Chancellor) on Mar 18, 2009 at 16:37 UTC
Check out cpan2dist as an alternative.	[reply]
Re^2: own search.cpan.org by svenXY (Deacon) on Mar 19, 2009 at 11:23 UTC
Hi, thanks for all the suggestions. cpan2dist (which - for reference - comes with CPANPLUS) seemd to be the best choice as it saves me the hassle of creating all those indices... But unfortunately, I run into this error: # cpan2dist --format CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM --skiptest Net::Ping [MSG] No '/root/.cpanplus/custom-sources' dir, skipping custom sources [MSG] dry-run prepare with makemaker... Running [/usr/bin/perl /usr/bin/cpanp-run-perl /root/.cpanplus/5.8.8/b +uild/Net-Ping-2.35/Makefile.PL ]... Writing Makefile for Net::Ping [MSG] writing specfile for 'CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM=HASH(0x81b8330)->distn +ame'... [MSG] specfile for 'Net-Ping' written [MSG] dry-run build with makemaker... [MSG] Module 'Net::Ping' depends on 'Test', may need to build a 'CPANP +LUS::Dist::RPM' package for it as well [MSG] Building 'Net-Ping' from specfile /usr/src/redhat/perl-Net-Ping. +spec... Dist creation of 'Net::Ping' failed: 'Can't locate object method "spec +path" via package "CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM" at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/CPANPLUS/Dist/RPM.pm line 338. ' at /usr/bin/cpan2dist line 372. [download] of which I do not know how to proceed. I did a full install of Bundle::CPANPLUS and of CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM. I have the strong feeling that it is already wrong where it says `CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM=HASH(0x81b8330)->distname`, but I am not skilled enough to know how to proceed from there... Regards, svenXY	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: own search.cpan.org by jethro (Monsignor) on Mar 20, 2009 at 13:47 UTC
Got a similar result on my machine: > cpan2dist --format CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM --skiptest Net::Ping [MSG] No '/mnt/a/holger/.cpanplus/custom-sources' dir, skipping custom + sources [MSG] No '/mnt/a/holger/.cpanplus/custom-sources' dir, skipping custom + sources [MSG] No '/mnt/a/holger/.cpanplus/custom-sources' dir, skipping custom + sources [MSG] dry-run prepare with makemaker... Running [/usr/local/bin/perl /usr/local/bin/cpanp-run-perl /mnt/a/holg +er/.cpanplus/5.8.8/build/Net-Ping-2.35/Makefile.PL ]... Checking if your kit is complete... Looks good Writing Makefile for Net::Ping [MSG] writing specfile for 'CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM=HASH(0x50c0790)->distn +ame'... [MSG] specfile for 'Net-Ping' written [MSG] dry-run build with makemaker... [MSG] Module 'Net::Ping' depends on 'Test', may need to build a 'CPANP +LUS::Dist::RPM' package for it as well [MSG] Building 'Net-Ping' from specfile /mnt/a/holger/perl/perl-Net-Pi +ng.spec... [ERROR] Failed to create RPM package for 'Net-Ping': error: bad date i +n %changelog: Fr Mär 20 2009 %{packager} 2.35-0 [ERROR] Unable to create a new distribution object for 'Net::Ping' -- +cannot continue [download] Contacting the author of CPANPLUS::Dist::RPM might be a good idea	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: own search.cpan.org by svenXY (Deacon) on Mar 23, 2009 at 09:33 UTC
Re: own search.cpan.org by Anonymous Monk on Mar 18, 2009 at 14:59 UTC
Wouldn't it make more sense to patch cpan2rpm instead? http://search.cpan.org/dist/CPAN-Search-Lite-0.76/	[reply]
Re^2: own search.cpan.org by Anonymous Monk on Mar 18, 2009 at 15:03 UTC
I think so, using Parse::CPAN::Distributions or Parse::CPAN::Packages instead of relying on search.cpan.org.	[reply]
Re: own search.cpan.org by svenXY (Deacon) on Mar 23, 2009 at 13:13 UTC
Hi, fixed it since ;-). The module will now act properly if --skiptest is set. Also sent this to http://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=44424, but the site seems to be down currently. Here's the patch, for those who are interested Read more... (2 kB) Regards, svenXY	[reply] [d/l]