Indigoperl and CPAN

gsd4me has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear all, Can anyone hep me PLEASE? I have indigoperl installed on my W-Vista machine as I liked the way that the Apache server came with it and I find the whole package easy to use. However, I cannot find a way to install CPAN-based modules. I want to install MATH::Random::MT::Perl, available from the CPAN site I have downloaded the tar.gz file from the CPAN site, unzipped it and tried to use the IPM command from the command line. I have tried the IPM command to access the CPAN site I have tried the IndigoPerl Console (a GUI interface) but cannot find a way to access the package I want. As I acces the internet through a firewall, I have set the proxy port as the indigoperl documentation says I have now run out of ideas to install the package I need. I have contacted the company but they have not had the manners to reply. I have searched the web but to no avail I have looked at indigoperl's help files but they are as useful as a one-armed trombone player Can anyone hep me with an idiot's guide as to how to install a package for indigoperl?

Comment on Indigoperl and CPAN

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Re: Indigoperl and CPAN by syphilis (Archbishop) on May 14, 2009 at 01:30 UTC
I've never used IndigoPerl, and I don't know what IPM is, but I suspect it is the equivalent of ActivePerl's PPM - ie it's meant to install pre-compiled binaries, not CPAN source tarballs. To build MATH::Random::MT::Perl from CPAN source, cd to the top-level folder of the MATH-Random-MT-Perl tar.gz file that you unpacked and run: perl Makefile.PL then make test then make install But, instead of specifying 'make' in the above commands, use whatever it is that 'perl -V:make' reports. (I'm guessing that will be 'nmake'.) Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re: Indigoperl and CPAN by John M. Dlugosz (Monsignor) on May 13, 2009 at 21:02 UTC
If you downloaded the tar.gz file, try extracting it and using the Makefile stuff there. (I don't know what IPM is. I'm guessing its an installer for that platform? CPAN uses its own installer)	[reply]
Re^2: Indigoperl and CPAN by Anonymous Monk on May 14, 2009 at 04:54 UTC
Indigo Package Manager (IPM) for installing pre-built binary Perl modules from repositories.	[reply]
Re^3: Indigoperl and CPAN by John M. Dlugosz (Monsignor) on May 15, 2009 at 17:43 UTC
Ah, like PPM from ActiveState. Well, I would not expect it to work on a CPAN package.	[reply]
Re: Indigoperl and CPAN by gsd4me (Beadle) on May 14, 2009 at 11:47 UTC
Rob ("syphilis") Got past the first stage - then the 'perl -v:make' returned name as you correctly guessed, then tried 'nmake test' and it was reported that "nmake is not recogniszed as an internal, external command, operable program or bathc file". I would guess that I don't have "nmake" on my machine I forgot to mention in my original post that I don't have Microsoft DevStudio on my machine, nor a C compiler, which I have read are sometimes pre-requirements for installing modules for indigoperl. Apologies - IPM is indeed the equivalent of PPM	[reply]
Re^2: Indigoperl and CPAN by syphilis (Archbishop) on May 14, 2009 at 12:25 UTC
I would guess that I don't have "nmake" on my machine Yes - at least nmake.exe is not in your path. Nmake comes with MS compilers, and there are free versions of the Microsoft Visual Studio Compiler available that would give you fairly good mileage - best mileage would come from using the same version that Indigo used to build perl. Running `perl -V:ccversion` will give you the version number. (I'd be interested to know what that outputs on IndigoPerl.) For ActivePerl it reports '12.00.8804', which is Visual Studio 6.0. Other options include using the freely available 'dmake' and 'MinGW' port of the gcc compiler, in conjunction with ExtUtils::FakeConfig. Which path do you want to pursue first - being able to build modules from source, or getting IPM functioning ? Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Indigoperl and CPAN by holli (Abbot) on May 16, 2009 at 03:57 UTC
Even when there is no "cpan" command (did you try?), the CPAN modules might be installed. You can try running the CPAN shell by typing `perl -MCPAN -e shell` on the command line. That won't save you from the need of getting a "make", however. holli When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's difficult to remember that your original purpose was to drain the swamp.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Indigoperl and CPAN by gsd4me (Beadle) on May 15, 2009 at 10:24 UTC
Rob Managed to track down the free downloadable version of nmake from the Microsoft site, installed it and I have now managed to install the package I wanted. FYI , the ccversion that Indigoperl returns is the same as you quoted in your posting, 12.00.8804 Many thanks for your help in getting this to work for me.	[reply]