Problems with Configuring PPM and Module Installations on Win XP-64 after Win XP

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

I've spent the last couple of hours trying to get PPM working right but I seem to be totally confused.

I tried pointing to what I thought was the right location for the PPM packages but I would never find anything. I also need "Tk" but it only seems to be available via a .zip package... and some of the more unusual packages I need don't seem to be available at all (for example "Tk-JComboBox").

Proxies are all Ok and I have a PC where everything works Ok on the 5.8.x repositories.

Some details:

I have an ActiveState installation of Perl running under Windows XP SP2; it reports itself as "v5.8.7 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread". The standard/normal PPM repositories are found/set-up Ok, viz:

    Name: ActiveState Package Repository<p>
Location: http://ppm.ActiveState.com/PPM/ppmserver-5.8-windows.plex?ur
+n:/PPM/Server/SQL<p>
    Type: PPMServer 3.0<p>

    Name: ActiveState PPM2 Repository<p>
Location: http://ppm.ActiveState.com/cgibin/PPM/ppmserver-5.8-windows.
+pl?urn:/PPMServer<p>
    Type: PPMServer 2.0<p>
[download]

...and they allow me to search/install packages Ok, with all dependencies, etc.

I have installed the "PPM Profile" module/application so I can get a list of the packages I have installed on this PC.

I would like to replicate all this on a new PC that is running Windows XP-64. I understand my options would be to use a 5.8.x or a 5.10.x release... but in both cases, they don't appear to include the Tk module in the standard distribution.. and some modules don't seem to exist even as .zip packages.

As aluded to before, I've tried installing both of these versions on the Win XP-64 system but I can't get the PPM repositiories accessible/working and I can't run any of the compiled applications to work as .exes (understandable, considering they were built on Win32 and I'm trying to run them on Win XP-64).

Just seeing if someone might be able to provide some clues on what path I need to set in PPM for the repositories... and if Tk is available as a direct module rather than as a .zip package... and if I can somehow pre-check to see if there are any Win XP-64 versions of the modules I'm using already, as some of the applications I've developed may not work on this Win XP-64 system.

Many thanks for any forthcoming info.

Comment on Problems with Configuring PPM and Module Installations on Win XP-64 after Win XP Download Code

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Re: Problems with Configuring PPM and Module Installations on Win XP-64 after Win XP by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on May 14, 2009 at 03:38 UTC
The only 64-bit repository I know of is the active state one (Note: the x64 in the url): `ppm> repo describe 1 Id: 1 Name: ActiveState Package Repository URL: http://ppm4.activestate.com/MSWin32-x64/5.10/1004/package.xml Enabled: yes Last-Status: 200 OK Last-Access: 1 week and 2 days ago Refresh-In: overdue Last-Modified: 1 week and 3 days ago` [download] It currently lists a fairly small selection of CPAN which does not yet appear to include the Tk base package: ppm> search tk Downloading ActiveState Package Repository packlist...done Updating ActiveState Package Repository database...done 1: Apache-AuthTkt 2.1 2: Catalyst-Authentication-AuthTkt 0.10 3: Catalyst-Plugin-Authentication-AuthTkt 0.02 4: PDF-Tk 0.02 5: Tie-Hash-StructKeyed 0.04 6: Tie-ListKeyedHash 1.02 7: Tk-Browser 0.82b 8: Tk-DirSelect 1.03 9: Tk-FileDialog 1.3 10: Tk-Getopt 0.50 11: Tk-Image-Calculation 0.04 12: Tk-LineGraphDataset 0.01 13: Tk-ObjectHandler 0.03 14: Tk-SelFile 0.02 15: Tk-SignalSlot 0.1 16: Tk-WaitBox 1.3 17: Tk-Workspace 1.75 18: VBTK 0.20 19: clickTk 4.013 20: oEdtk 0.41776w 21: ptkFAQ 0_03 22: ptkftp 1.00 23: vptk_w_2 38b [download] I suspect that it, in common with quite a few other modules with XS components and/or C library dependancies, will require considerable work by knowledgable people to make it 64-bit compatible. You should note that it is perfectly fine to install and use the 32-bit AS distributions under XP-64. Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. "Too many [] have been sedated by an oppressive environment of political correctness and risk aversion."	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Problems with Configuring PPM and Module Installations on Win XP-64 after Win XP by syphilis (Archbishop) on May 14, 2009 at 04:54 UTC
I would like to replicate all this on a new PC that is running Windows XP-64 Easiest way to do that is to run, on your Win XP-64 box, a perl that was "built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread". That doesn't give you an x64 build of perl, but it does work fine on your Win XP-64 box, and it does allow you to easily achieve the replication you seek. I saw a post from Jan Dubois recently, indicating that the PPM repository will soon be expanded - but, as BrowserUk pointed out, that repository is currently very limited. If you have ActiveState's x64 build of Perl, you could install the Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2 compiler and try building Tk form source. Out of curiosity, I'm building Tk-804.027_500 with that 64-bit compiler for x64 ActivePerl right now. The build process ran for a while, but has just terminated with `c:\_32\comp\Tk-804.027_500\PNG\zlib\zconf.h(289) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'unistd.h': No such file or directory`. I have to head off to work - I don't have time to even think about that error at the moment. Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Problems with Configuring PPM and Module Installations on Win XP-64 after Win XP by syphilis (Archbishop) on May 15, 2009 at 09:53 UTC
you could install the Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2 compiler and try building Tk form source I have (just now) managed to build Tk-804.028 for MSWin32-x64-multi-thread. If the op wants a ppm I could try emailing it over - it's about 5Mb. In tkGlue.c I had to change the one occurrence of: `#if USE_NEWSTYLE_REGEXP_STRUCT` [download] to `#if 1` [download] Other than that, I had to manually code in some 'bufferoverflowU.lib' links into the generated PNG/zlib/Makefile and also the generated JPEG/jpeg/Makefile to accommodate the fucking bufferoverlfowU.lib dependency. (I believe the bufferoverlowU.lib dependency won't be an issue with some compilers - but it's certainly an issue with mine. An intelligent being would be able to modify the Tk source to accommodate that dependency ... but not me.) All of the tests passed - though, I had to manually code in a link to 'bufferoverflowU.lib' in the generated PNG/libpng/Makefile in order for one test to build. UPDATE: Ditto for the latest devel Tk-804.028_501 Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Problems with Configuring PPM and Module Installations on Win XP-64 after Win XP by Marshall (Canon) on May 14, 2009 at 03:42 UTC
I am no expert on Win XP-64, but I understand that there is some kind of mode that can say "X" is a Win-32 app and you can run in some kind of compatibility mode. Most 64 bit boxes are pretty fast critters and if the 32 bit version is adequate for you, this could be an option.	[reply]
Re: Problems with Configuring PPM and Module Installations on Win XP-64 after Win XP by ozboomer (Friar) on May 18, 2009 at 22:35 UTC
Many thanks for everyone's useful suggestions. >> I would like to replicate all this on a new >> PC that is running Windows XP-64 > > Easiest way to do that is to run, on your Win XP-64 > box, a perl that was "built for > MSWin32-x86-multi-thread". That doesn't give you an > x64 build of perl, but it does work fine on your > Win XP-64 box, and it does allow you to easily achieve > the replication you seek. This is what I ended-up doing in my case... and everything is working a treat. I mainly use Perl for some sysadmin jobs on the PC and I don't really need to take advantage of the x64 things... so running the Win32 version is all that's necessary. Again, many thanks for the assistance.	[reply]