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

I've been away from perl for a couple of years and I now need to start using it again. I've downloaded Active State v5.10 and all seems to be working OK but I am having problems trying to find / install non standard modules. When I previously used perl I used ppm to install modules I required. Then, as far as I remember it was a command line interface. Now when I type ppm at the DOS prompt I get a gui for the PPM . It shows me 87 packages currently installed. However I cannot connect to an external repository to retrieve new packages due to our company firewall not allowing it. I have been on to CPAN to try to retrieve the package I require (currently just Spreadsheet::ParseExcel but there are going to be others in the future) but I can only find a .tar.gz file - nothing that looks like it is for windows. Could someone please give me an idiots guide as to what would be the easiest general method for installing non core modules given that I can't use ppm ? Thanks
  • Comment on Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10

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Re: Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10
by marto (Cardinal) on Jul 16, 2009 at 09:41 UTC

    You could download the Module-Name.ppd file after seaching repositories online (See PPM::Repositories or searching via Google) and install via:

    C:\location_of_ppd_file\ppm install --location=. Module-Name

    Perhaps reading A guide to installing modules for Win32 from the tutorials section would be worth while.

    Apparently you can use cpan from Active State Perl.

    I tend to carry a mini Cpan Mirror around with me, see CPAN::Mini, which is often very helpful.

    Hope this helps

    Martin

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Re: Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10
by Bloodnok (Vicar) on Jul 16, 2009 at 10:11 UTC
    Further to the splendid suggestions offered up by marto, Installing CPAN modules without using 'ppm' looks as tho' it might have some information of interest to you (found by googling for 'cpan to ppd' - seeing if I could find a translation method coz I'm sure I've done it before but can't remember a damn thing about it:-)).

    Update:

    Aha !!!

    Having nothing better to do ... at the moment, I invested a little more brain searching & browsing and methinx this will/should answer the question - as to how to build an ActiveState compatible package from a CPAN format library.

    A user level that continues to overstate my experience :-))
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Re: Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10
by cdarke (Prior) on Jul 16, 2009 at 11:03 UTC
    SirClive, .tar.gz files are the norm on CPAN, but can be extracted using Winzip. Just try downloading them and double-click from Windows Explorer. Warning: for some reason the "file extension" is sometimes altered on download from .tar.gz to .tar.tar, so you might have to rename the file after downloading.

    (just plain)Clive
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Re: Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10
by VinsWorldcom (Prior) on Jul 16, 2009 at 12:09 UTC

    You should still be able to use 'ppm install <modulename>' from the command line. 'ppm' with no arguments will launch the GUI. I had to get used to the same thing - I believe it started in 5.8.8.

    As far as getting PPM modules, try this link:

    http://ppm.activestate.com/PPMPackages/zips/10xx-builds-only/Windows/

    You can also download the tar.gz from CPAN and use NMAKE.EXE. Just follow the instructions in the readme, usually: 

    perl Makefile.PL
nmake
nmake install

    [download]

    Notice 'make' is replaced with 'nmake' when you're doing this on Windows. You can get NMAKE.EXE from:

    http://download.microsoft.com/download/vc15/patch/1.52/w95/en-us/nmake15.exe

    Note this may make your PPM repository out of sync with what you've actually installed since you are installing some packages without PPM.

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Re: Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10
by mje (Curate) on Jul 16, 2009 at 12:09 UTC

    If you install MinGW you can install from CPAN even modules containing XS c code.

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Re: Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10
by clp (Friar) on Jul 16, 2009 at 17:09 UTC

    I used Active State Perl about 8-9 years ago, and ran into similar problems. I later began using Cygwin on my Windows systems, which allowed me to use Perl in that environment much like I used it on Linux: CPAN worked as expected.

    If you have (or want to gain) experience with *ix o/s's, and can invest some up-front time to install and learn Cygwin (it brings its own issues and incompatibilities), you might find it time well spent.

    Cygwin has improved greatly over the years, and brings many benefits beyond CPAN for Perl. Eg, having sshd running on Cygwin+Windows, for remote access to multiple rxvt+bash+vim windows, is a productive environment for me to develop and debug Perl. This approach makes it easier to use the Linux machines that I use (fewer mental context switches needed).

    One note: Using Cygwin can lead to spending less time and money on Windows-only s/w, tools, and technology.

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      Many thanks for all of the useful information. I am originally from a unix background ( I spent 15 years working with mostly Solaris, but some HP-UX and Linux) so am familiar with cygwin. At the moment I have to hot-desk so I am trying to find a solution which involves the minimum installation of additional software. I'll try out all of the suggestions and see which is best for me and report back in case anyone else has the same problem
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Re: Problems installing new Modules for ActiveState v 5.10
by Anonymous Monk on Jul 16, 2009 at 15:11 UTC
    this also works on windows: c:\perl -MCPAN -e "install Module::Name"
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