CPAN Alternatives

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

Probably a stupid question but: Is there an alternative to CPAN?

I cannot access CPAN from work, and it sucks because the IT folks don't understand why... (It used to work, I've complained repeatedly, and still... nothing... ) apparently it is not blocked content, but simply attempting to access it causes a Network Error while connecting with the DNS server.

So when I want to DL this or that Perl package, or read CPAN's help on a given module, I can't.

Sigh... ...weep for me...

After searching dozens of sites, I think I'm just screwed...

PS> I use perl on redhat most commonly, on PC's I've been able to get to Activestate's website okay, and they have an assortment of packages... though not all that interest me...)

Comment on CPAN Alternatives

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Re: CPAN Alternatives by marto (Cardinal) on Oct 07, 2010 at 15:21 UTC
At home (or somewhere else from where you can access cpan) use minicpan to make a mirror of CPAN which you can keep on CD/DVD/USB memory stick etc. I don't leave home without it :) You could even host it on a computer at work, which would be handy if you wanted to be able to use access it from various machines. Once a module is installed you can access the documentation via perldoc: `perldoc CGI::Application` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: CPAN Alternatives by ptum (Priest) on Oct 07, 2010 at 17:49 UTC
Yes, I use minicpan. Originally, I ran the minicpan script and created a copy on my home server, then copied the gzipped 'MIRROR' to a work server via my laptop (it only uses about 1GB, as I recall). Problem was, my copy would get stale and I would forget to update it. Eventually, I got external access to one of the CPAN mirrors from a single server in my work network, and so now I run minicpan from there daily, and host the CPAN from that single work server for all the others. No good deed goes unpunished. -- (attributed to) Oscar Wilde	[reply]
Re: CPAN Alternatives by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Oct 07, 2010 at 16:16 UTC
I've found that Kobe Search usually works when search.cpan.org isn't playing ball.	[reply]
Re: CPAN Alternatives by JavaFan (Canon) on Oct 07, 2010 at 15:47 UTC
I cannot access CPAN from work, and it sucks because the IT folks don't understand why... (It used to work, I've complained repeatedly, and still... nothing... ) apparently it is not blocked content, but simply attempting to access it causes a Network Error while connecting with the DNS server. Use of one the gazillion mirrors? or read CPAN's help on a given module, I can't. Well, if you have the package installed, you have the manual page. No need for the network then!	[reply]
Re: CPAN Alternatives by AndyZaft (Hermit) on Oct 07, 2010 at 16:33 UTC
If it is DNS connection problems, you can always try something along the lines of forcing /etc/hosts to be the first step and add cpan as a record in there. Other things that pop to mind are tunneling connections, perhaps use of outside public dns servers (these usually get blocked by firewalls fast with an apt sysadmin), downloading manually the pakcages then install locally...	[reply]
Re^2: CPAN Alternatives by raybies (Chaplain) on Oct 07, 2010 at 19:05 UTC
Because of the sensitive nature of my job, any attempts to get around failures in the network will probably result in job termination. So yeah, not gonna attempt that, cuz even if a non-adept admin lets it go for a while, eventually someone does and then they freak and blow things out of purportion, etc, etc, etc. I think I'm gonna look into the feasibility of minicpan... it just seems like a hassle, but then, my employers would say that's a good thing.	[reply]
Re^3: CPAN Alternatives by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Oct 07, 2010 at 20:04 UTC
If it's really just a DNS problem, use the ip address (194.106.223.155) rather than the domain name directly in your browser.	[reply]
Re^3: CPAN Alternatives by AndyZaft (Hermit) on Oct 07, 2010 at 20:52 UTC
Right, that's understandable. Although if the sysadmin staff is pathetically sad and they come to you for how to do this or that (I'm sure it happened to many of us before) you always have the option to help them out and figure it out why it fails. Now this is not a slight towards your place of work, but what gets me is that they do all kind of security measures that are more or less effective against script kiddies, yet they have no problems with me bringing in a 8G thumb drive and just putting on whatever I want on any machine.	[reply]
Re: CPAN Alternatives by aquarium (Curate) on Oct 08, 2010 at 04:44 UTC
that's what happens sometimes when your work pc is behind authenticated proxies and other (rather sad) snooping architecture that messes with urls and/or sessions. then the urls/sessions that are classified as suspect by these automated processes, end up messing with the url..and a session based server app that depends on non-messed urls ends up breaking the proper url train. it's usually in (work) places like that that you're promised the earth in terms of harnessing your potential, but you end up mostly beating your head against the wall in reality. and in same places it's absolutely not what you know that gets you anywhere. so take heed and either stop complaining and live with it, or move jobs. otherwise what you and I would see as removal of evil roadblocks, ends up dragging you down, and ends up getting you noticed for complaining. the hardest line to type correctly is: stty erase ^H	[reply]