should i force install

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

wise monks

I'm a perl beginner using perl 5.10. i am trying to use a program which says it has a dependency on file::stat so i tried to install this and got this message

pan[5]> install File::stat
Running install for module 'File::stat'
The most recent version "1.02" of the module "File::stat"
is part of the perl-5.12.2 distribution. To install that, you need to 
+run
  force install File::stat   --or--
  install J/JE/JESSE/perl-5.12.2.tar.gz
Running make test
  Can't test without successful make
Running make install
  Make had returned bad status, install seems impossible
Failed during this command:
 JESSE/perl-5.12.2.tar.gz                     : make NO isa perl
[download]

I don't know whether to do the force install suggested as I don't know whether there will be any problems

thanks for your help

Comment on should i force install Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: should i force install by moritz (Cardinal) on Dec 04, 2010 at 18:06 UTC
File::stat has been a core module since perl 5.004. So your perl 5.10 should come with File::stat installed. If not, your perl installation is broken or incomplete, and should be fixed. (For example on Debian there's a minimal `perl` package, and you need to install `perl-modules` too to get all core modules). If File::stat is indeed available, you shouldn't need to install anything. Perl 6 - second systems done right	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: should i force install by ww (Archbishop) on Dec 04, 2010 at 18:02 UTC
Conventional wisdom: don't `force install` the version for 5.12 in a 5.10 Perl...or any other version > 5.n into a 5.n Perl. There are exceptions, but as a general rule, mismatched modules are not likely to be compatible. Instead, try for the 5.10 version. And per (your line 12), you may still need a good "make" and, minor afterthought, but your text refers to "file::stat" which ignores the fact that Perl is case sensitive.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: should i force install by Khen1950fx (Canon) on Dec 04, 2010 at 23:29 UTC
File::stat 1.01 is probably what you have. It's core, but when you're a beginner, it can be confusing, especially when some of the core modules are dual-lived, meaning that they can be upgraded or reinstalled. If you use App::DualLivedList, it'll tell you the current version, installed version, installed path, if it's dual-lived or not, or if it's just a core module. Just do `dual-lived File::stat`.	[reply] [d/l]