using dmake instead of nmake on Windows

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

Hi everyone,

My end goal is to install Net::POP3 on my Windows machine, but Perl Package Manager does not have it available (not sure why).

So, I tried to install via CPAN. But then I saw that it wasn't able to find nmake. CPAN returned this error: 'nmake' is not recognized as an internal or external command

I went to look for nmake, but I found that provided links to Microsoft download were broken, and that it seems that you have to install some very large package of software to get it. And I am not sure which package.

So I tried to use dmake instead. It is installed, but still when I run install Net::POP3 it is trying to use nmake.

Is there some way to force CPAN to use dmake instead? I have entered the relevant path in the PATH env variable.

Thanks!
Stu

Comment on using dmake instead of nmake on Windows

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Re: using dmake instead of nmake on Windows by dasgar (Priest) on Oct 05, 2012 at 20:43 UTC
What distribution of Perl are you using? Also, are you using 32-bit or 64-bit Perl. If you are using Strawberry Perl, you should be able to be able to install modules just fine from CPAN. Based on the info in your post, I'm going to assume that you are using ActiveState's ActivePerl. If you are using the 32-bit version, just use PPM to install MinGW and dmake from ActiveState's repository. Once those are installed, you can then install modules directly from CPAN.	[reply]
Re^2: using dmake instead of nmake on Windows by fourmajor (Initiate) on Oct 06, 2012 at 14:26 UTC
I am using ActivePerl 5.8.8.822. MinGW and dmake are already showing as installed in PPM.	[reply]
Re: using dmake instead of nmake on Windows by syphilis (Archbishop) on Oct 06, 2012 at 02:52 UTC
Is there some way to force CPAN to use dmake instead? Specifying MAKE at the 'perl Makefile.PL' step should achieve that: `perl Makefile.PL MAKE=dmake` [download] Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l]
Re: using dmake instead of nmake on Windows by Anonymous Monk on Oct 05, 2012 at 21:00 UTC
It uses `perl -V:make` by default, but if you install MinGW it ought to try to run dmake `ppm install MinGW dmake cpan Net::POP3` [download] To force the issue you'd run `perl Makefile.PL make=dmake` [download] You can configure cpan/cpanp ... see PERL_MM_OPT, PERL_MB_OPT	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: using dmake instead of nmake on Windows by fourmajor (Initiate) on Oct 06, 2012 at 14:33 UTC
perl Makefile.PL make=dmake followed by make install did the trick. Thanks!	[reply]
Re: using dmake instead of nmake on Windows by bulk88 (Priest) on Oct 06, 2012 at 01:09 UTC
Download a copy of the free Platform SDK for a modern MS C compiler and nmake.	[reply]
Re: using dmake instead of nmake on Windows by exilepanda (Friar) on Oct 06, 2012 at 08:49 UTC
Which Perl you're using? I can see that my Net::POP3 is located at /lib/, but not /site/lib/ so I think this is bundled when you install Perl at the first place. And what do you mean not available? And are you using ppm GUI or command line? and what errors you've got ?	[reply]