Healing Debian Perl (and whatever else is broken out there)

Apparently some package installers on some systems like Debian fail to create .packlist files for installed modules! This policy oversight breaks critical parts of the perl toolchain that depend on core utilities like ExtUtils::Installed. Has anyone in the past ~25 years this has been the case written a program that heals these broken installations by traversing @INC and automagically manufacturing any missing .packlist files? Seems like a neat project for me or one of you Perl professionals but I wouldn't want to reinvent any wheels. Thanks

Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 17:06:17 +0100
Debian-Perl-Policy and .packlist?
lists.debian.org/debian-policy/2002/12/msg00009.html

Date 2012-01-17T18:06:02
Debian Bug report logs #656242 perl: .packlist file missing
bugs-devel.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=656242

PS - Also wonder if they fail to install MYMETA.json and install.json and the bundle files?

# archlib: The core .packlist
perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`'
perl -MConfig -e 'print `cat "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`'

# archlib/auto: dist/bundle
perl -MConfig -e 'open $pipe, qq[ls -la "$Config{archlib}/auto" |];pri
+nt while <$pipe>'

# sitearch/auto: dist/.packlist
perl -MConfig -e 'open $pipe, qq[ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/auto" |];pr
+int while <$pipe>'

# sitearch/.meta: dist/install.json and dist/MYMETA.json
perl -MConfig -e 'open $pipe, qq[ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/.meta" |];p
+rint while <$pipe>'
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Re: Healing Debian Perl (and whatever else is broken out there) by Anonymous Monk on May 01, 2026 at 11:24 UTC
TIMTOWTDI, sorry it's late here, forgot to rewrite pipes as backticks: # archlib: The core .packlist perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`' perl -MConfig -e 'print `cat "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`' # archlib/auto: dist/bundle perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{archlib}/auto"`' # sitearch/auto: dist/.packlist perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/auto"`' # sitearch/.meta: dist/install.json and dist/MYMETA.json perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/.meta"`' [download]	[reply] [d/l]

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Re: Healing Debian Perl (and whatever else is broken out there)
by Anonymous Monk on May 01, 2026 at 11:24 UTC

# archlib: The core .packlist
perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`'
perl -MConfig -e 'print `cat "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`'

# archlib/auto: dist/bundle
perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{archlib}/auto"`'

# sitearch/auto: dist/.packlist
perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/auto"`'

# sitearch/.meta: dist/install.json and dist/MYMETA.json
perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/.meta"`'
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[reply]
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