1CPAN::FirstTime(3pm) Perl Programmers Reference Guide CPAN::FirstTime(3pm)
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6 CPAN::FirstTime - Utility for CPAN::Config file Initialization
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9 CPAN::FirstTime::init()
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12 The init routine asks a few questions and writes a CPAN/Config.pm or
13 CPAN/MyConfig.pm file (depending on what it is currently using).
14 In the following all questions and explanations regarding config
16 variables are collected.
17 auto_commit
19 Normally CPAN.pm keeps config variables in memory and changes need to
20 be saved in a separate 'o conf commit' command to make them permanent
21 between sessions. If you set the 'auto_commit' option to true,
22 changes to a config variable are always automatically committed to
23 disk.
24 Always commit changes to config variables to disk?
26 build_cache
28 CPAN.pm can limit the size of the disk area for keeping the build
29 directories with all the intermediate files.
30 Cache size for build directory (in MB)?
32 build_dir
34 Directory where the build process takes place?
35 build_dir_reuse
37 Until version 1.88 CPAN.pm never trusted the contents of the
38 build_dir directory between sessions. Since 1.88_58 CPAN.pm has a
39 YAML-based mechanism that makes it possible to share the contents of
40 the build_dir/ directory between different sessions with the same
41 version of perl. People who prefer to test things several days before
42 installing will like this feature because it saves a lot of time.
43 If you say yes to the following question, CPAN will try to store
45 enough information about the build process so that it can pick up in
46 future sessions at the same state of affairs as it left a previous
47 session.
48 Store and re-use state information about distributions between
50 CPAN.pm sessions?
51 build_requires_install_policy
53 When a module declares another one as a 'build_requires' prerequisite
54 this means that the other module is only needed for building or
55 testing the module but need not be installed permanently. In this
56 case you may wish to install that other module nonetheless or just
57 keep it in the 'build_dir' directory to have it available only
58 temporarily. Installing saves time on future installations but makes
59 the perl installation bigger.
60 You can choose if you want to always install (yes), never install
62 (no) or be always asked. In the latter case you can set the default
63 answer for the question to yes (ask/yes) or no (ask/no).
64 Policy on installing 'build_requires' modules (yes, no, ask/yes,
66 ask/no)?
67 cache_metadata
69 To considerably speed up the initial CPAN shell startup, it is
70 possible to use Storable to create a cache of metadata. If Storable
71 is not available, the normal index mechanism will be used.
72 Note: this mechanism is not used when use_sqlite is on and SQLLite is
74 running.
75 Cache metadata (yes/no)?
77 check_sigs
79 CPAN packages can be digitally signed by authors and thus verified
80 with the security provided by strong cryptography. The exact
81 mechanism is defined in the Module::Signature module. While this is
82 generally considered a good thing, it is not always convenient to the
83 end user to install modules that are signed incorrectly or where the
84 key of the author is not available or where some prerequisite for
85 Module::Signature has a bug and so on.
86 With the check_sigs parameter you can turn signature checking on and
88 off. The default is off for now because the whole tool chain for the
89 functionality is not yet considered mature by some. The author of
90 CPAN.pm would recommend setting it to true most of the time and
91 turning it off only if it turns out to be annoying.
92 Note that if you do not have Module::Signature installed, no
94 signature checks will be performed at all.
95 Always try to check and verify signatures if a SIGNATURE file is in
97 the package and Module::Signature is installed (yes/no)?
98 colorize_output
100 When you have Term::ANSIColor installed, you can turn on colorized
101 output to have some visual differences between normal CPAN.pm output,
102 warnings, debugging output, and the output of the modules being
103 installed. Set your favorite colors after some experimenting with the
104 Term::ANSIColor module.
105 Do you want to turn on colored output?
107 colorize_print
109 Color for normal output?
110 colorize_warn
112 Color for warnings?
113 colorize_debug
115 Color for debugging messages?
116 commandnumber_in_prompt
118 The prompt of the cpan shell can contain the current command number
119 for easier tracking of the session or be a plain string.
120 Do you want the command number in the prompt (yes/no)?
122 connect_to_internet_ok
124 If you have never defined your own "urllist" in your configuration
125 then "CPAN.pm" will be hesitant to use the built in default sites for
126 downloading. It will ask you once per session if a connection to the
127 internet is OK and only if you say yes, it will try to connect. But
128 to avoid this question, you can choose your favorite download sites
129 once and get away with it. Or, if you have no favorite download sites
130 answer yes to the following question.
131 If no urllist has been chosen yet, would you prefer CPAN.pm to
133 connect to the built-in default sites without asking? (yes/no)?
134 ftp_passive
136 Shall we always set the FTP_PASSIVE environment variable when dealing
137 with ftp download (yes/no)?
138 ftpstats_period
140 Statistics about downloads are truncated by size and period
141 simultaneously.
142 How many days shall we keep statistics about downloads?
144 ftpstats_size
146 Statistics about downloads are truncated by size and period
147 simultaneously.
148 How many items shall we keep in the statistics about downloads?
150 getcwd
152 CPAN.pm changes the current working directory often and needs to
153 determine its own current working directory. Per default it uses
154 Cwd::cwd but if this doesn't work on your system for some reason,
155 alternatives can be configured according to the following table:
156 cwd Cwd::cwd
158 getcwd Cwd::getcwd
159 fastcwd Cwd::fastcwd
160 backtickcwd external command cwd
161 Preferred method for determining the current working directory?
163 halt_on_failure
165 Normally, CPAN.pm continues processing the full list of targets and
166 dependencies, even if one of them fails. However, you can specify
167 that CPAN should halt after the first failure.
168 Do you want to halt on failure (yes/no)?
170 histfile
172 If you have one of the readline packages (Term::ReadLine::Perl,
173 Term::ReadLine::Gnu, possibly others) installed, the interactive CPAN
174 shell will have history support. The next two questions deal with the
175 filename of the history file and with its size. If you do not want to
176 set this variable, please hit SPACE ENTER to the following question.
177 File to save your history?
179 histsize
181 Number of lines to save?
182 inactivity_timeout
184 Sometimes you may wish to leave the processes run by CPAN alone
185 without caring about them. Because the Makefile.PL or the Build.PL
186 sometimes contains question you're expected to answer, you can set a
187 timer that will kill a 'perl Makefile.PL' process after the specified
188 time in seconds.
189 If you set this value to 0, these processes will wait forever. This
191 is the default and recommended setting.
192 Timeout for inactivity during {Makefile,Build}.PL?
194 index_expire
196 The CPAN indexes are usually rebuilt once or twice per hour, but the
197 typical CPAN mirror mirrors only once or twice per day. Depending on
198 the quality of your mirror and your desire to be on the bleeding
199 edge, you may want to set the following value to more or less than
200 one day (which is the default). It determines after how many days
201 CPAN.pm downloads new indexes.
202 Let the index expire after how many days?
204 inhibit_startup_message
206 When the CPAN shell is started it normally displays a greeting
207 message that contains the running version and the status of readline
208 support.
209 Do you want to turn this message off?
211 keep_source_where
213 Unless you are accessing the CPAN on your filesystem via a file: URL,
214 CPAN.pm needs to keep the source files it downloads somewhere. Please
215 supply a directory where the downloaded files are to be kept.
216 Download target directory?
218 load_module_verbosity
220 When CPAN.pm loads a module it needs for some optional feature, it
221 usually reports about module name and version. Choose 'v' to get this
222 message, 'none' to suppress it.
223 Verbosity level for loading modules (none or v)?
225 makepl_arg
227 Every Makefile.PL is run by perl in a separate process. Likewise we
228 run 'make' and 'make install' in separate processes. If you have any
229 parameters (e.g. PREFIX, UNINST or the like) you want to pass to the
230 calls, please specify them here.
231 If you don't understand this question, just press ENTER.
233 Typical frequently used settings:
235 PREFIX=~/perl # non-root users (please see manual for more hints)
237 Parameters for the 'perl Makefile.PL' command?
239 make_arg
241 Parameters for the 'make' command? Typical frequently used setting:
242 -j3 # dual processor system (on GNU make)
244 Your choice:
246 make_install_arg
248 Parameters for the 'make install' command? Typical frequently used
249 setting:
250 UNINST=1 # to always uninstall potentially conflicting files
252 # (but do NOT use with local::lib or INSTALL_BASE)
253 Your choice:
255 make_install_make_command
257 Do you want to use a different make command for 'make install'?
258 Cautious people will probably prefer:
259 su root -c make
261 or
262 sudo make
263 or
264 /path1/to/sudo -u admin_account /path2/to/make
265 or some such. Your choice:
267 mbuildpl_arg
269 A Build.PL is run by perl in a separate process. Likewise we run
270 './Build' and './Build install' in separate processes. If you have
271 any parameters you want to pass to the calls, please specify them
272 here.
273 Typical frequently used settings:
275 --install_base /home/xxx # different installation directory
277 Parameters for the 'perl Build.PL' command?
279 mbuild_arg
281 Parameters for the './Build' command? Setting might be:
282 --extra_linker_flags -L/usr/foo/lib # non-standard library location
284 Your choice:
286 mbuild_install_arg
288 Parameters for the './Build install' command? Typical frequently used
289 setting:
290 --uninst 1 # uninstall conflicting files
292 # (but do NOT use with local::lib or INSTALL_BASE)
293 Your choice:
295 mbuild_install_build_command
297 Do you want to use a different command for './Build install'? Sudo
298 users will probably prefer:
299 su root -c ./Build
301 or
302 sudo ./Build
303 or
304 /path1/to/sudo -u admin_account ./Build
305 or some such. Your choice:
307 pager
309 What is your favorite pager program?
310 prefer_installer
312 When you have Module::Build installed and a module comes with both a
313 Makefile.PL and a Build.PL, which shall have precedence?
314 The main two standard installer modules are the old and well
316 established ExtUtils::MakeMaker (for short: EUMM) which uses the
317 Makefile.PL. And the next generation installer Module::Build (MB)
318 which works with the Build.PL (and often comes with a Makefile.PL
319 too). If a module comes only with one of the two we will use that one
320 but if both are supplied then a decision must be made between EUMM
321 and MB. See also http://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=29235 for
322 a discussion about the right default.
323 Or, as a third option you can choose RAND which will make a random
325 decision (something regular CPAN testers will enjoy).
326 In case you can choose between running a Makefile.PL or a Build.PL,
328 which installer would you prefer (EUMM or MB or RAND)?
329 prefs_dir
331 CPAN.pm can store customized build environments based on regular
332 expressions for distribution names. These are YAML files where the
333 default options for CPAN.pm and the environment can be overridden and
334 dialog sequences can be stored that can later be executed by an
335 Expect.pm object. The CPAN.pm distribution comes with some prefab
336 YAML files that cover sample distributions that can be used as
337 blueprints to store your own prefs. Please check out the distroprefs/
338 directory of the CPAN.pm distribution to get a quick start into the
339 prefs system.
340 Directory where to store default options/environment/dialogs for
342 building modules that need some customization?
343 prerequisites_policy
345 The CPAN module can detect when a module which you are trying to
346 build depends on prerequisites. If this happens, it can build the
347 prerequisites for you automatically ('follow'), ask you for
348 confirmation ('ask'), or just ignore them ('ignore'). Choosing
349 'follow' also sets PERL_AUTOINSTALL and PERL_EXTUTILS_AUTOINSTALL for
350 "--defaultdeps" if not already set.
351 Please set your policy to one of the three values.
353 Policy on building prerequisites (follow, ask or ignore)?
355 randomize_urllist
357 CPAN.pm can introduce some randomness when using hosts for download
358 that are configured in the urllist parameter. Enter a numeric value
359 between 0 and 1 to indicate how often you want to let CPAN.pm try a
360 random host from the urllist. A value of one specifies to always use
361 a random host as the first try. A value of zero means no randomness
362 at all. Anything in between specifies how often, on average, a random
363 host should be tried first.
364 Randomize parameter
366 scan_cache
368 By default, each time the CPAN module is started, cache scanning is
369 performed to keep the cache size in sync ('atstart'). Alternatively,
370 scanning and cleanup can happen when CPAN exits ('atexit'). To
371 prevent any cache cleanup, answer 'never'.
372 Perform cache scanning ('atstart', 'atexit' or 'never')?
374 shell
376 What is your favorite shell?
377 show_unparsable_versions
379 During the 'r' command CPAN.pm finds modules without version number.
380 When the command finishes, it prints a report about this. If you want
381 this report to be very verbose, say yes to the following variable.
382 Show all individual modules that have no $VERSION?
384 show_upload_date
386 The 'd' and the 'm' command normally only show you information they
387 have in their in-memory database and thus will never connect to the
388 internet. If you set the 'show_upload_date' variable to true, 'm' and
389 'd' will additionally show you the upload date of the module or
390 distribution. Per default this feature is off because it may require
391 a net connection to get at the upload date.
392 Always try to show upload date with 'd' and 'm' command (yes/no)?
394 show_zero_versions
396 During the 'r' command CPAN.pm finds modules with a version number of
397 zero. When the command finishes, it prints a report about this. If
398 you want this report to be very verbose, say yes to the following
399 variable.
400 Show all individual modules that have a $VERSION of zero?
402 tar_verbosity
404 When CPAN.pm uses the tar command, which switch for the verbosity
405 shall be used? Choose 'none' for quiet operation, 'v' for file name
406 listing, 'vv' for full listing.
407 Tar command verbosity level (none or v or vv)?
409 term_is_latin
411 The next option deals with the charset (a.k.a. character set) your
412 terminal supports. In general, CPAN is English speaking territory, so
413 the charset does not matter much but some CPAN have names that are
414 outside the ASCII range. If your terminal supports UTF-8, you should
415 say no to the next question. If it expects ISO-8859-1 (also known as
416 LATIN1) then you should say yes. If it supports neither, your answer
417 does not matter because you will not be able to read the names of
418 some authors anyway. If you answer no, names will be output in UTF-8.
419 Your terminal expects ISO-8859-1 (yes/no)?
421 term_ornaments
423 When using Term::ReadLine, you can turn ornaments on so that your
424 input stands out against the output from CPAN.pm.
425 Do you want to turn ornaments on?
427 test_report
429 The goal of the CPAN Testers project (http://testers.cpan.org/) is to
430 test as many CPAN packages as possible on as many platforms as
431 possible. This provides valuable feedback to module authors and
432 potential users to identify bugs or platform compatibility issues and
433 improves the overall quality and value of CPAN.
434 One way you can contribute is to send test results for each module
436 that you install. If you install the CPAN::Reporter module, you have
437 the option to automatically generate and deliver test reports to CPAN
438 Testers whenever you run tests on a CPAN package.
439 See the CPAN::Reporter documentation for additional details and
441 configuration settings. If your firewall blocks outgoing traffic,
442 you may need to configure CPAN::Reporter before sending reports.
443 Generate test reports if CPAN::Reporter is installed (yes/no)?
445 perl5lib_verbosity
447 When CPAN.pm extends @INC via PERL5LIB, it prints a list of
448 directories added (or a summary of how many directories are added).
449 Choose 'v' to get this message, 'none' to suppress it.
450 Verbosity level for PERL5LIB changes (none or v)?
452 prefer_external_tar
454 Per default all untar operations are done with the perl module
455 Archive::Tar; by setting this variable to true the external tar
456 command is used if available; on Unix this is usually preferred
457 because they have a reliable and fast gnutar implementation.
458 Use the external tar program instead of Archive::Tar?
460 trust_test_report_history
462 When a distribution has already been tested by CPAN::Reporter on this
463 machine, CPAN can skip the test phase and just rely on the test
464 report history instead.
465 Note that this will not apply to distributions that failed tests
467 because of missing dependencies. Also, tests can be run regardless
468 of the history using "force".
469 Do you want to rely on the test report history (yes/no)?
471 use_sqlite
473 CPAN::SQLite is a layer between the index files that are downloaded
474 from the CPAN and CPAN.pm that speeds up metadata queries and reduces
475 memory consumption of CPAN.pm considerably.
476 Use CPAN::SQLite if available? (yes/no)?
478 version_timeout
480 This timeout prevents CPAN from hanging when trying to parse a
481 pathologically coded $VERSION from a module.
482 The default is 15 seconds. If you set this value to 0, no timeout
484 will occur, but this is not recommended.
485 Timeout for parsing module versions?
487 yaml_load_code
489 Both YAML.pm and YAML::Syck are capable of deserialising code. As
490 this requires a string eval, which might be a security risk, you can
491 use this option to enable or disable the deserialisation of code via
492 CPAN::DeferredCode. (Note: This does not work under perl 5.6)
493 Do you want to enable code deserialisation (yes/no)?
495 yaml_module
497 At the time of this writing (2009-03) there are three YAML
498 implementations working: YAML, YAML::Syck, and YAML::XS. The latter
499 two are faster but need a C compiler installed on your system. There
500 may be more alternative YAML conforming modules. When I tried two
501 other players, YAML::Tiny and YAML::Perl, they seemed not powerful
502 enough to work with CPAN.pm. This may have changed in the meantime.
503 Which YAML implementation would you prefer?
505
507 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
508 under the same terms as Perl itself.
509perl v5.16.3 2013-03-04 CPAN::FirstTime(3pm)