1CPAN(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation CPAN(3)
2
6 CPAN - query, download and build perl modules from CPAN sites
7
9 Interactive mode:
10 perl -MCPAN -e shell
12 --or--
14 cpan
16 Basic commands:
18 # Modules:
20 cpan> install Acme::Meta # in the shell
22 CPAN::Shell->install("Acme::Meta"); # in perl
24 # Distributions:
26 cpan> install NWCLARK/Acme-Meta-0.02.tar.gz # in the shell
28 CPAN::Shell->
30 install("NWCLARK/Acme-Meta-0.02.tar.gz"); # in perl
31 # module objects:
33 $mo = CPAN::Shell->expandany($mod);
35 $mo = CPAN::Shell->expand("Module",$mod); # same thing
36 # distribution objects:
38 $do = CPAN::Shell->expand("Module",$mod)->distribution;
40 $do = CPAN::Shell->expandany($distro); # same thing
41 $do = CPAN::Shell->expand("Distribution",
42 $distro); # same thing
43
45 The CPAN module automates or at least simplifies the make and install
46 of perl modules and extensions. It includes some primitive searching
47 capabilities and knows how to use LWP, HTTP::Tiny, Net::FTP and certain
48 external download clients to fetch distributions from the net.
49 These are fetched from one or more mirrored CPAN (Comprehensive Perl
51 Archive Network) sites and unpacked in a dedicated directory.
52 The CPAN module also supports named and versioned bundles of modules.
54 Bundles simplify handling of sets of related modules. See Bundles
55 below.
56 The package contains a session manager and a cache manager. The session
58 manager keeps track of what has been fetched, built, and installed in
59 the current session. The cache manager keeps track of the disk space
60 occupied by the make processes and deletes excess space using a simple
61 FIFO mechanism.
62 All methods provided are accessible in a programmer style and in an
64 interactive shell style.
65 CPAN::shell([$prompt, $command]) Starting Interactive Mode
67 Enter interactive mode by running
68 perl -MCPAN -e shell
70 or
72 cpan
74 which puts you into a readline interface. If "Term::ReadKey" and either
76 of "Term::ReadLine::Perl" or "Term::ReadLine::Gnu" are installed,
77 history and command completion are supported.
78 Once at the command line, type "h" for one-page help screen; the rest
80 should be self-explanatory.
81 The function call "shell" takes two optional arguments: one the prompt,
83 the second the default initial command line (the latter only works if a
84 real ReadLine interface module is installed).
85 The most common uses of the interactive modes are
87 Searching for authors, bundles, distribution files and modules
89 There are corresponding one-letter commands "a", "b", "d", and "m"
90 for each of the four categories and another, "i" for any of the
91 mentioned four. Each of the four entities is implemented as a class
92 with slightly differing methods for displaying an object.
93 Arguments to these commands are either strings exactly matching the
95 identification string of an object, or regular expressions matched
96 case-insensitively against various attributes of the objects. The
97 parser only recognizes a regular expression when you enclose it with
98 slashes.
99 The principle is that the number of objects found influences how an
101 item is displayed. If the search finds one item, the result is
102 displayed with the rather verbose method "as_string", but if more
103 than one is found, each object is displayed with the terse method
104 "as_glimpse".
105 Examples:
107 cpan> m Acme::MetaSyntactic
109 Module id = Acme::MetaSyntactic
110 CPAN_USERID BOOK (Philippe Bruhat (BooK) <[...]>)
111 CPAN_VERSION 0.99
112 CPAN_FILE B/BO/BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz
113 UPLOAD_DATE 2006-11-06
114 MANPAGE Acme::MetaSyntactic - Themed metasyntactic variables names
115 INST_FILE /usr/local/lib/perl/5.10.0/Acme/MetaSyntactic.pm
116 INST_VERSION 0.99
117 cpan> a BOOK
118 Author id = BOOK
119 EMAIL [...]
120 FULLNAME Philippe Bruhat (BooK)
121 cpan> d BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz
122 Distribution id = B/BO/BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz
123 CPAN_USERID BOOK (Philippe Bruhat (BooK) <[...]>)
124 CONTAINSMODS Acme::MetaSyntactic Acme::MetaSyntactic::Alias [...]
125 UPLOAD_DATE 2006-11-06
126 cpan> m /lorem/
127 Module = Acme::MetaSyntactic::loremipsum (BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz)
128 Module Text::Lorem (ADEOLA/Text-Lorem-0.3.tar.gz)
129 Module Text::Lorem::More (RKRIMEN/Text-Lorem-More-0.12.tar.gz)
130 Module Text::Lorem::More::Source (RKRIMEN/Text-Lorem-More-0.12.tar.gz)
131 cpan> i /berlin/
132 Distribution BEATNIK/Filter-NumberLines-0.02.tar.gz
133 Module = DateTime::TimeZone::Europe::Berlin (DROLSKY/DateTime-TimeZone-0.7904.tar.gz)
134 Module Filter::NumberLines (BEATNIK/Filter-NumberLines-0.02.tar.gz)
135 Author [...]
136 The examples illustrate several aspects: the first three queries
138 target modules, authors, or distros directly and yield exactly one
139 result. The last two use regular expressions and yield several
140 results. The last one targets all of bundles, modules, authors, and
141 distros simultaneously. When more than one result is available, they
142 are printed in one-line format.
143 "get", "make", "test", "install", "clean" modules or distributions
145 These commands take any number of arguments and investigate what is
146 necessary to perform the action. Argument processing is as follows:
147 known module name in format Foo/Bar.pm module
149 other embedded slash distribution
150 - with trailing slash dot directory
151 enclosing slashes regexp
152 known module name in format Foo::Bar module
153 If the argument is a distribution file name (recognized by embedded
155 slashes), it is processed. If it is a module, CPAN determines the
156 distribution file in which this module is included and processes
157 that, following any dependencies named in the module's META.yml or
158 Makefile.PL (this behavior is controlled by the configuration
159 parameter "prerequisites_policy"). If an argument is enclosed in
160 slashes it is treated as a regular expression: it is expanded and if
161 the result is a single object (distribution, bundle or module), this
162 object is processed.
163 Example:
165 install Dummy::Perl # installs the module
167 install AUXXX/Dummy-Perl-3.14.tar.gz # installs that distribution
168 install /Dummy-Perl-3.14/ # same if the regexp is unambiguous
169 "get" downloads a distribution file and untars or unzips it, "make"
171 builds it, "test" runs the test suite, and "install" installs it.
172 Any "make" or "test" is run unconditionally. An
174 install <distribution_file>
176 is also run unconditionally. But for
178 install <module>
180 CPAN checks whether an install is needed and prints module up to date
182 if the distribution file containing the module doesn't need updating.
183 CPAN also keeps track of what it has done within the current session
185 and doesn't try to build a package a second time regardless of
186 whether it succeeded or not. It does not repeat a test run if the
187 test has been run successfully before. Same for install runs.
188 The "force" pragma may precede another command (currently: "get",
190 "make", "test", or "install") to execute the command from scratch and
191 attempt to continue past certain errors. See the section below on the
192 "force" and the "fforce" pragma.
193 The "notest" pragma skips the test part in the build process.
195 Example:
197 cpan> notest install Tk
199 A "clean" command results in a
201 make clean
203 being executed within the distribution file's working directory.
205 "readme", "perldoc", "look" module or distribution
207 "readme" displays the README file of the associated distribution.
208 "Look" gets and untars (if not yet done) the distribution file,
209 changes to the appropriate directory and opens a subshell process in
210 that directory. "perldoc" displays the module's pod documentation in
211 html or plain text format.
212 "ls" author
214 "ls" globbing_expression
215 The first form lists all distribution files in and below an author's
216 CPAN directory as stored in the CHECKSUMS files distributed on CPAN.
217 The listing recurses into subdirectories.
218 The second form limits or expands the output with shell globbing as
220 in the following examples:
221 ls JV/make*
223 ls GSAR/*make*
224 ls */*make*
225 The last example is very slow and outputs extra progress indicators
227 that break the alignment of the result.
228 Note that globbing only lists directories explicitly asked for, for
230 example FOO/* will not list FOO/bar/Acme-Sthg-n.nn.tar.gz. This may
231 be regarded as a bug that may be changed in some future version.
232 "failed"
234 The "failed" command reports all distributions that failed on one of
235 "make", "test" or "install" for some reason in the currently running
236 shell session.
237 Persistence between sessions
239 If the "YAML" or the "YAML::Syck" module is installed a record of the
240 internal state of all modules is written to disk after each step.
241 The files contain a signature of the currently running perl version
242 for later perusal.
243 If the configurations variable "build_dir_reuse" is set to a true
245 value, then CPAN.pm reads the collected YAML files. If the stored
246 signature matches the currently running perl, the stored state is
247 loaded into memory such that persistence between sessions is
248 effectively established.
249 The "force" and the "fforce" pragma
251 To speed things up in complex installation scenarios, CPAN.pm keeps
252 track of what it has already done and refuses to do some things a
253 second time. A "get", a "make", and an "install" are not repeated. A
254 "test" is repeated only if the previous test was unsuccessful. The
255 diagnostic message when CPAN.pm refuses to do something a second time
256 is one of Has already been "unwrapped|made|tested successfully" or
257 something similar. Another situation where CPAN refuses to act is an
258 "install" if the corresponding "test" was not successful.
259 In all these cases, the user can override this stubborn behaviour by
261 prepending the command with the word force, for example:
262 cpan> force get Foo
264 cpan> force make AUTHOR/Bar-3.14.tar.gz
265 cpan> force test Baz
266 cpan> force install Acme::Meta
267 Each forced command is executed with the corresponding part of its
269 memory erased.
270 The "fforce" pragma is a variant that emulates a "force get" which
272 erases the entire memory followed by the action specified,
273 effectively restarting the whole get/make/test/install procedure from
274 scratch.
275 Lockfile
277 Interactive sessions maintain a lockfile, by default "~/.cpan/.lock".
278 Batch jobs can run without a lockfile and not disturb each other.
279 The shell offers to run in downgraded mode when another process is
281 holding the lockfile. This is an experimental feature that is not yet
282 tested very well. This second shell then does not write the history
283 file, does not use the metadata file, and has a different prompt.
284 Signals
286 CPAN.pm installs signal handlers for SIGINT and SIGTERM. While you
287 are in the cpan-shell, it is intended that you can press "^C" anytime
288 and return to the cpan-shell prompt. A SIGTERM will cause the cpan-
289 shell to clean up and leave the shell loop. You can emulate the
290 effect of a SIGTERM by sending two consecutive SIGINTs, which usually
291 means by pressing "^C" twice.
292 CPAN.pm ignores SIGPIPE. If the user sets "inactivity_timeout", a
294 SIGALRM is used during the run of the "perl Makefile.PL" or "perl
295 Build.PL" subprocess. A SIGALRM is also used during module version
296 parsing, and is controlled by "version_timeout".
297 CPAN::Shell
299 The commands available in the shell interface are methods in the
300 package CPAN::Shell. If you enter the shell command, your input is
301 split by the Text::ParseWords::shellwords() routine, which acts like
302 most shells do. The first word is interpreted as the method to be
303 invoked, and the rest of the words are treated as the method's
304 arguments. Continuation lines are supported by ending a line with a
305 literal backslash.
306 autobundle
308 "autobundle" writes a bundle file into the
309 "$CPAN::Config->{cpan_home}/Bundle" directory. The file contains a list
310 of all modules that are both available from CPAN and currently
311 installed within @INC. Duplicates of each distribution are suppressed.
312 The name of the bundle file is based on the current date and a counter,
313 e.g. Bundle/Snapshot_2012_05_21_00.pm. This is installed again by
314 running "cpan Bundle::Snapshot_2012_05_21_00", or installing
315 "Bundle::Snapshot_2012_05_21_00" from the CPAN shell.
316 Return value: path to the written file.
318 hosts
320 Note: this feature is still in alpha state and may change in future
321 versions of CPAN.pm
322 This commands provides a statistical overview over recent download
324 activities. The data for this is collected in the YAML file
325 "FTPstats.yml" in your "cpan_home" directory. If no YAML module is
326 configured or YAML not installed, no stats are provided.
327 install_tested
329 Install all distributions that have been tested successfully but
330 have not yet been installed. See also "is_tested".
331 is_tested
333 List all build directories of distributions that have been tested
334 successfully but have not yet been installed. See also
335 "install_tested".
336 mkmyconfig
338 mkmyconfig() writes your own CPAN::MyConfig file into your "~/.cpan/"
339 directory so that you can save your own preferences instead of the
340 system-wide ones.
341 r [Module|/Regexp/]...
343 scans current perl installation for modules that have a newer version
344 available on CPAN and provides a list of them. If called without
345 argument, all potential upgrades are listed; if called with arguments
346 the list is filtered to the modules and regexps given as arguments.
347 The listing looks something like this:
349 Package namespace installed latest in CPAN file
351 CPAN 1.94_64 1.9600 ANDK/CPAN-1.9600.tar.gz
352 CPAN::Reporter 1.1801 1.1902 DAGOLDEN/CPAN-Reporter-1.1902.tar.gz
353 YAML 0.70 0.73 INGY/YAML-0.73.tar.gz
354 YAML::Syck 1.14 1.17 AVAR/YAML-Syck-1.17.tar.gz
355 YAML::Tiny 1.44 1.50 ADAMK/YAML-Tiny-1.50.tar.gz
356 CGI 3.43 3.55 MARKSTOS/CGI.pm-3.55.tar.gz
357 Module::Build::YAML 1.40 1.41 DAGOLDEN/Module-Build-0.3800.tar.gz
358 TAP::Parser::Result::YAML 3.22 3.23 ANDYA/Test-Harness-3.23.tar.gz
359 YAML::XS 0.34 0.35 INGY/YAML-LibYAML-0.35.tar.gz
360 It suppresses duplicates in the column "in CPAN file" such that
362 distributions with many upgradeable modules are listed only once.
363 Note that the list is not sorted.
365 recent ***EXPERIMENTAL COMMAND***
367 The "recent" command downloads a list of recent uploads to CPAN and
368 displays them slowly. While the command is running, a $SIG{INT} exits
369 the loop after displaying the current item.
370 Note: This command requires XML::LibXML installed.
372 Note: This whole command currently is just a hack and will probably
374 change in future versions of CPAN.pm, but the general approach will
375 likely remain.
376 Note: See also smoke
378 recompile
380 recompile() is a special command that takes no argument and runs the
381 make/test/install cycle with brute force over all installed dynamically
382 loadable extensions (a.k.a. XS modules) with 'force' in effect. The
383 primary purpose of this command is to finish a network installation.
384 Imagine you have a common source tree for two different architectures.
385 You decide to do a completely independent fresh installation. You start
386 on one architecture with the help of a Bundle file produced earlier.
387 CPAN installs the whole Bundle for you, but when you try to repeat the
388 job on the second architecture, CPAN responds with a "Foo up to date"
389 message for all modules. So you invoke CPAN's recompile on the second
390 architecture and you're done.
391 Another popular use for "recompile" is to act as a rescue in case your
393 perl breaks binary compatibility. If one of the modules that CPAN uses
394 is in turn depending on binary compatibility (so you cannot run CPAN
395 commands), then you should try the CPAN::Nox module for recovery.
396 report Bundle|Distribution|Module
398 The "report" command temporarily turns on the "test_report" config
399 variable, then runs the "force test" command with the given arguments.
400 The "force" pragma reruns the tests and repeats every step that might
401 have failed before.
402 smoke ***EXPERIMENTAL COMMAND***
404 *** WARNING: this command downloads and executes software from CPAN to
405 your computer of completely unknown status. You should never do this
406 with your normal account and better have a dedicated well separated and
407 secured machine to do this. ***
408 The "smoke" command takes the list of recent uploads to CPAN as
410 provided by the "recent" command and tests them all. While the command
411 is running $SIG{INT} is defined to mean that the current item shall be
412 skipped.
413 Note: This whole command currently is just a hack and will probably
415 change in future versions of CPAN.pm, but the general approach will
416 likely remain.
417 Note: See also recent
419 upgrade [Module|/Regexp/]...
421 The "upgrade" command first runs an "r" command with the given
422 arguments and then installs the newest versions of all modules that
423 were listed by that.
424 The four "CPAN::*" Classes: Author, Bundle, Module, Distribution
426 Although it may be considered internal, the class hierarchy does matter
427 for both users and programmer. CPAN.pm deals with the four classes
428 mentioned above, and those classes all share a set of methods.
429 Classical single polymorphism is in effect. A metaclass object
430 registers all objects of all kinds and indexes them with a string. The
431 strings referencing objects have a separated namespace (well, not
432 completely separated):
433 Namespace Class
435 words containing a "/" (slash) Distribution
437 words starting with Bundle:: Bundle
438 everything else Module or Author
439 Modules know their associated Distribution objects. They always refer
441 to the most recent official release. Developers may mark their releases
442 as unstable development versions (by inserting an underscore into the
443 module version number which will also be reflected in the distribution
444 name when you run 'make dist'), so the really hottest and newest
445 distribution is not always the default. If a module Foo circulates on
446 CPAN in both version 1.23 and 1.23_90, CPAN.pm offers a convenient way
447 to install version 1.23 by saying
448 install Foo
450 This would install the complete distribution file (say
452 BAR/Foo-1.23.tar.gz) with all accompanying material. But if you would
453 like to install version 1.23_90, you need to know where the
454 distribution file resides on CPAN relative to the authors/id/
455 directory. If the author is BAR, this might be BAR/Foo-1.23_90.tar.gz;
456 so you would have to say
457 install BAR/Foo-1.23_90.tar.gz
459 The first example will be driven by an object of the class
461 CPAN::Module, the second by an object of class CPAN::Distribution.
462 Integrating local directories
464 Note: this feature is still in alpha state and may change in future
465 versions of CPAN.pm
466 Distribution objects are normally distributions from the CPAN, but
468 there is a slightly degenerate case for Distribution objects, too, of
469 projects held on the local disk. These distribution objects have the
470 same name as the local directory and end with a dot. A dot by itself is
471 also allowed for the current directory at the time CPAN.pm was used.
472 All actions such as "make", "test", and "install" are applied directly
473 to that directory. This gives the command "cpan ." an interesting
474 touch: while the normal mantra of installing a CPAN module without
475 CPAN.pm is one of
476 perl Makefile.PL perl Build.PL
478 ( go and get prerequisites )
479 make ./Build
480 make test ./Build test
481 make install ./Build install
482 the command "cpan ." does all of this at once. It figures out which of
484 the two mantras is appropriate, fetches and installs all prerequisites,
485 takes care of them recursively, and finally finishes the installation
486 of the module in the current directory, be it a CPAN module or not.
487 The typical usage case is for private modules or working copies of
489 projects from remote repositories on the local disk.
490 Redirection
492 The usual shell redirection symbols " | " and ">" are recognized by the
493 cpan shell only when surrounded by whitespace. So piping to pager or
494 redirecting output into a file works somewhat as in a normal shell,
495 with the stipulation that you must type extra spaces.
496 Plugin support ***EXPERIMENTAL***
498 Plugins are objects that implement any of currently eight methods:
499 pre_get
501 post_get
502 pre_make
503 post_make
504 pre_test
505 post_test
506 pre_install
507 post_install
508 The "plugin_list" configuration parameter holds a list of strings of
510 the form
511 Modulename=arg0,arg1,arg2,arg3,...
513 eg:
515 CPAN::Plugin::Flurb=dir,/opt/pkgs/flurb/raw,verbose,1
517 At run time, each listed plugin is instantiated as a singleton object
519 by running the equivalent of this pseudo code:
520 my $plugin = <string representation from config>;
522 <generate Modulename and arguments from $plugin>;
523 my $p = $instance{$plugin} ||= Modulename->new($arg0,$arg1,...);
524 The generated singletons are kept around from instantiation until the
526 end of the shell session. <plugin_list> can be reconfigured at any time
527 at run time. While the cpan shell is running, it checks all activated
528 plugins at each of the 8 reference points listed above and runs the
529 respective method if it is implemented for that object. The method is
530 called with the active CPAN::Distribution object passed in as an
531 argument.
532
534 When the CPAN module is used for the first time, a configuration
535 dialogue tries to determine a couple of site specific options. The
536 result of the dialog is stored in a hash reference $CPAN::Config in a
537 file CPAN/Config.pm.
538 Default values defined in the CPAN/Config.pm file can be overridden in
540 a user specific file: CPAN/MyConfig.pm. Such a file is best placed in
541 "$HOME/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm", because "$HOME/.cpan" is added to the
542 search path of the CPAN module before the use() or require()
543 statements. The mkmyconfig command writes this file for you.
544 The "o conf" command has various bells and whistles:
546 completion support
548 If you have a ReadLine module installed, you can hit TAB at any
549 point of the commandline and "o conf" will offer you completion for
550 the built-in subcommands and/or config variable names.
551 displaying some help: o conf help
553 Displays a short help
554 displaying current values: o conf [KEY]
556 Displays the current value(s) for this config variable. Without
557 KEY, displays all subcommands and config variables.
558 Example:
560 o conf shell
562 If KEY starts and ends with a slash, the string in between is
564 treated as a regular expression and only keys matching this regexp
565 are displayed
566 Example:
568 o conf /color/
570 changing of scalar values: o conf KEY VALUE
572 Sets the config variable KEY to VALUE. The empty string can be
573 specified as usual in shells, with '' or ""
574 Example:
576 o conf wget /usr/bin/wget
578 changing of list values: o conf KEY SHIFT|UNSHIFT|PUSH|POP|SPLICE|LIST
580 If a config variable name ends with "list", it is a list. "o conf
581 KEY shift" removes the first element of the list, "o conf KEY pop"
582 removes the last element of the list. "o conf KEYS unshift LIST"
583 prepends a list of values to the list, "o conf KEYS push LIST"
584 appends a list of valued to the list.
585 Likewise, "o conf KEY splice LIST" passes the LIST to the
587 corresponding splice command.
588 Finally, any other list of arguments is taken as a new list value
590 for the KEY variable discarding the previous value.
591 Examples:
593 o conf urllist unshift http://cpan.dev.local/CPAN
595 o conf urllist splice 3 1
596 o conf urllist http://cpan1.local http://cpan2.local ftp://ftp.perl.org
597 reverting to saved: o conf defaults
599 Reverts all config variables to the state in the saved config file.
600 saving the config: o conf commit
602 Saves all config variables to the current config file
603 (CPAN/Config.pm or CPAN/MyConfig.pm that was loaded at start).
604 The configuration dialog can be started any time later again by issuing
606 the command " o conf init " in the CPAN shell. A subset of the
607 configuration dialog can be run by issuing "o conf init WORD" where
608 WORD is any valid config variable or a regular expression.
609 Config Variables
611 The following keys in the hash reference $CPAN::Config are currently
612 defined:
613 allow_installing_module_downgrades
615 allow or disallow installing module downgrades
616 allow_installing_outdated_dists
617 allow or disallow installing modules that are
618 indexed in the cpan index pointing to a distro
619 with a higher distro-version number
620 applypatch path to external prg
621 auto_commit commit all changes to config variables to disk
622 build_cache size of cache for directories to build modules
623 build_dir locally accessible directory to build modules
624 build_dir_reuse boolean if distros in build_dir are persistent
625 build_requires_install_policy
626 to install or not to install when a module is
627 only needed for building. yes|no|ask/yes|ask/no
628 bzip2 path to external prg
629 cache_metadata use serializer to cache metadata
630 check_sigs if signatures should be verified
631 cleanup_after_install
632 remove build directory immediately after a
633 successful install and remember that for the
634 duration of the session
635 colorize_debug Term::ANSIColor attributes for debugging output
636 colorize_output boolean if Term::ANSIColor should colorize output
637 colorize_print Term::ANSIColor attributes for normal output
638 colorize_warn Term::ANSIColor attributes for warnings
639 commandnumber_in_prompt
640 boolean if you want to see current command number
641 commands_quote preferred character to use for quoting external
642 commands when running them. Defaults to double
643 quote on Windows, single tick everywhere else;
644 can be set to space to disable quoting
645 connect_to_internet_ok
646 whether to ask if opening a connection is ok before
647 urllist is specified
648 cpan_home local directory reserved for this package
649 curl path to external prg
650 dontload_hash DEPRECATED
651 dontload_list arrayref: modules in the list will not be
652 loaded by the CPAN::has_inst() routine
653 ftp path to external prg
654 ftp_passive if set, the environment variable FTP_PASSIVE is set
655 for downloads
656 ftp_proxy proxy host for ftp requests
657 ftpstats_period max number of days to keep download statistics
658 ftpstats_size max number of items to keep in the download statistics
659 getcwd see below
660 gpg path to external prg
661 gzip location of external program gzip
662 halt_on_failure stop processing after the first failure of queued
663 items or dependencies
664 histfile file to maintain history between sessions
665 histsize maximum number of lines to keep in histfile
666 http_proxy proxy host for http requests
667 inactivity_timeout breaks interactive Makefile.PLs or Build.PLs
668 after this many seconds inactivity. Set to 0 to
669 disable timeouts.
670 index_expire refetch index files after this many days
671 inhibit_startup_message
672 if true, suppress the startup message
673 keep_source_where directory in which to keep the source (if we do)
674 load_module_verbosity
675 report loading of optional modules used by CPAN.pm
676 lynx path to external prg
677 make location of external make program
678 make_arg arguments that should always be passed to 'make'
679 make_install_make_command
680 the make command for running 'make install', for
681 example 'sudo make'
682 make_install_arg same as make_arg for 'make install'
683 makepl_arg arguments passed to 'perl Makefile.PL'
684 mbuild_arg arguments passed to './Build'
685 mbuild_install_arg arguments passed to './Build install'
686 mbuild_install_build_command
687 command to use instead of './Build' when we are
688 in the install stage, for example 'sudo ./Build'
689 mbuildpl_arg arguments passed to 'perl Build.PL'
690 ncftp path to external prg
691 ncftpget path to external prg
692 no_proxy don't proxy to these hosts/domains (comma separated list)
693 pager location of external program more (or any pager)
694 password your password if you CPAN server wants one
695 patch path to external prg
696 patches_dir local directory containing patch files
697 perl5lib_verbosity verbosity level for PERL5LIB additions
698 plugin_list list of active hooks (see Plugin support above
699 and the CPAN::Plugin module)
700 prefer_external_tar
701 per default all untar operations are done with
702 Archive::Tar; by setting this variable to true
703 the external tar command is used if available
704 prefer_installer legal values are MB and EUMM: if a module comes
705 with both a Makefile.PL and a Build.PL, use the
706 former (EUMM) or the latter (MB); if the module
707 comes with only one of the two, that one will be
708 used no matter the setting
709 prerequisites_policy
710 what to do if you are missing module prerequisites
711 ('follow' automatically, 'ask' me, or 'ignore')
712 For 'follow', also sets PERL_AUTOINSTALL and
713 PERL_EXTUTILS_AUTOINSTALL for "--defaultdeps" if
714 not already set
715 prefs_dir local directory to store per-distro build options
716 proxy_user username for accessing an authenticating proxy
717 proxy_pass password for accessing an authenticating proxy
718 randomize_urllist add some randomness to the sequence of the urllist
719 recommends_policy whether recommended prerequisites should be included
720 scan_cache controls scanning of cache ('atstart', 'atexit' or 'never')
721 shell your favorite shell
722 show_unparsable_versions
723 boolean if r command tells which modules are versionless
724 show_upload_date boolean if commands should try to determine upload date
725 show_zero_versions boolean if r command tells for which modules $version==0
726 suggests_policy whether suggested prerequisites should be included
727 tar location of external program tar
728 tar_verbosity verbosity level for the tar command
729 term_is_latin deprecated: if true Unicode is translated to ISO-8859-1
730 (and nonsense for characters outside latin range)
731 term_ornaments boolean to turn ReadLine ornamenting on/off
732 test_report email test reports (if CPAN::Reporter is installed)
733 trust_test_report_history
734 skip testing when previously tested ok (according to
735 CPAN::Reporter history)
736 unzip location of external program unzip
737 urllist arrayref to nearby CPAN sites (or equivalent locations)
738 urllist_ping_external
739 use external ping command when autoselecting mirrors
740 urllist_ping_verbose
741 increase verbosity when autoselecting mirrors
742 use_prompt_default set PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT for configure/make/test/install
743 use_sqlite use CPAN::SQLite for metadata storage (fast and lean)
744 username your username if you CPAN server wants one
745 version_timeout stops version parsing after this many seconds.
746 Default is 15 secs. Set to 0 to disable.
747 wait_list arrayref to a wait server to try (See CPAN::WAIT)
748 wget path to external prg
749 yaml_load_code enable YAML code deserialisation via CPAN::DeferredCode
750 yaml_module which module to use to read/write YAML files
751 You can set and query each of these options interactively in the cpan
753 shell with the "o conf" or the "o conf init" command as specified
754 below.
755 "o conf <scalar option>"
757 prints the current value of the scalar option
758 "o conf <scalar option> <value>"
760 Sets the value of the scalar option to value
761 "o conf <list option>"
763 prints the current value of the list option in MakeMaker's neatvalue
764 format.
765 "o conf <list option> [shift|pop]"
767 shifts or pops the array in the list option variable
768 "o conf <list option> [unshift|push|splice] <list>"
770 works like the corresponding perl commands.
771 interactive editing: o conf init [MATCH|LIST]
773 Runs an interactive configuration dialog for matching variables.
774 Without argument runs the dialog over all supported config variables.
775 To specify a MATCH the argument must be enclosed by slashes.
776 Examples:
778 o conf init ftp_passive ftp_proxy
780 o conf init /color/
781 Note: this method of setting config variables often provides more
783 explanation about the functioning of a variable than the manpage.
784 CPAN::anycwd($path): Note on config variable getcwd
786 CPAN.pm changes the current working directory often and needs to
787 determine its own current working directory. By default it uses
788 Cwd::cwd, but if for some reason this doesn't work on your system,
789 configure alternatives according to the following table:
790 cwd Calls Cwd::cwd
792 getcwd
794 Calls Cwd::getcwd
795 fastcwd
797 Calls Cwd::fastcwd
798 getdcwd
800 Calls Cwd::getdcwd
801 backtickcwd
803 Calls the external command cwd.
804 Note on the format of the urllist parameter
806 urllist parameters are URLs according to RFC 1738. We do a little
807 guessing if your URL is not compliant, but if you have problems with
808 "file" URLs, please try the correct format. Either:
809 file://localhost/whatever/ftp/pub/CPAN/
811 or
813 file:///home/ftp/pub/CPAN/
815 The urllist parameter has CD-ROM support
817 The "urllist" parameter of the configuration table contains a list of
818 URLs used for downloading. If the list contains any "file" URLs, CPAN
819 always tries there first. This feature is disabled for index files. So
820 the recommendation for the owner of a CD-ROM with CPAN contents is:
821 include your local, possibly outdated CD-ROM as a "file" URL at the end
822 of urllist, e.g.
823 o conf urllist push file://localhost/CDROM/CPAN
825 CPAN.pm will then fetch the index files from one of the CPAN sites that
827 come at the beginning of urllist. It will later check for each module
828 to see whether there is a local copy of the most recent version.
829 Another peculiarity of urllist is that the site that we could
831 successfully fetch the last file from automatically gets a preference
832 token and is tried as the first site for the next request. So if you
833 add a new site at runtime it may happen that the previously preferred
834 site will be tried another time. This means that if you want to
835 disallow a site for the next transfer, it must be explicitly removed
836 from urllist.
837 Maintaining the urllist parameter
839 If you have YAML.pm (or some other YAML module configured in
840 "yaml_module") installed, CPAN.pm collects a few statistical data about
841 recent downloads. You can view the statistics with the "hosts" command
842 or inspect them directly by looking into the "FTPstats.yml" file in
843 your "cpan_home" directory.
844 To get some interesting statistics, it is recommended that
846 "randomize_urllist" be set; this introduces some amount of randomness
847 into the URL selection.
848 The "requires" and "build_requires" dependency declarations
850 Since CPAN.pm version 1.88_51 modules declared as "build_requires" by a
851 distribution are treated differently depending on the config variable
852 "build_requires_install_policy". By setting
853 "build_requires_install_policy" to "no", such a module is not
854 installed. It is only built and tested, and then kept in the list of
855 tested but uninstalled modules. As such, it is available during the
856 build of the dependent module by integrating the path to the
857 "blib/arch" and "blib/lib" directories in the environment variable
858 PERL5LIB. If "build_requires_install_policy" is set to "yes", then both
859 modules declared as "requires" and those declared as "build_requires"
860 are treated alike. By setting to "ask/yes" or "ask/no", CPAN.pm asks
861 the user and sets the default accordingly.
862 Configuration of the allow_installing_* parameters
864 The "allow_installing_*" parameters are evaluated during the "make"
865 phase. If set to "yes", they allow the testing and the installation of
866 the current distro and otherwise have no effect. If set to "no", they
867 may abort the build (preventing testing and installing), depending on
868 the contents of the "blib/" directory. The "blib/" directory is the
869 directory that holds all the files that would usually be installed in
870 the "install" phase.
871 "allow_installing_outdated_dists" compares the "blib/" directory with
873 the CPAN index. If it finds something there that belongs, according to
874 the index, to a different dist, it aborts the current build.
875 "allow_installing_module_downgrades" compares the "blib/" directory
877 with already installed modules, actually their version numbers, as
878 determined by ExtUtils::MakeMaker or equivalent. If a to-be-installed
879 module would downgrade an already installed module, the current build
880 is aborted.
881 An interesting twist occurs when a distroprefs document demands the
883 installation of an outdated dist via goto while
884 "allow_installing_outdated_dists" forbids it. Without additional
885 provisions, this would let the "allow_installing_outdated_dists" win
886 and the distroprefs lose. So the proper arrangement in such a case is
887 to write a second distroprefs document for the distro that "goto"
888 points to and overrule the "cpanconfig" there. E.g.:
889 ---
891 match:
892 distribution: "^MAUKE/Keyword-Simple-0.04.tar.gz"
893 goto: "MAUKE/Keyword-Simple-0.03.tar.gz"
894 ---
895 match:
896 distribution: "^MAUKE/Keyword-Simple-0.03.tar.gz"
897 cpanconfig:
898 allow_installing_outdated_dists: yes
899 Configuration for individual distributions (Distroprefs)
901 (Note: This feature has been introduced in CPAN.pm 1.8854)
902 Distributions on CPAN usually behave according to what we call the CPAN
904 mantra. Or since the advent of Module::Build we should talk about two
905 mantras:
906 perl Makefile.PL perl Build.PL
908 make ./Build
909 make test ./Build test
910 make install ./Build install
911 But some modules cannot be built with this mantra. They try to get some
913 extra data from the user via the environment, extra arguments, or
914 interactively--thus disturbing the installation of large bundles like
915 Phalanx100 or modules with many dependencies like Plagger.
916 The distroprefs system of "CPAN.pm" addresses this problem by allowing
918 the user to specify extra informations and recipes in YAML files to
919 either
920 · pass additional arguments to one of the four commands,
922 · set environment variables
924 · instantiate an Expect object that reads from the console, waits for
926 some regular expressions and enters some answers
927 · temporarily override assorted "CPAN.pm" configuration variables
929 · specify dependencies the original maintainer forgot
931 · disable the installation of an object altogether
933 See the YAML and Data::Dumper files that come with the "CPAN.pm"
935 distribution in the "distroprefs/" directory for examples.
936 Filenames
938 The YAML files themselves must have the ".yml" extension; all other
939 files are ignored (for two exceptions see Fallback Data::Dumper and
940 Storable below). The containing directory can be specified in "CPAN.pm"
941 in the "prefs_dir" config variable. Try "o conf init prefs_dir" in the
942 CPAN shell to set and activate the distroprefs system.
943 Every YAML file may contain arbitrary documents according to the YAML
945 specification, and every document is treated as an entity that can
946 specify the treatment of a single distribution.
947 Filenames can be picked arbitrarily; "CPAN.pm" always reads all files
949 (in alphabetical order) and takes the key "match" (see below in
950 Language Specs) as a hashref containing match criteria that determine
951 if the current distribution matches the YAML document or not.
952 Fallback Data::Dumper and Storable
954 If neither your configured "yaml_module" nor YAML.pm is installed,
955 CPAN.pm falls back to using Data::Dumper and Storable and looks for
956 files with the extensions ".dd" or ".st" in the "prefs_dir" directory.
957 These files are expected to contain one or more hashrefs. For
958 Data::Dumper generated files, this is expected to be done with by
959 defining $VAR1, $VAR2, etc. The YAML shell would produce these with the
960 command
961 ysh < somefile.yml > somefile.dd
963 For Storable files the rule is that they must be constructed such that
965 "Storable::retrieve(file)" returns an array reference and the array
966 elements represent one distropref object each. The conversion from YAML
967 would look like so:
968 perl -MYAML=LoadFile -MStorable=nstore -e '
970 @y=LoadFile(shift);
971 nstore(\@y, shift)' somefile.yml somefile.st
972 In bootstrapping situations it is usually sufficient to translate only
974 a few YAML files to Data::Dumper for crucial modules like "YAML::Syck",
975 "YAML.pm" and "Expect.pm". If you prefer Storable over Data::Dumper,
976 remember to pull out a Storable version that writes an older format
977 than all the other Storable versions that will need to read them.
978 Blueprint
980 The following example contains all supported keywords and structures
981 with the exception of "eexpect" which can be used instead of "expect".
982 ---
984 comment: "Demo"
985 match:
986 module: "Dancing::Queen"
987 distribution: "^CHACHACHA/Dancing-"
988 not_distribution: "\.zip$"
989 perl: "/usr/local/cariba-perl/bin/perl"
990 perlconfig:
991 archname: "freebsd"
992 not_cc: "gcc"
993 env:
994 DANCING_FLOOR: "Shubiduh"
995 disabled: 1
996 cpanconfig:
997 make: gmake
998 pl:
999 args:
1000 - "--somearg=specialcase"
1001 env: {}
1003 expect:
1005 - "Which is your favorite fruit"
1006 - "apple\n"
1007 make:
1009 args:
1010 - all
1011 - extra-all
1012 env: {}
1014 expect: []
1016 commandline: "echo SKIPPING make"
1018 test:
1020 args: []
1021 env: {}
1023 expect: []
1025 install:
1027 args: []
1028 env:
1030 WANT_TO_INSTALL: YES
1031 expect:
1033 - "Do you really want to install"
1034 - "y\n"
1035 patches:
1037 - "ABCDE/Fedcba-3.14-ABCDE-01.patch"
1038 depends:
1040 configure_requires:
1041 LWP: 5.8
1042 build_requires:
1043 Test::Exception: 0.25
1044 requires:
1045 Spiffy: 0.30
1046 Language Specs
1048 Every YAML document represents a single hash reference. The valid keys
1049 in this hash are as follows:
1050 comment [scalar]
1052 A comment
1053 cpanconfig [hash]
1055 Temporarily override assorted "CPAN.pm" configuration variables.
1056 Supported are: "build_requires_install_policy", "check_sigs",
1058 "make", "make_install_make_command", "prefer_installer",
1059 "test_report". Please report as a bug when you need another one
1060 supported.
1061 depends [hash] *** EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE ***
1063 All three types, namely "configure_requires", "build_requires", and
1064 "requires" are supported in the way specified in the META.yml
1065 specification. The current implementation merges the specified
1066 dependencies with those declared by the package maintainer. In a
1067 future implementation this may be changed to override the original
1068 declaration.
1069 disabled [boolean]
1071 Specifies that this distribution shall not be processed at all.
1072 features [array] *** EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE ***
1074 Experimental implementation to deal with optional_features from
1075 META.yml. Still needs coordination with installer software and
1076 currently works only for META.yml declaring "dynamic_config=0". Use
1077 with caution.
1078 goto [string]
1080 The canonical name of a delegate distribution to install instead.
1081 Useful when a new version, although it tests OK itself, breaks
1082 something else or a developer release or a fork is already uploaded
1083 that is better than the last released version.
1084 install [hash]
1086 Processing instructions for the "make install" or "./Build install"
1087 phase of the CPAN mantra. See below under Processing Instructions.
1088 make [hash]
1090 Processing instructions for the "make" or "./Build" phase of the
1091 CPAN mantra. See below under Processing Instructions.
1092 match [hash]
1094 A hashref with one or more of the keys "distribution", "module",
1095 "perl", "perlconfig", and "env" that specify whether a document is
1096 targeted at a specific CPAN distribution or installation. Keys
1097 prefixed with "not_" negates the corresponding match.
1098 The corresponding values are interpreted as regular expressions.
1100 The "distribution" related one will be matched against the
1101 canonical distribution name, e.g. "AUTHOR/Foo-Bar-3.14.tar.gz".
1102 The "module" related one will be matched against all modules
1104 contained in the distribution until one module matches.
1105 The "perl" related one will be matched against $^X (but with the
1107 absolute path).
1108 The value associated with "perlconfig" is itself a hashref that is
1110 matched against corresponding values in the %Config::Config hash
1111 living in the "Config.pm" module. Keys prefixed with "not_"
1112 negates the corresponding match.
1113 The value associated with "env" is itself a hashref that is matched
1115 against corresponding values in the %ENV hash. Keys prefixed with
1116 "not_" negates the corresponding match.
1117 If more than one restriction of "module", "distribution", etc. is
1119 specified, the results of the separately computed match values must
1120 all match. If so, the hashref represented by the YAML document is
1121 returned as the preference structure for the current distribution.
1122 patches [array]
1124 An array of patches on CPAN or on the local disk to be applied in
1125 order via an external patch program. If the value for the "-p"
1126 parameter is 0 or 1 is determined by reading the patch beforehand.
1127 The path to each patch is either an absolute path on the local
1128 filesystem or relative to a patch directory specified in the
1129 "patches_dir" configuration variable or in the format of a
1130 canonical distro name. For examples please consult the distroprefs/
1131 directory in the CPAN.pm distribution (these examples are not
1132 installed by default).
1133 Note: if the "applypatch" program is installed and "CPAN::Config"
1135 knows about it and a patch is written by the "makepatch" program,
1136 then "CPAN.pm" lets "applypatch" apply the patch. Both "makepatch"
1137 and "applypatch" are available from CPAN in the "JV/makepatch-*"
1138 distribution.
1139 pl [hash]
1141 Processing instructions for the "perl Makefile.PL" or "perl
1142 Build.PL" phase of the CPAN mantra. See below under Processing
1143 Instructions.
1144 test [hash]
1146 Processing instructions for the "make test" or "./Build test" phase
1147 of the CPAN mantra. See below under Processing Instructions.
1148 Processing Instructions
1150 args [array]
1151 Arguments to be added to the command line
1152 commandline
1154 A full commandline to run via "system()". During execution, the
1155 environment variable PERL is set to $^X (but with an absolute
1156 path). If "commandline" is specified, "args" is not used.
1157 eexpect [hash]
1159 Extended "expect". This is a hash reference with four allowed keys,
1160 "mode", "timeout", "reuse", and "talk".
1161 You must install the "Expect" module to use "eexpect". CPAN.pm does
1163 not install it for you.
1164 "mode" may have the values "deterministic" for the case where all
1166 questions come in the order written down and "anyorder" for the
1167 case where the questions may come in any order. The default mode is
1168 "deterministic".
1169 "timeout" denotes a timeout in seconds. Floating-point timeouts are
1171 OK. With "mode=deterministic", the timeout denotes the timeout per
1172 question; with "mode=anyorder" it denotes the timeout per byte
1173 received from the stream or questions.
1174 "talk" is a reference to an array that contains alternating
1176 questions and answers. Questions are regular expressions and
1177 answers are literal strings. The Expect module watches the stream
1178 from the execution of the external program ("perl Makefile.PL",
1179 "perl Build.PL", "make", etc.).
1180 For "mode=deterministic", the CPAN.pm injects the corresponding
1182 answer as soon as the stream matches the regular expression.
1183 For "mode=anyorder" CPAN.pm answers a question as soon as the
1185 timeout is reached for the next byte in the input stream. In this
1186 mode you can use the "reuse" parameter to decide what will happen
1187 with a question-answer pair after it has been used. In the default
1188 case (reuse=0) it is removed from the array, avoiding being used
1189 again accidentally. If you want to answer the question "Do you
1190 really want to do that" several times, then it must be included in
1191 the array at least as often as you want this answer to be given.
1192 Setting the parameter "reuse" to 1 makes this repetition
1193 unnecessary.
1194 env [hash]
1196 Environment variables to be set during the command
1197 expect [array]
1199 You must install the "Expect" module to use "expect". CPAN.pm does
1200 not install it for you.
1201 "expect: <array>" is a short notation for this "eexpect":
1203 eexpect:
1205 mode: deterministic
1206 timeout: 15
1207 talk: <array>
1208 Schema verification with "Kwalify"
1210 If you have the "Kwalify" module installed (which is part of the
1211 Bundle::CPANxxl), then all your distroprefs files are checked for
1212 syntactic correctness.
1213 Example Distroprefs Files
1215 "CPAN.pm" comes with a collection of example YAML files. Note that
1216 these are really just examples and should not be used without care
1217 because they cannot fit everybody's purpose. After all, the authors of
1218 the packages that ask questions had a need to ask, so you should watch
1219 their questions and adjust the examples to your environment and your
1220 needs. You have been warned:-)
1221
1223 If you do not enter the shell, shell commands are available both as
1224 methods ("CPAN::Shell->install(...)") and as functions in the calling
1225 package ("install(...)"). Before calling low-level commands, it makes
1226 sense to initialize components of CPAN you need, e.g.:
1227 CPAN::HandleConfig->load;
1229 CPAN::Shell::setup_output;
1230 CPAN::Index->reload;
1231 High-level commands do such initializations automatically.
1233 There's currently only one class that has a stable interface -
1235 CPAN::Shell. All commands that are available in the CPAN shell are
1236 methods of the class CPAN::Shell. The arguments on the commandline are
1237 passed as arguments to the method.
1238 So if you take for example the shell command
1240 notest install A B C
1242 the actually executed command is
1244 CPAN::Shell->notest("install","A","B","C");
1246 Each of the commands that produce listings of modules ("r",
1248 "autobundle", "u") also return a list of the IDs of all modules within
1249 the list.
1250 expand($type,@things)
1252 The IDs of all objects available within a program are strings that
1253 can be expanded to the corresponding real objects with the
1254 "CPAN::Shell->expand("Module",@things)" method. Expand returns a list
1255 of CPAN::Module objects according to the @things arguments given. In
1256 scalar context, it returns only the first element of the list.
1257 expandany(@things)
1259 Like expand, but returns objects of the appropriate type, i.e.
1260 CPAN::Bundle objects for bundles, CPAN::Module objects for modules,
1261 and CPAN::Distribution objects for distributions. Note: it does not
1262 expand to CPAN::Author objects.
1263 Programming Examples
1265 This enables the programmer to do operations that combine
1266 functionalities that are available in the shell.
1267 # install everything that is outdated on my disk:
1269 perl -MCPAN -e 'CPAN::Shell->install(CPAN::Shell->r)'
1270 # install my favorite programs if necessary:
1272 for $mod (qw(Net::FTP Digest::SHA Data::Dumper)) {
1273 CPAN::Shell->install($mod);
1274 }
1275 # list all modules on my disk that have no VERSION number
1277 for $mod (CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","/./")) {
1278 next unless $mod->inst_file;
1279 # MakeMaker convention for undefined $VERSION:
1280 next unless $mod->inst_version eq "undef";
1281 print "No VERSION in ", $mod->id, "\n";
1282 }
1283 # find out which distribution on CPAN contains a module:
1285 print CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","Apache::Constants")->cpan_file
1286 Or if you want to schedule a cron job to watch CPAN, you could list
1288 all modules that need updating. First a quick and dirty way:
1289 perl -e 'use CPAN; CPAN::Shell->r;'
1291 If you don't want any output should all modules be up to date, parse
1293 the output of above command for the regular expression "/modules are
1294 up to date/" and decide to mail the output only if it doesn't match.
1295 If you prefer to do it more in a programmerish style in one single
1297 process, something like this may better suit you:
1298 # list all modules on my disk that have newer versions on CPAN
1300 for $mod (CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","/./")) {
1301 next unless $mod->inst_file;
1302 next if $mod->uptodate;
1303 printf "Module %s is installed as %s, could be updated to %s from CPAN\n",
1304 $mod->id, $mod->inst_version, $mod->cpan_version;
1305 }
1306 If that gives too much output every day, you may want to watch only
1308 for three modules. You can write
1309 for $mod (CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","/Apache|LWP|CGI/")) {
1311 as the first line instead. Or you can combine some of the above
1313 tricks:
1314 # watch only for a new mod_perl module
1316 $mod = CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","mod_perl");
1317 exit if $mod->uptodate;
1318 # new mod_perl arrived, let me know all update recommendations
1319 CPAN::Shell->r;
1320 Methods in the other Classes
1322 CPAN::Author::as_glimpse()
1323 Returns a one-line description of the author
1324 CPAN::Author::as_string()
1326 Returns a multi-line description of the author
1327 CPAN::Author::email()
1329 Returns the author's email address
1330 CPAN::Author::fullname()
1332 Returns the author's name
1333 CPAN::Author::name()
1335 An alias for fullname
1336 CPAN::Bundle::as_glimpse()
1338 Returns a one-line description of the bundle
1339 CPAN::Bundle::as_string()
1341 Returns a multi-line description of the bundle
1342 CPAN::Bundle::clean()
1344 Recursively runs the "clean" method on all items contained in the
1345 bundle.
1346 CPAN::Bundle::contains()
1348 Returns a list of objects' IDs contained in a bundle. The
1349 associated objects may be bundles, modules or distributions.
1350 CPAN::Bundle::force($method,@args)
1352 Forces CPAN to perform a task that it normally would have refused
1353 to do. Force takes as arguments a method name to be called and any
1354 number of additional arguments that should be passed to the called
1355 method. The internals of the object get the needed changes so that
1356 CPAN.pm does not refuse to take the action. The "force" is passed
1357 recursively to all contained objects. See also the section above on
1358 the "force" and the "fforce" pragma.
1359 CPAN::Bundle::get()
1361 Recursively runs the "get" method on all items contained in the
1362 bundle
1363 CPAN::Bundle::inst_file()
1365 Returns the highest installed version of the bundle in either @INC
1366 or "$CPAN::Config->{cpan_home}". Note that this is different from
1367 CPAN::Module::inst_file.
1368 CPAN::Bundle::inst_version()
1370 Like CPAN::Bundle::inst_file, but returns the $VERSION
1371 CPAN::Bundle::uptodate()
1373 Returns 1 if the bundle itself and all its members are up-to-date.
1374 CPAN::Bundle::install()
1376 Recursively runs the "install" method on all items contained in the
1377 bundle
1378 CPAN::Bundle::make()
1380 Recursively runs the "make" method on all items contained in the
1381 bundle
1382 CPAN::Bundle::readme()
1384 Recursively runs the "readme" method on all items contained in the
1385 bundle
1386 CPAN::Bundle::test()
1388 Recursively runs the "test" method on all items contained in the
1389 bundle
1390 CPAN::Distribution::as_glimpse()
1392 Returns a one-line description of the distribution
1393 CPAN::Distribution::as_string()
1395 Returns a multi-line description of the distribution
1396 CPAN::Distribution::author
1398 Returns the CPAN::Author object of the maintainer who uploaded this
1399 distribution
1400 CPAN::Distribution::pretty_id()
1402 Returns a string of the form "AUTHORID/TARBALL", where AUTHORID is
1403 the author's PAUSE ID and TARBALL is the distribution filename.
1404 CPAN::Distribution::base_id()
1406 Returns the distribution filename without any archive suffix. E.g
1407 "Foo-Bar-0.01"
1408 CPAN::Distribution::clean()
1410 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1411 and runs "make clean" there.
1412 CPAN::Distribution::containsmods()
1414 Returns a list of IDs of modules contained in a distribution file.
1415 Works only for distributions listed in the
1416 02packages.details.txt.gz file. This typically means that just most
1417 recent version of a distribution is covered.
1418 CPAN::Distribution::cvs_import()
1420 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1421 and runs something like
1422 cvs -d $cvs_root import -m $cvs_log $cvs_dir $userid v$version
1424 there.
1426 CPAN::Distribution::dir()
1428 Returns the directory into which this distribution has been
1429 unpacked.
1430 CPAN::Distribution::force($method,@args)
1432 Forces CPAN to perform a task that it normally would have refused
1433 to do. Force takes as arguments a method name to be called and any
1434 number of additional arguments that should be passed to the called
1435 method. The internals of the object get the needed changes so that
1436 CPAN.pm does not refuse to take the action. See also the section
1437 above on the "force" and the "fforce" pragma.
1438 CPAN::Distribution::get()
1440 Downloads the distribution from CPAN and unpacks it. Does nothing
1441 if the distribution has already been downloaded and unpacked within
1442 the current session.
1443 CPAN::Distribution::install()
1445 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1446 and runs the external command "make install" there. If "make" has
1447 not yet been run, it will be run first. A "make test" is issued in
1448 any case and if this fails, the install is cancelled. The
1449 cancellation can be avoided by letting "force" run the "install"
1450 for you.
1451 This install method only has the power to install the distribution
1453 if there are no dependencies in the way. To install an object along
1454 with all its dependencies, use CPAN::Shell->install.
1455 Note that install() gives no meaningful return value. See
1457 uptodate().
1458 CPAN::Distribution::isa_perl()
1460 Returns 1 if this distribution file seems to be a perl
1461 distribution. Normally this is derived from the file name only,
1462 but the index from CPAN can contain a hint to achieve a return
1463 value of true for other filenames too.
1464 CPAN::Distribution::look()
1466 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1467 and opens a subshell there. Exiting the subshell returns.
1468 CPAN::Distribution::make()
1470 First runs the "get" method to make sure the distribution is
1471 downloaded and unpacked. Changes to the directory where the
1472 distribution has been unpacked and runs the external commands "perl
1473 Makefile.PL" or "perl Build.PL" and "make" there.
1474 CPAN::Distribution::perldoc()
1476 Downloads the pod documentation of the file associated with a
1477 distribution (in HTML format) and runs it through the external
1478 command lynx specified in "$CPAN::Config->{lynx}". If lynx isn't
1479 available, it converts it to plain text with the external command
1480 html2text and runs it through the pager specified in
1481 "$CPAN::Config->{pager}".
1482 CPAN::Distribution::prefs()
1484 Returns the hash reference from the first matching YAML file that
1485 the user has deposited in the "prefs_dir/" directory. The first
1486 succeeding match wins. The files in the "prefs_dir/" are processed
1487 alphabetically, and the canonical distro name (e.g.
1488 AUTHOR/Foo-Bar-3.14.tar.gz) is matched against the regular
1489 expressions stored in the $root->{match}{distribution} attribute
1490 value. Additionally all module names contained in a distribution
1491 are matched against the regular expressions in the
1492 $root->{match}{module} attribute value. The two match values are
1493 ANDed together. Each of the two attributes are optional.
1494 CPAN::Distribution::prereq_pm()
1496 Returns the hash reference that has been announced by a
1497 distribution as the "requires" and "build_requires" elements. These
1498 can be declared either by the "META.yml" (if authoritative) or can
1499 be deposited after the run of "Build.PL" in the file
1500 "./_build/prereqs" or after the run of "Makfile.PL" written as the
1501 "PREREQ_PM" hash in a comment in the produced "Makefile". Note:
1502 this method only works after an attempt has been made to "make" the
1503 distribution. Returns undef otherwise.
1504 CPAN::Distribution::readme()
1506 Downloads the README file associated with a distribution and runs
1507 it through the pager specified in "$CPAN::Config->{pager}".
1508 CPAN::Distribution::reports()
1510 Downloads report data for this distribution from
1511 www.cpantesters.org and displays a subset of them.
1512 CPAN::Distribution::read_yaml()
1514 Returns the content of the META.yml of this distro as a hashref.
1515 Note: works only after an attempt has been made to "make" the
1516 distribution. Returns undef otherwise. Also returns undef if the
1517 content of META.yml is not authoritative. (The rules about what
1518 exactly makes the content authoritative are still in flux.)
1519 CPAN::Distribution::test()
1521 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1522 and runs "make test" there.
1523 CPAN::Distribution::uptodate()
1525 Returns 1 if all the modules contained in the distribution are up-
1526 to-date. Relies on containsmods.
1527 CPAN::Index::force_reload()
1529 Forces a reload of all indices.
1530 CPAN::Index::reload()
1532 Reloads all indices if they have not been read for more than
1533 "$CPAN::Config->{index_expire}" days.
1534 CPAN::InfoObj::dump()
1536 CPAN::Author, CPAN::Bundle, CPAN::Module, and CPAN::Distribution
1537 inherit this method. It prints the data structure associated with
1538 an object. Useful for debugging. Note: the data structure is
1539 considered internal and thus subject to change without notice.
1540 CPAN::Module::as_glimpse()
1542 Returns a one-line description of the module in four columns: The
1543 first column contains the word "Module", the second column consists
1544 of one character: an equals sign if this module is already
1545 installed and up-to-date, a less-than sign if this module is
1546 installed but can be upgraded, and a space if the module is not
1547 installed. The third column is the name of the module and the
1548 fourth column gives maintainer or distribution information.
1549 CPAN::Module::as_string()
1551 Returns a multi-line description of the module
1552 CPAN::Module::clean()
1554 Runs a clean on the distribution associated with this module.
1555 CPAN::Module::cpan_file()
1557 Returns the filename on CPAN that is associated with the module.
1558 CPAN::Module::cpan_version()
1560 Returns the latest version of this module available on CPAN.
1561 CPAN::Module::cvs_import()
1563 Runs a cvs_import on the distribution associated with this module.
1564 CPAN::Module::description()
1566 Returns a 44 character description of this module. Only available
1567 for modules listed in The Module List
1568 (CPAN/modules/00modlist.long.html or 00modlist.long.txt.gz)
1569 CPAN::Module::distribution()
1571 Returns the CPAN::Distribution object that contains the current
1572 version of this module.
1573 CPAN::Module::dslip_status()
1575 Returns a hash reference. The keys of the hash are the letters "D",
1576 "S", "L", "I", and <P>, for development status, support level,
1577 language, interface and public licence respectively. The data for
1578 the DSLIP status are collected by pause.perl.org when authors
1579 register their namespaces. The values of the 5 hash elements are
1580 one-character words whose meaning is described in the table below.
1581 There are also 5 hash elements "DV", "SV", "LV", "IV", and <PV>
1582 that carry a more verbose value of the 5 status variables.
1583 Where the 'DSLIP' characters have the following meanings:
1585 D - Development Stage (Note: *NO IMPLIED TIMESCALES*):
1587 i - Idea, listed to gain consensus or as a placeholder
1588 c - under construction but pre-alpha (not yet released)
1589 a/b - Alpha/Beta testing
1590 R - Released
1591 M - Mature (no rigorous definition)
1592 S - Standard, supplied with Perl 5
1593 S - Support Level:
1595 m - Mailing-list
1596 d - Developer
1597 u - Usenet newsgroup comp.lang.perl.modules
1598 n - None known, try comp.lang.perl.modules
1599 a - abandoned; volunteers welcome to take over maintenance
1600 L - Language Used:
1602 p - Perl-only, no compiler needed, should be platform independent
1603 c - C and perl, a C compiler will be needed
1604 h - Hybrid, written in perl with optional C code, no compiler needed
1605 + - C++ and perl, a C++ compiler will be needed
1606 o - perl and another language other than C or C++
1607 I - Interface Style
1609 f - plain Functions, no references used
1610 h - hybrid, object and function interfaces available
1611 n - no interface at all (huh?)
1612 r - some use of unblessed References or ties
1613 O - Object oriented using blessed references and/or inheritance
1614 P - Public License
1616 p - Standard-Perl: user may choose between GPL and Artistic
1617 g - GPL: GNU General Public License
1618 l - LGPL: "GNU Lesser General Public License" (previously known as
1619 "GNU Library General Public License")
1620 b - BSD: The BSD License
1621 a - Artistic license alone
1622 2 - Artistic license 2.0 or later
1623 o - open source: approved by www.opensource.org
1624 d - allows distribution without restrictions
1625 r - restricted distribution
1626 n - no license at all
1627 CPAN::Module::force($method,@args)
1629 Forces CPAN to perform a task it would normally refuse to do. Force
1630 takes as arguments a method name to be invoked and any number of
1631 additional arguments to pass that method. The internals of the
1632 object get the needed changes so that CPAN.pm does not refuse to
1633 take the action. See also the section above on the "force" and the
1634 "fforce" pragma.
1635 CPAN::Module::get()
1637 Runs a get on the distribution associated with this module.
1638 CPAN::Module::inst_file()
1640 Returns the filename of the module found in @INC. The first file
1641 found is reported, just as perl itself stops searching @INC once it
1642 finds a module.
1643 CPAN::Module::available_file()
1645 Returns the filename of the module found in PERL5LIB or @INC. The
1646 first file found is reported. The advantage of this method over
1647 "inst_file" is that modules that have been tested but not yet
1648 installed are included because PERL5LIB keeps track of tested
1649 modules.
1650 CPAN::Module::inst_version()
1652 Returns the version number of the installed module in readable
1653 format.
1654 CPAN::Module::available_version()
1656 Returns the version number of the available module in readable
1657 format.
1658 CPAN::Module::install()
1660 Runs an "install" on the distribution associated with this module.
1661 CPAN::Module::look()
1663 Changes to the directory where the distribution associated with
1664 this module has been unpacked and opens a subshell there. Exiting
1665 the subshell returns.
1666 CPAN::Module::make()
1668 Runs a "make" on the distribution associated with this module.
1669 CPAN::Module::manpage_headline()
1671 If module is installed, peeks into the module's manpage, reads the
1672 headline, and returns it. Moreover, if the module has been
1673 downloaded within this session, does the equivalent on the
1674 downloaded module even if it hasn't been installed yet.
1675 CPAN::Module::perldoc()
1677 Runs a "perldoc" on this module.
1678 CPAN::Module::readme()
1680 Runs a "readme" on the distribution associated with this module.
1681 CPAN::Module::reports()
1683 Calls the reports() method on the associated distribution object.
1684 CPAN::Module::test()
1686 Runs a "test" on the distribution associated with this module.
1687 CPAN::Module::uptodate()
1689 Returns 1 if the module is installed and up-to-date.
1690 CPAN::Module::userid()
1692 Returns the author's ID of the module.
1693 Cache Manager
1695 Currently the cache manager only keeps track of the build directory
1696 ($CPAN::Config->{build_dir}). It is a simple FIFO mechanism that
1697 deletes complete directories below "build_dir" as soon as the size of
1698 all directories there gets bigger than $CPAN::Config->{build_cache} (in
1699 MB). The contents of this cache may be used for later re-installations
1700 that you intend to do manually, but will never be trusted by CPAN
1701 itself. This is due to the fact that the user might use these
1702 directories for building modules on different architectures.
1703 There is another directory ($CPAN::Config->{keep_source_where}) where
1705 the original distribution files are kept. This directory is not covered
1706 by the cache manager and must be controlled by the user. If you choose
1707 to have the same directory as build_dir and as keep_source_where
1708 directory, then your sources will be deleted with the same fifo
1709 mechanism.
1710 Bundles
1712 A bundle is just a perl module in the namespace Bundle:: that does not
1713 define any functions or methods. It usually only contains
1714 documentation.
1715 It starts like a perl module with a package declaration and a $VERSION
1717 variable. After that the pod section looks like any other pod with the
1718 only difference being that one special pod section exists starting with
1719 (verbatim):
1720 =head1 CONTENTS
1722 In this pod section each line obeys the format
1724 Module_Name [Version_String] [- optional text]
1726 The only required part is the first field, the name of a module (e.g.
1728 Foo::Bar, i.e. not the name of the distribution file). The rest of the
1729 line is optional. The comment part is delimited by a dash just as in
1730 the man page header.
1731 The distribution of a bundle should follow the same convention as other
1733 distributions.
1734 Bundles are treated specially in the CPAN package. If you say 'install
1736 Bundle::Tkkit' (assuming such a bundle exists), CPAN will install all
1737 the modules in the CONTENTS section of the pod. You can install your
1738 own Bundles locally by placing a conformant Bundle file somewhere into
1739 your @INC path. The autobundle() command which is available in the
1740 shell interface does that for you by including all currently installed
1741 modules in a snapshot bundle file.
1742
1744 The CPAN program is trying to depend on as little as possible so the
1745 user can use it in hostile environment. It works better the more
1746 goodies the environment provides. For example if you try in the CPAN
1747 shell
1748 install Bundle::CPAN
1750 or
1752 install Bundle::CPANxxl
1754 you will find the shell more convenient than the bare shell before.
1756 If you have a local mirror of CPAN and can access all files with
1758 "file:" URLs, then you only need a perl later than perl5.003 to run
1759 this module. Otherwise Net::FTP is strongly recommended. LWP may be
1760 required for non-UNIX systems, or if your nearest CPAN site is
1761 associated with a URL that is not "ftp:".
1762 If you have neither Net::FTP nor LWP, there is a fallback mechanism
1764 implemented for an external ftp command or for an external lynx
1765 command.
1766
1768 Finding packages and VERSION
1769 This module presumes that all packages on CPAN
1770 · declare their $VERSION variable in an easy to parse manner. This
1772 prerequisite can hardly be relaxed because it consumes far too much
1773 memory to load all packages into the running program just to
1774 determine the $VERSION variable. Currently all programs that are
1775 dealing with version use something like this
1776 perl -MExtUtils::MakeMaker -le \
1778 'print MM->parse_version(shift)' filename
1779 If you are author of a package and wonder if your $VERSION can be
1781 parsed, please try the above method.
1782 · come as compressed or gzipped tarfiles or as zip files and contain a
1784 "Makefile.PL" or "Build.PL" (well, we try to handle a bit more, but
1785 with little enthusiasm).
1786 Debugging
1788 Debugging this module is more than a bit complex due to interference
1789 from the software producing the indices on CPAN, the mirroring process
1790 on CPAN, packaging, configuration, synchronicity, and even (gasp!) due
1791 to bugs within the CPAN.pm module itself.
1792 For debugging the code of CPAN.pm itself in interactive mode, some
1794 debugging aid can be turned on for most packages within CPAN.pm with
1795 one of
1796 o debug package...
1798 sets debug mode for packages.
1799 o debug -package...
1801 unsets debug mode for packages.
1802 o debug all
1804 turns debugging on for all packages.
1805 o debug number
1807 which sets the debugging packages directly. Note that "o debug 0" turns
1809 debugging off.
1810 What seems a successful strategy is the combination of "reload cpan"
1812 and the debugging switches. Add a new debug statement while running in
1813 the shell and then issue a "reload cpan" and see the new debugging
1814 messages immediately without losing the current context.
1815 "o debug" without an argument lists the valid package names and the
1817 current set of packages in debugging mode. "o debug" has built-in
1818 completion support.
1819 For debugging of CPAN data there is the "dump" command which takes the
1821 same arguments as make/test/install and outputs each object's
1822 Data::Dumper dump. If an argument looks like a perl variable and
1823 contains one of "$", "@" or "%", it is eval()ed and fed to Data::Dumper
1824 directly.
1825 Floppy, Zip, Offline Mode
1827 CPAN.pm works nicely without network access, too. If you maintain
1828 machines that are not networked at all, you should consider working
1829 with "file:" URLs. You'll have to collect your modules somewhere first.
1830 So you might use CPAN.pm to put together all you need on a networked
1831 machine. Then copy the $CPAN::Config->{keep_source_where} (but not
1832 $CPAN::Config->{build_dir}) directory on a floppy. This floppy is kind
1833 of a personal CPAN. CPAN.pm on the non-networked machines works nicely
1834 with this floppy. See also below the paragraph about CD-ROM support.
1835 Basic Utilities for Programmers
1837 has_inst($module)
1838 Returns true if the module is installed. Used to load all modules
1839 into the running CPAN.pm that are considered optional. The config
1840 variable "dontload_list" intercepts the "has_inst()" call such that
1841 an optional module is not loaded despite being available. For
1842 example, the following command will prevent "YAML.pm" from being
1843 loaded:
1844 cpan> o conf dontload_list push YAML
1846 See the source for details.
1848 use_inst($module)
1850 Similary to has_inst() tries to load optional library but also dies
1851 if library is not available
1852 has_usable($module)
1854 Returns true if the module is installed and in a usable state. Only
1855 useful for a handful of modules that are used internally. See the
1856 source for details.
1857 instance($module)
1859 The constructor for all the singletons used to represent modules,
1860 distributions, authors, and bundles. If the object already exists,
1861 this method returns the object; otherwise, it calls the constructor.
1862 frontend()
1864 frontend($new_frontend)
1865 Getter/setter for frontend object. Method just allows to subclass
1866 CPAN.pm.
1867
1869 There's no strong security layer in CPAN.pm. CPAN.pm helps you to
1870 install foreign, unmasked, unsigned code on your machine. We compare to
1871 a checksum that comes from the net just as the distribution file
1872 itself. But we try to make it easy to add security on demand:
1873 Cryptographically signed modules
1875 Since release 1.77, CPAN.pm has been able to verify cryptographically
1876 signed module distributions using Module::Signature. The CPAN modules
1877 can be signed by their authors, thus giving more security. The simple
1878 unsigned MD5 checksums that were used before by CPAN protect mainly
1879 against accidental file corruption.
1880 You will need to have Module::Signature installed, which in turn
1882 requires that you have at least one of Crypt::OpenPGP module or the
1883 command-line gpg tool installed.
1884 You will also need to be able to connect over the Internet to the
1886 public key servers, like pgp.mit.edu, and their port 11731 (the HKP
1887 protocol).
1888 The configuration parameter check_sigs is there to turn signature
1890 checking on or off.
1891
1893 Most functions in package CPAN are exported by default. The reason for
1894 this is that the primary use is intended for the cpan shell or for one-
1895 liners.
1896
1898 When the CPAN shell enters a subshell via the look command, it sets the
1899 environment CPAN_SHELL_LEVEL to 1, or increments that variable if it is
1900 already set.
1901 When CPAN runs, it sets the environment variable PERL5_CPAN_IS_RUNNING
1903 to the ID of the running process. It also sets
1904 PERL5_CPANPLUS_IS_RUNNING to prevent runaway processes which could
1905 happen with older versions of Module::Install.
1906 When running "perl Makefile.PL", the environment variable
1908 "PERL5_CPAN_IS_EXECUTING" is set to the full path of the "Makefile.PL"
1909 that is being executed. This prevents runaway processes with newer
1910 versions of Module::Install.
1911 When the config variable ftp_passive is set, all downloads will be run
1913 with the environment variable FTP_PASSIVE set to this value. This is in
1914 general a good idea as it influences both Net::FTP and LWP based
1915 connections. The same effect can be achieved by starting the cpan shell
1916 with this environment variable set. For Net::FTP alone, one can also
1917 always set passive mode by running libnetcfg.
1918
1920 Populating a freshly installed perl with one's favorite modules is
1921 pretty easy if you maintain a private bundle definition file. To get a
1922 useful blueprint of a bundle definition file, the command autobundle
1923 can be used on the CPAN shell command line. This command writes a
1924 bundle definition file for all modules installed for the current perl
1925 interpreter. It's recommended to run this command once only, and from
1926 then on maintain the file manually under a private name, say
1927 Bundle/my_bundle.pm. With a clever bundle file you can then simply say
1928 cpan> install Bundle::my_bundle
1930 then answer a few questions and go out for coffee (possibly even in a
1932 different city).
1933 Maintaining a bundle definition file means keeping track of two things:
1935 dependencies and interactivity. CPAN.pm sometimes fails on calculating
1936 dependencies because not all modules define all MakeMaker attributes
1937 correctly, so a bundle definition file should specify prerequisites as
1938 early as possible. On the other hand, it's annoying that so many
1939 distributions need some interactive configuring. So what you can try to
1940 accomplish in your private bundle file is to have the packages that
1941 need to be configured early in the file and the gentle ones later, so
1942 you can go out for coffee after a few minutes and leave CPAN.pm to
1943 churn away unattended.
1944
1946 Thanks to Graham Barr for contributing the following paragraphs about
1947 the interaction between perl, and various firewall configurations. For
1948 further information on firewalls, it is recommended to consult the
1949 documentation that comes with the ncftp program. If you are unable to
1950 go through the firewall with a simple Perl setup, it is likely that you
1951 can configure ncftp so that it works through your firewall.
1952 Three basic types of firewalls
1954 Firewalls can be categorized into three basic types.
1955 http firewall
1957 This is when the firewall machine runs a web server, and to access
1958 the outside world, you must do so via that web server. If you set
1959 environment variables like http_proxy or ftp_proxy to values
1960 beginning with http://, or in your web browser you've proxy
1961 information set, then you know you are running behind an http
1962 firewall.
1963 To access servers outside these types of firewalls with perl (even
1965 for ftp), you need LWP or HTTP::Tiny.
1966 ftp firewall
1968 This where the firewall machine runs an ftp server. This kind of
1969 firewall will only let you access ftp servers outside the firewall.
1970 This is usually done by connecting to the firewall with ftp, then
1971 entering a username like "user@outside.host.com".
1972 To access servers outside these type of firewalls with perl, you
1974 need Net::FTP.
1975 One-way visibility
1977 One-way visibility means these firewalls try to make themselves
1978 invisible to users inside the firewall. An FTP data connection is
1979 normally created by sending your IP address to the remote server
1980 and then listening for the return connection. But the remote server
1981 will not be able to connect to you because of the firewall. For
1982 these types of firewall, FTP connections need to be done in a
1983 passive mode.
1984 There are two that I can think off.
1986 SOCKS
1988 If you are using a SOCKS firewall, you will need to compile
1989 perl and link it with the SOCKS library. This is what is
1990 normally called a 'socksified' perl. With this executable you
1991 will be able to connect to servers outside the firewall as if
1992 it were not there.
1993 IP Masquerade
1995 This is when the firewall implemented in the kernel (via NAT,
1996 or networking address translation), it allows you to hide a
1997 complete network behind one IP address. With this firewall no
1998 special compiling is needed as you can access hosts directly.
1999 For accessing ftp servers behind such firewalls you usually
2001 need to set the environment variable "FTP_PASSIVE" or the
2002 config variable ftp_passive to a true value.
2003 Configuring lynx or ncftp for going through a firewall
2005 If you can go through your firewall with e.g. lynx, presumably with a
2006 command such as
2007 /usr/local/bin/lynx -pscott:tiger
2009 then you would configure CPAN.pm with the command
2011 o conf lynx "/usr/local/bin/lynx -pscott:tiger"
2013 That's all. Similarly for ncftp or ftp, you would configure something
2015 like
2016 o conf ncftp "/usr/bin/ncftp -f /home/scott/ncftplogin.cfg"
2018 Your mileage may vary...
2020
2022 1) I installed a new version of module X but CPAN keeps saying, I have
2023 the old version installed
2024 Probably you do have the old version installed. This can happen if
2026 a module installs itself into a different directory in the @INC
2027 path than it was previously installed. This is not really a CPAN.pm
2028 problem, you would have the same problem when installing the module
2029 manually. The easiest way to prevent this behaviour is to add the
2030 argument "UNINST=1" to the "make install" call, and that is why
2031 many people add this argument permanently by configuring
2032 o conf make_install_arg UNINST=1
2034 2) So why is UNINST=1 not the default?
2036 Because there are people who have their precise expectations about
2038 who may install where in the @INC path and who uses which @INC
2039 array. In fine tuned environments "UNINST=1" can cause damage.
2040 3) I want to clean up my mess, and install a new perl along with all
2042 modules I have. How do I go about it?
2043 Run the autobundle command for your old perl and optionally rename
2045 the resulting bundle file (e.g. Bundle/mybundle.pm), install the
2046 new perl with the Configure option prefix, e.g.
2047 ./Configure -Dprefix=/usr/local/perl-5.6.78.9
2049 Install the bundle file you produced in the first step with
2051 something like
2052 cpan> install Bundle::mybundle
2054 and you're done.
2056 4) When I install bundles or multiple modules with one command there
2058 is too much output to keep track of.
2059 You may want to configure something like
2061 o conf make_arg "| tee -ai /root/.cpan/logs/make.out"
2063 o conf make_install_arg "| tee -ai /root/.cpan/logs/make_install.out"
2064 so that STDOUT is captured in a file for later inspection.
2066 5) I am not root, how can I install a module in a personal directory?
2068 As of CPAN 1.9463, if you do not have permission to write the
2070 default perl library directories, CPAN's configuration process will
2071 ask you whether you want to bootstrap <local::lib>, which makes
2072 keeping a personal perl library directory easy.
2073 Another thing you should bear in mind is that the UNINST parameter
2075 can be dangerous when you are installing into a private area
2076 because you might accidentally remove modules that other people
2077 depend on that are not using the private area.
2078 6) How to get a package, unwrap it, and make a change before building
2080 it?
2081 Have a look at the "look" (!) command.
2083 7) I installed a Bundle and had a couple of fails. When I retried,
2085 everything resolved nicely. Can this be fixed to work on first try?
2086 The reason for this is that CPAN does not know the dependencies of
2088 all modules when it starts out. To decide about the additional
2089 items to install, it just uses data found in the META.yml file or
2090 the generated Makefile. An undetected missing piece breaks the
2091 process. But it may well be that your Bundle installs some
2092 prerequisite later than some depending item and thus your second
2093 try is able to resolve everything. Please note, CPAN.pm does not
2094 know the dependency tree in advance and cannot sort the queue of
2095 things to install in a topologically correct order. It resolves
2096 perfectly well if all modules declare the prerequisites correctly
2097 with the PREREQ_PM attribute to MakeMaker or the "requires" stanza
2098 of Module::Build. For bundles which fail and you need to install
2099 often, it is recommended to sort the Bundle definition file
2100 manually.
2101 8) In our intranet, we have many modules for internal use. How can I
2103 integrate these modules with CPAN.pm but without uploading the
2104 modules to CPAN?
2105 Have a look at the CPAN::Site module.
2107 9) When I run CPAN's shell, I get an error message about things in my
2109 "/etc/inputrc" (or "~/.inputrc") file.
2110 These are readline issues and can only be fixed by studying
2112 readline configuration on your architecture and adjusting the
2113 referenced file accordingly. Please make a backup of the
2114 "/etc/inputrc" or "~/.inputrc" and edit them. Quite often harmless
2115 changes like uppercasing or lowercasing some arguments solves the
2116 problem.
2117 10) Some authors have strange characters in their names.
2119 Internally CPAN.pm uses the UTF-8 charset. If your terminal is
2121 expecting ISO-8859-1 charset, a converter can be activated by
2122 setting term_is_latin to a true value in your config file. One way
2123 of doing so would be
2124 cpan> o conf term_is_latin 1
2126 If other charset support is needed, please file a bug report
2128 against CPAN.pm at rt.cpan.org and describe your needs. Maybe we
2129 can extend the support or maybe UTF-8 terminals become widely
2130 available.
2131 Note: this config variable is deprecated and will be removed in a
2133 future version of CPAN.pm. It will be replaced with the conventions
2134 around the family of $LANG and $LC_* environment variables.
2135 11) When an install fails for some reason and then I correct the error
2137 condition and retry, CPAN.pm refuses to install the module, saying
2138 "Already tried without success".
2139 Use the force pragma like so
2141 force install Foo::Bar
2143 Or you can use
2145 look Foo::Bar
2147 and then "make install" directly in the subshell.
2149 12) How do I install a "DEVELOPER RELEASE" of a module?
2151 By default, CPAN will install the latest non-developer release of a
2153 module. If you want to install a dev release, you have to specify
2154 the partial path starting with the author id to the tarball you
2155 wish to install, like so:
2156 cpan> install KWILLIAMS/Module-Build-0.27_07.tar.gz
2158 Note that you can use the "ls" command to get this path listed.
2160 13) How do I install a module and all its dependencies from the
2162 commandline, without being prompted for anything, despite my CPAN
2163 configuration (or lack thereof)?
2164 CPAN uses ExtUtils::MakeMaker's prompt() function to ask its
2166 questions, so if you set the PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT environment
2167 variable, you shouldn't be asked any questions at all (assuming the
2168 modules you are installing are nice about obeying that variable as
2169 well):
2170 % PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1 perl -MCPAN -e 'install My::Module'
2172 14) How do I create a Module::Build based Build.PL derived from an
2174 ExtUtils::MakeMaker focused Makefile.PL?
2175 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Module-Build-Convert/
2177 15) I'm frequently irritated with the CPAN shell's inability to help me
2179 select a good mirror.
2180 CPAN can now help you select a "good" mirror, based on which ones
2182 have the lowest 'ping' round-trip times. From the shell, use the
2183 command 'o conf init urllist' and allow CPAN to automatically
2184 select mirrors for you.
2185 Beyond that help, the urllist config parameter is yours. You can
2187 add and remove sites at will. You should find out which sites have
2188 the best up-to-dateness, bandwidth, reliability, etc. and are
2189 topologically close to you. Some people prefer fast downloads,
2190 others up-to-dateness, others reliability. You decide which to try
2191 in which order.
2192 Henk P. Penning maintains a site that collects data about CPAN
2194 sites:
2195 http://mirrors.cpan.org/
2197 Also, feel free to play with experimental features. Run
2199 o conf init randomize_urllist ftpstats_period ftpstats_size
2201 and choose your favorite parameters. After a few downloads running
2203 the "hosts" command will probably assist you in choosing the best
2204 mirror sites.
2205 16) Why do I get asked the same questions every time I start the shell?
2207 You can make your configuration changes permanent by calling the
2209 command "o conf commit". Alternatively set the "auto_commit"
2210 variable to true by running "o conf init auto_commit" and answering
2211 the following question with yes.
2212 17) Older versions of CPAN.pm had the original root directory of all
2214 tarballs in the build directory. Now there are always random
2215 characters appended to these directory names. Why was this done?
2216 The random characters are provided by File::Temp and ensure that
2218 each module's individual build directory is unique. This makes
2219 running CPAN.pm in concurrent processes simultaneously safe.
2220 18) Speaking of the build directory. Do I have to clean it up myself?
2222 You have the choice to set the config variable "scan_cache" to
2224 "never". Then you must clean it up yourself. The other possible
2225 values, "atstart" and "atexit" clean up the build directory when
2226 you start (or more precisely, after the first extraction into the
2227 build directory) or exit the CPAN shell, respectively. If you never
2228 start up the CPAN shell, you probably also have to clean up the
2229 build directory yourself.
2230 19) How can I switch to sudo instead of local::lib?
2232 The following 5 environment veriables need to be reset to the
2234 previous values: PATH, PERL5LIB, PERL_LOCAL_LIB_ROOT, PERL_MB_OPT,
2235 PERL_MM_OPT; and these two CPAN.pm config variables must be
2236 reconfigured: make_install_make_command and
2237 mbuild_install_build_command. The five env variables have probably
2238 been overwritten in your $HOME/.bashrc or some equivalent. You
2239 either find them there and delete their traces and logout/login or
2240 you override them temporarily, depending on your exact desire. The
2241 two cpanpm config variables can be set with:
2242 o conf init /install_.*_command/
2244 probably followed by
2246 o conf commit
2248
2250 OLD PERL VERSIONS
2251 CPAN.pm is regularly tested to run under 5.005 and assorted newer
2252 versions. It is getting more and more difficult to get the minimal
2253 prerequisites working on older perls. It is close to impossible to get
2254 the whole Bundle::CPAN working there. If you're in the position to have
2255 only these old versions, be advised that CPAN is designed to work fine
2256 without the Bundle::CPAN installed.
2257 To get things going, note that GBARR/Scalar-List-Utils-1.18.tar.gz is
2259 compatible with ancient perls and that File::Temp is listed as a
2260 prerequisite but CPAN has reasonable workarounds if it is missing.
2261 CPANPLUS
2263 This module and its competitor, the CPANPLUS module, are both much
2264 cooler than the other. CPAN.pm is older. CPANPLUS was designed to be
2265 more modular, but it was never intended to be compatible with CPAN.pm.
2266 CPANMINUS
2268 In the year 2010 App::cpanminus was launched as a new approach to a
2269 cpan shell with a considerably smaller footprint. Very cool stuff.
2270
2272 This software enables you to upgrade software on your computer and so
2273 is inherently dangerous because the newly installed software may
2274 contain bugs and may alter the way your computer works or even make it
2275 unusable. Please consider backing up your data before every upgrade.
2276
2278 Please report bugs via <http://rt.cpan.org/>
2279 Before submitting a bug, please make sure that the traditional method
2281 of building a Perl module package from a shell by following the
2282 installation instructions of that package still works in your
2283 environment.
2284
2286 Andreas Koenig "<andk@cpan.org>"
2287
2289 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
2290 under the same terms as Perl itself.
2291 See <http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>
2293
2295 Kawai,Takanori provides a Japanese translation of a very old version of
2296 this manpage at
2297 <http://homepage3.nifty.com/hippo2000/perltips/CPAN.htm>
2298
2300 Many people enter the CPAN shell by running the cpan utility program
2301 which is installed in the same directory as perl itself. So if you have
2302 this directory in your PATH variable (or some equivalent in your
2303 operating system) then typing "cpan" in a console window will work for
2304 you as well. Above that the utility provides several commandline
2305 shortcuts.
2306 melezhik (Alexey) sent me a link where he published a chef recipe to
2308 work with CPAN.pm: http://community.opscode.com/cookbooks/cpan.
2309perl v5.32.0 2020-09-23 CPAN(3)