1CPAN::FirstTime(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation CPAN::FirstTime(3)
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6 CPAN::FirstTime - Utility for CPAN::Config file Initialization
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9 CPAN::FirstTime::init()
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12 The init routine asks a few questions and writes a CPAN/Config.pm or
13 CPAN/MyConfig.pm file (depending on what it is currently using).
14 In the following all questions and explanations regarding config
16 variables are collected.
17 allow_installing_module_downgrades
19 The CPAN shell can watch the "blib/" directories that are built up
20 before running "make test" to determine whether the current
21 distribution will end up with modules being overwritten with
22 decreasing module version numbers. It can then let the build of this
23 distro fail when it discovers a downgrade.
24 Do you want to allow installing distros with decreasing module
26 versions compared to what you have installed (yes, no, ask/yes,
27 ask/no)?
28 allow_installing_outdated_dists
30 The CPAN shell can watch the "blib/" directories that are built up
31 before running "make test" to determine whether the current
32 distribution contains modules that are indexed with a distro with a
33 higher distro-version number than the current one. It can then let
34 the build of this distro fail when it would not represent the most
35 up-to-date version of the distro.
36 Note: choosing anything but 'yes' for this option will need
38 CPAN::DistnameInfo being installed for taking effect.
39 Do you want to allow installing distros that are not indexed as the
41 highest distro-version for all contained modules (yes, no, ask/yes,
42 ask/no)?
43 auto_commit
45 Normally CPAN.pm keeps config variables in memory and changes need to
46 be saved in a separate 'o conf commit' command to make them permanent
47 between sessions. If you set the 'auto_commit' option to true,
48 changes to a config variable are always automatically committed to
49 disk.
50 Always commit changes to config variables to disk?
52 build_cache
54 CPAN.pm can limit the size of the disk area for keeping the build
55 directories with all the intermediate files.
56 Cache size for build directory (in MB)?
58 build_dir
60 Directory where the build process takes place?
61 build_dir_reuse
63 Until version 1.88 CPAN.pm never trusted the contents of the
64 build_dir directory between sessions. Since 1.88_58 CPAN.pm has a
65 YAML-based mechanism that makes it possible to share the contents of
66 the build_dir/ directory between different sessions with the same
67 version of perl. People who prefer to test things several days before
68 installing will like this feature because it saves a lot of time.
69 If you say yes to the following question, CPAN will try to store
71 enough information about the build process so that it can pick up in
72 future sessions at the same state of affairs as it left a previous
73 session.
74 Store and re-use state information about distributions between
76 CPAN.pm sessions?
77 build_requires_install_policy
79 When a module declares another one as a 'build_requires' prerequisite
80 this means that the other module is only needed for building or
81 testing the module but need not be installed permanently. In this
82 case you may wish to install that other module nonetheless or just
83 keep it in the 'build_dir' directory to have it available only
84 temporarily. Installing saves time on future installations but makes
85 the perl installation bigger.
86 You can choose if you want to always install (yes), never install
88 (no) or be always asked. In the latter case you can set the default
89 answer for the question to yes (ask/yes) or no (ask/no).
90 Policy on installing 'build_requires' modules (yes, no, ask/yes,
92 ask/no)?
93 cache_metadata
95 To considerably speed up the initial CPAN shell startup, it is
96 possible to use Storable to create a cache of metadata. If Storable
97 is not available, the normal index mechanism will be used.
98 Note: this mechanism is not used when use_sqlite is on and SQLite is
100 running.
101 Cache metadata (yes/no)?
103 check_sigs
105 CPAN packages can be digitally signed by authors and thus verified
106 with the security provided by strong cryptography. The exact
107 mechanism is defined in the Module::Signature module. While this is
108 generally considered a good thing, it is not always convenient to the
109 end user to install modules that are signed incorrectly or where the
110 key of the author is not available or where some prerequisite for
111 Module::Signature has a bug and so on.
112 With the check_sigs parameter you can turn signature checking on and
114 off. The default is off for now because the whole tool chain for the
115 functionality is not yet considered mature by some. The author of
116 CPAN.pm would recommend setting it to true most of the time and
117 turning it off only if it turns out to be annoying.
118 Note that if you do not have Module::Signature installed, no
120 signature checks will be performed at all.
121 Always try to check and verify signatures if a SIGNATURE file is in
123 the package and Module::Signature is installed (yes/no)?
124 cleanup_after_install
126 Users who install modules and do not intend to look back, can free
127 occupied disk space quickly by letting CPAN.pm cleanup each build
128 directory immediately after a successful install.
129 Remove build directory after a successful install? (yes/no)?
131 colorize_output
133 When you have Term::ANSIColor installed, you can turn on colorized
134 output to have some visual differences between normal CPAN.pm output,
135 warnings, debugging output, and the output of the modules being
136 installed. Set your favorite colors after some experimenting with the
137 Term::ANSIColor module.
138 Please note that on Windows platforms colorized output also requires
140 the Win32::Console::ANSI module.
141 Do you want to turn on colored output?
143 colorize_print
145 Color for normal output?
146 colorize_warn
148 Color for warnings?
149 colorize_debug
151 Color for debugging messages?
152 commandnumber_in_prompt
154 The prompt of the cpan shell can contain the current command number
155 for easier tracking of the session or be a plain string.
156 Do you want the command number in the prompt (yes/no)?
158 connect_to_internet_ok
160 If you have never defined your own "urllist" in your configuration
161 then "CPAN.pm" will be hesitant to use the built in default sites for
162 downloading. It will ask you once per session if a connection to the
163 internet is OK and only if you say yes, it will try to connect. But
164 to avoid this question, you can choose your favorite download sites
165 once and get away with it. Or, if you have no favorite download sites
166 answer yes to the following question.
167 If no urllist has been chosen yet, would you prefer CPAN.pm to
169 connect to the built-in default sites without asking? (yes/no)?
170 ftp_passive
172 Shall we always set the FTP_PASSIVE environment variable when dealing
173 with ftp download (yes/no)?
174 ftpstats_period
176 Statistics about downloads are truncated by size and period
177 simultaneously.
178 How many days shall we keep statistics about downloads?
180 ftpstats_size
182 Statistics about downloads are truncated by size and period
183 simultaneously. Setting this to zero or negative disables download
184 statistics.
185 How many items shall we keep in the statistics about downloads?
187 getcwd
189 CPAN.pm changes the current working directory often and needs to
190 determine its own current working directory. Per default it uses
191 Cwd::cwd but if this doesn't work on your system for some reason,
192 alternatives can be configured according to the following table:
193 cwd Cwd::cwd
195 getcwd Cwd::getcwd
196 fastcwd Cwd::fastcwd
197 getdcwd Cwd::getdcwd
198 backtickcwd external command cwd
199 Preferred method for determining the current working directory?
201 halt_on_failure
203 Normally, CPAN.pm continues processing the full list of targets and
204 dependencies, even if one of them fails. However, you can specify
205 that CPAN should halt after the first failure. (Note that optional
206 recommended or suggested modules that fail will not cause a halt.)
207 Do you want to halt on failure (yes/no)?
209 histfile
211 If you have one of the readline packages (Term::ReadLine::Perl,
212 Term::ReadLine::Gnu, possibly others) installed, the interactive CPAN
213 shell will have history support. The next two questions deal with the
214 filename of the history file and with its size. If you do not want to
215 set this variable, please hit SPACE ENTER to the following question.
216 File to save your history?
218 histsize
220 Number of lines to save?
221 inactivity_timeout
223 Sometimes you may wish to leave the processes run by CPAN alone
224 without caring about them. Because the Makefile.PL or the Build.PL
225 sometimes contains question you're expected to answer, you can set a
226 timer that will kill a 'perl Makefile.PL' process after the specified
227 time in seconds.
228 If you set this value to 0, these processes will wait forever. This
230 is the default and recommended setting.
231 Timeout for inactivity during {Makefile,Build}.PL?
233 index_expire
235 The CPAN indexes are usually rebuilt once or twice per hour, but the
236 typical CPAN mirror mirrors only once or twice per day. Depending on
237 the quality of your mirror and your desire to be on the bleeding
238 edge, you may want to set the following value to more or less than
239 one day (which is the default). It determines after how many days
240 CPAN.pm downloads new indexes.
241 Let the index expire after how many days?
243 inhibit_startup_message
245 When the CPAN shell is started it normally displays a greeting
246 message that contains the running version and the status of readline
247 support.
248 Do you want to turn this message off?
250 keep_source_where
252 Unless you are accessing the CPAN on your filesystem via a file: URL,
253 CPAN.pm needs to keep the source files it downloads somewhere. Please
254 supply a directory where the downloaded files are to be kept.
255 Download target directory?
257 load_module_verbosity
259 When CPAN.pm loads a module it needs for some optional feature, it
260 usually reports about module name and version. Choose 'v' to get this
261 message, 'none' to suppress it.
262 Verbosity level for loading modules (none or v)?
264 makepl_arg
266 Every Makefile.PL is run by perl in a separate process. Likewise we
267 run 'make' and 'make install' in separate processes. If you have any
268 parameters (e.g. PREFIX, UNINST or the like) you want to pass to the
269 calls, please specify them here.
270 If you don't understand this question, just press ENTER.
272 Typical frequently used settings:
274 PREFIX=~/perl # non-root users (please see manual for more hints)
276 Parameters for the 'perl Makefile.PL' command?
278 make_arg
280 Parameters for the 'make' command? Typical frequently used setting:
281 -j3 # dual processor system (on GNU make)
283 Your choice:
285 make_install_arg
287 Parameters for the 'make install' command? Typical frequently used
288 setting:
289 UNINST=1 # to always uninstall potentially conflicting files
291 # (but do NOT use with local::lib or INSTALL_BASE)
292 Your choice:
294 make_install_make_command
296 Do you want to use a different make command for 'make install'?
297 Cautious people will probably prefer:
298 su root -c make
300 or
301 sudo make
302 or
303 /path1/to/sudo -u admin_account /path2/to/make
304 or some such. Your choice:
306 mbuildpl_arg
308 A Build.PL is run by perl in a separate process. Likewise we run
309 './Build' and './Build install' in separate processes. If you have
310 any parameters you want to pass to the calls, please specify them
311 here.
312 Typical frequently used settings:
314 --install_base /home/xxx # different installation directory
316 Parameters for the 'perl Build.PL' command?
318 mbuild_arg
320 Parameters for the './Build' command? Setting might be:
321 --extra_linker_flags -L/usr/foo/lib # non-standard library location
323 Your choice:
325 mbuild_install_arg
327 Parameters for the './Build install' command? Typical frequently used
328 setting:
329 --uninst 1 # uninstall conflicting files
331 # (but do NOT use with local::lib or INSTALL_BASE)
332 Your choice:
334 mbuild_install_build_command
336 Do you want to use a different command for './Build install'? Sudo
337 users will probably prefer:
338 su root -c ./Build
340 or
341 sudo ./Build
342 or
343 /path1/to/sudo -u admin_account ./Build
344 or some such. Your choice:
346 pager
348 What is your favorite pager program?
349 prefer_installer
351 When you have Module::Build installed and a module comes with both a
352 Makefile.PL and a Build.PL, which shall have precedence?
353 The main two standard installer modules are the old and well
355 established ExtUtils::MakeMaker (for short: EUMM) which uses the
356 Makefile.PL. And the next generation installer Module::Build (MB)
357 which works with the Build.PL (and often comes with a Makefile.PL
358 too). If a module comes only with one of the two we will use that one
359 but if both are supplied then a decision must be made between EUMM
360 and MB. See also http://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=29235 for
361 a discussion about the right default.
362 Or, as a third option you can choose RAND which will make a random
364 decision (something regular CPAN testers will enjoy).
365 In case you can choose between running a Makefile.PL or a Build.PL,
367 which installer would you prefer (EUMM or MB or RAND)?
368 prefs_dir
370 CPAN.pm can store customized build environments based on regular
371 expressions for distribution names. These are YAML files where the
372 default options for CPAN.pm and the environment can be overridden and
373 dialog sequences can be stored that can later be executed by an
374 Expect.pm object. The CPAN.pm distribution comes with some prefab
375 YAML files that cover sample distributions that can be used as
376 blueprints to store your own prefs. Please check out the distroprefs/
377 directory of the CPAN.pm distribution to get a quick start into the
378 prefs system.
379 Directory where to store default options/environment/dialogs for
381 building modules that need some customization?
382 prerequisites_policy
384 The CPAN module can detect when a module which you are trying to
385 build depends on prerequisites. If this happens, it can build the
386 prerequisites for you automatically ('follow'), ask you for
387 confirmation ('ask'), or just ignore them ('ignore'). Choosing
388 'follow' also sets PERL_AUTOINSTALL and PERL_EXTUTILS_AUTOINSTALL for
389 "--defaultdeps" if not already set.
390 Please set your policy to one of the three values.
392 Policy on building prerequisites (follow, ask or ignore)?
394 pushy_https
396 Boolean. Defaults to true. If this option is true, the cpan shell
397 will use https://cpan.org/ to download stuff from the CPAN. It will
398 fall back to http://cpan.org/ if it can't handle https for some
399 reason (missing modules, missing programs). Whenever it falls back to
400 the http protocol, it will issue a warning.
401 If this option is true, the option "urllist" will be ignored.
403 Consequently, if you want to work with local mirrors via your own
404 configured list of URLs, you will have to choose no below.
405 Do you want to turn the pushy_https behaviour on?
407 randomize_urllist
409 CPAN.pm can introduce some randomness when using hosts for download
410 that are configured in the urllist parameter. Enter a numeric value
411 between 0 and 1 to indicate how often you want to let CPAN.pm try a
412 random host from the urllist. A value of one specifies to always use
413 a random host as the first try. A value of zero means no randomness
414 at all. Anything in between specifies how often, on average, a random
415 host should be tried first.
416 Randomize parameter
418 recommends_policy
420 (Experimental feature!) Some CPAN modules recommend additional,
421 optional dependencies. These should generally be installed except in
422 resource constrained environments. When this policy is true,
423 recommended modules will be included with required modules.
424 Include recommended modules?
426 scan_cache
428 By default, each time the CPAN module is started, cache scanning is
429 performed to keep the cache size in sync ('atstart'). Alternatively,
430 scanning and cleanup can happen when CPAN exits ('atexit'). To
431 prevent any cache cleanup, answer 'never'.
432 Perform cache scanning ('atstart', 'atexit' or 'never')?
434 shell
436 What is your favorite shell?
437 show_unparsable_versions
439 During the 'r' command CPAN.pm finds modules without version number.
440 When the command finishes, it prints a report about this. If you want
441 this report to be very verbose, say yes to the following variable.
442 Show all individual modules that have no $VERSION?
444 show_upload_date
446 The 'd' and the 'm' command normally only show you information they
447 have in their in-memory database and thus will never connect to the
448 internet. If you set the 'show_upload_date' variable to true, 'm' and
449 'd' will additionally show you the upload date of the module or
450 distribution. Per default this feature is off because it may require
451 a net connection to get at the upload date.
452 Always try to show upload date with 'd' and 'm' command (yes/no)?
454 show_zero_versions
456 During the 'r' command CPAN.pm finds modules with a version number of
457 zero. When the command finishes, it prints a report about this. If
458 you want this report to be very verbose, say yes to the following
459 variable.
460 Show all individual modules that have a $VERSION of zero?
462 suggests_policy
464 (Experimental feature!) Some CPAN modules suggest additional,
465 optional dependencies. These 'suggest' dependencies provide enhanced
466 operation. When this policy is true, suggested modules will be
467 included with required modules.
468 Include suggested modules?
470 tar_verbosity
472 When CPAN.pm uses the tar command, which switch for the verbosity
473 shall be used? Choose 'none' for quiet operation, 'v' for file name
474 listing, 'vv' for full listing.
475 Tar command verbosity level (none or v or vv)?
477 term_is_latin
479 The next option deals with the charset (a.k.a. character set) your
480 terminal supports. In general, CPAN is English speaking territory, so
481 the charset does not matter much but some CPAN have names that are
482 outside the ASCII range. If your terminal supports UTF-8, you should
483 say no to the next question. If it expects ISO-8859-1 (also known as
484 LATIN1) then you should say yes. If it supports neither, your answer
485 does not matter because you will not be able to read the names of
486 some authors anyway. If you answer no, names will be output in UTF-8.
487 Your terminal expects ISO-8859-1 (yes/no)?
489 term_ornaments
491 When using Term::ReadLine, you can turn ornaments on so that your
492 input stands out against the output from CPAN.pm.
493 Do you want to turn ornaments on?
495 test_report
497 The goal of the CPAN Testers project (http://testers.cpan.org/) is to
498 test as many CPAN packages as possible on as many platforms as
499 possible. This provides valuable feedback to module authors and
500 potential users to identify bugs or platform compatibility issues and
501 improves the overall quality and value of CPAN.
502 One way you can contribute is to send test results for each module
504 that you install. If you install the CPAN::Reporter module, you have
505 the option to automatically generate and deliver test reports to CPAN
506 Testers whenever you run tests on a CPAN package.
507 See the CPAN::Reporter documentation for additional details and
509 configuration settings. If your firewall blocks outgoing traffic,
510 you may need to configure CPAN::Reporter before sending reports.
511 Generate test reports if CPAN::Reporter is installed (yes/no)?
513 perl5lib_verbosity
515 When CPAN.pm extends @INC via PERL5LIB, it prints a list of
516 directories added (or a summary of how many directories are added).
517 Choose 'v' to get this message, 'none' to suppress it.
518 Verbosity level for PERL5LIB changes (none or v)?
520 prefer_external_tar
522 Per default all untar operations are done with the perl module
523 Archive::Tar; by setting this variable to true the external tar
524 command is used if available; on Unix this is usually preferred
525 because they have a reliable and fast gnutar implementation.
526 Use the external tar program instead of Archive::Tar?
528 trust_test_report_history
530 When a distribution has already been tested by CPAN::Reporter on this
531 machine, CPAN can skip the test phase and just rely on the test
532 report history instead.
533 Note that this will not apply to distributions that failed tests
535 because of missing dependencies. Also, tests can be run regardless
536 of the history using "force".
537 Do you want to rely on the test report history (yes/no)?
539 urllist_ping_external
541 When automatic selection of the nearest cpan mirrors is performed,
542 turn on the use of the external ping via Net::Ping::External. This is
543 recommended in the case the local network has a transparent proxy.
544 Do you want to use the external ping command when autoselecting
546 mirrors?
547 urllist_ping_verbose
549 When automatic selection of the nearest cpan mirrors is performed,
550 this option can be used to turn on verbosity during the selection
551 process.
552 Do you want to see verbosity turned on when autoselecting mirrors?
554 use_prompt_default
556 When this is true, CPAN will set PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT to a true value.
557 This causes ExtUtils::MakeMaker (and compatible) prompts to use
558 default values instead of stopping to prompt you to answer questions.
559 It also sets NONINTERACTIVE_TESTING to a true value to signal more
560 generally that distributions should not try to interact with you.
561 Do you want to use prompt defaults (yes/no)?
563 use_sqlite
565 CPAN::SQLite is a layer between the index files that are downloaded
566 from the CPAN and CPAN.pm that speeds up metadata queries and reduces
567 memory consumption of CPAN.pm considerably.
568 Use CPAN::SQLite if available? (yes/no)?
570 version_timeout
572 This timeout prevents CPAN from hanging when trying to parse a
573 pathologically coded $VERSION from a module.
574 The default is 15 seconds. If you set this value to 0, no timeout
576 will occur, but this is not recommended.
577 Timeout for parsing module versions?
579 yaml_load_code
581 Both YAML.pm and YAML::Syck are capable of deserialising code. As
582 this requires a string eval, which might be a security risk, you can
583 use this option to enable or disable the deserialisation of code via
584 CPAN::DeferredCode. (Note: This does not work under perl 5.6)
585 Do you want to enable code deserialisation (yes/no)?
587 yaml_module
589 At the time of this writing (2009-03) there are three YAML
590 implementations working: YAML, YAML::Syck, and YAML::XS. The latter
591 two are faster but need a C compiler installed on your system. There
592 may be more alternative YAML conforming modules. When I tried two
593 other players, YAML::Tiny and YAML::Perl, they seemed not powerful
594 enough to work with CPAN.pm. This may have changed in the meantime.
595 Which YAML implementation would you prefer?
597
599 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
600 under the same terms as Perl itself.
601perl v5.36.0 2022-07-22 CPAN::FirstTime(3)