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 pushy_https use https to cpan.org when possible, otherwise use http
719 to cpan.org and issue a warning
720 randomize_urllist add some randomness to the sequence of the urllist
721 recommends_policy whether recommended prerequisites should be included
722 scan_cache controls scanning of cache ('atstart', 'atexit' or 'never')
723 shell your favorite shell
724 show_unparsable_versions
725 boolean if r command tells which modules are versionless
726 show_upload_date boolean if commands should try to determine upload date
727 show_zero_versions boolean if r command tells for which modules $version==0
728 suggests_policy whether suggested prerequisites should be included
729 tar location of external program tar
730 tar_verbosity verbosity level for the tar command
731 term_is_latin deprecated: if true Unicode is translated to ISO-8859-1
732 (and nonsense for characters outside latin range)
733 term_ornaments boolean to turn ReadLine ornamenting on/off
734 test_report email test reports (if CPAN::Reporter is installed)
735 trust_test_report_history
736 skip testing when previously tested ok (according to
737 CPAN::Reporter history)
738 unzip location of external program unzip
739 urllist arrayref to nearby CPAN sites (or equivalent locations)
740 urllist_ping_external
741 use external ping command when autoselecting mirrors
742 urllist_ping_verbose
743 increase verbosity when autoselecting mirrors
744 use_prompt_default set PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT for configure/make/test/install
745 use_sqlite use CPAN::SQLite for metadata storage (fast and lean)
746 username your username if you CPAN server wants one
747 version_timeout stops version parsing after this many seconds.
748 Default is 15 secs. Set to 0 to disable.
749 wait_list arrayref to a wait server to try (See CPAN::WAIT)
750 wget path to external prg
751 yaml_load_code enable YAML code deserialisation via CPAN::DeferredCode
752 yaml_module which module to use to read/write YAML files
753 You can set and query each of these options interactively in the cpan
755 shell with the "o conf" or the "o conf init" command as specified
756 below.
757 "o conf <scalar option>"
759 prints the current value of the scalar option
760 "o conf <scalar option> <value>"
762 Sets the value of the scalar option to value
763 "o conf <list option>"
765 prints the current value of the list option in MakeMaker's neatvalue
766 format.
767 "o conf <list option> [shift|pop]"
769 shifts or pops the array in the list option variable
770 "o conf <list option> [unshift|push|splice] <list>"
772 works like the corresponding perl commands.
773 interactive editing: o conf init [MATCH|LIST]
775 Runs an interactive configuration dialog for matching variables.
776 Without argument runs the dialog over all supported config variables.
777 To specify a MATCH the argument must be enclosed by slashes.
778 Examples:
780 o conf init ftp_passive ftp_proxy
782 o conf init /color/
783 Note: this method of setting config variables often provides more
785 explanation about the functioning of a variable than the manpage.
786 CPAN::anycwd($path): Note on config variable getcwd
788 CPAN.pm changes the current working directory often and needs to
789 determine its own current working directory. By default it uses
790 Cwd::cwd, but if for some reason this doesn't work on your system,
791 configure alternatives according to the following table:
792 cwd Calls Cwd::cwd
794 getcwd
796 Calls Cwd::getcwd
797 fastcwd
799 Calls Cwd::fastcwd
800 getdcwd
802 Calls Cwd::getdcwd
803 backtickcwd
805 Calls the external command cwd.
806 Note on the format of the urllist parameter
808 urllist parameters are URLs according to RFC 1738. We do a little
809 guessing if your URL is not compliant, but if you have problems with
810 "file" URLs, please try the correct format. Either:
811 file://localhost/whatever/ftp/pub/CPAN/
813 or
815 file:///home/ftp/pub/CPAN/
817 The urllist parameter has CD-ROM support
819 The "urllist" parameter of the configuration table contains a list of
820 URLs used for downloading. If the list contains any "file" URLs, CPAN
821 always tries there first. This feature is disabled for index files. So
822 the recommendation for the owner of a CD-ROM with CPAN contents is:
823 include your local, possibly outdated CD-ROM as a "file" URL at the end
824 of urllist, e.g.
825 o conf urllist push file://localhost/CDROM/CPAN
827 CPAN.pm will then fetch the index files from one of the CPAN sites that
829 come at the beginning of urllist. It will later check for each module
830 to see whether there is a local copy of the most recent version.
831 Another peculiarity of urllist is that the site that we could
833 successfully fetch the last file from automatically gets a preference
834 token and is tried as the first site for the next request. So if you
835 add a new site at runtime it may happen that the previously preferred
836 site will be tried another time. This means that if you want to
837 disallow a site for the next transfer, it must be explicitly removed
838 from urllist.
839 Maintaining the urllist parameter
841 If you have YAML.pm (or some other YAML module configured in
842 "yaml_module") installed, CPAN.pm collects a few statistical data about
843 recent downloads. You can view the statistics with the "hosts" command
844 or inspect them directly by looking into the "FTPstats.yml" file in
845 your "cpan_home" directory.
846 To get some interesting statistics, it is recommended that
848 "randomize_urllist" be set; this introduces some amount of randomness
849 into the URL selection.
850 The "requires" and "build_requires" dependency declarations
852 Since CPAN.pm version 1.88_51 modules declared as "build_requires" by a
853 distribution are treated differently depending on the config variable
854 "build_requires_install_policy". By setting
855 "build_requires_install_policy" to "no", such a module is not
856 installed. It is only built and tested, and then kept in the list of
857 tested but uninstalled modules. As such, it is available during the
858 build of the dependent module by integrating the path to the
859 "blib/arch" and "blib/lib" directories in the environment variable
860 PERL5LIB. If "build_requires_install_policy" is set to "yes", then both
861 modules declared as "requires" and those declared as "build_requires"
862 are treated alike. By setting to "ask/yes" or "ask/no", CPAN.pm asks
863 the user and sets the default accordingly.
864 Configuration of the allow_installing_* parameters
866 The "allow_installing_*" parameters are evaluated during the "make"
867 phase. If set to "yes", they allow the testing and the installation of
868 the current distro and otherwise have no effect. If set to "no", they
869 may abort the build (preventing testing and installing), depending on
870 the contents of the "blib/" directory. The "blib/" directory is the
871 directory that holds all the files that would usually be installed in
872 the "install" phase.
873 "allow_installing_outdated_dists" compares the "blib/" directory with
875 the CPAN index. If it finds something there that belongs, according to
876 the index, to a different dist, it aborts the current build.
877 "allow_installing_module_downgrades" compares the "blib/" directory
879 with already installed modules, actually their version numbers, as
880 determined by ExtUtils::MakeMaker or equivalent. If a to-be-installed
881 module would downgrade an already installed module, the current build
882 is aborted.
883 An interesting twist occurs when a distroprefs document demands the
885 installation of an outdated dist via goto while
886 "allow_installing_outdated_dists" forbids it. Without additional
887 provisions, this would let the "allow_installing_outdated_dists" win
888 and the distroprefs lose. So the proper arrangement in such a case is
889 to write a second distroprefs document for the distro that "goto"
890 points to and overrule the "cpanconfig" there. E.g.:
891 ---
893 match:
894 distribution: "^MAUKE/Keyword-Simple-0.04.tar.gz"
895 goto: "MAUKE/Keyword-Simple-0.03.tar.gz"
896 ---
897 match:
898 distribution: "^MAUKE/Keyword-Simple-0.03.tar.gz"
899 cpanconfig:
900 allow_installing_outdated_dists: yes
901 Configuration for individual distributions (Distroprefs)
903 (Note: This feature has been introduced in CPAN.pm 1.8854)
904 Distributions on CPAN usually behave according to what we call the CPAN
906 mantra. Or since the advent of Module::Build we should talk about two
907 mantras:
908 perl Makefile.PL perl Build.PL
910 make ./Build
911 make test ./Build test
912 make install ./Build install
913 But some modules cannot be built with this mantra. They try to get some
915 extra data from the user via the environment, extra arguments, or
916 interactively--thus disturbing the installation of large bundles like
917 Phalanx100 or modules with many dependencies like Plagger.
918 The distroprefs system of "CPAN.pm" addresses this problem by allowing
920 the user to specify extra informations and recipes in YAML files to
921 either
922 • pass additional arguments to one of the four commands,
924 • set environment variables
926 • instantiate an Expect object that reads from the console, waits for
928 some regular expressions and enters some answers
929 • temporarily override assorted "CPAN.pm" configuration variables
931 • specify dependencies the original maintainer forgot
933 • disable the installation of an object altogether
935 See the YAML and Data::Dumper files that come with the "CPAN.pm"
937 distribution in the "distroprefs/" directory for examples.
938 Filenames
940 The YAML files themselves must have the ".yml" extension; all other
941 files are ignored (for two exceptions see Fallback Data::Dumper and
942 Storable below). The containing directory can be specified in "CPAN.pm"
943 in the "prefs_dir" config variable. Try "o conf init prefs_dir" in the
944 CPAN shell to set and activate the distroprefs system.
945 Every YAML file may contain arbitrary documents according to the YAML
947 specification, and every document is treated as an entity that can
948 specify the treatment of a single distribution.
949 Filenames can be picked arbitrarily; "CPAN.pm" always reads all files
951 (in alphabetical order) and takes the key "match" (see below in
952 Language Specs) as a hashref containing match criteria that determine
953 if the current distribution matches the YAML document or not.
954 Fallback Data::Dumper and Storable
956 If neither your configured "yaml_module" nor YAML.pm is installed,
957 CPAN.pm falls back to using Data::Dumper and Storable and looks for
958 files with the extensions ".dd" or ".st" in the "prefs_dir" directory.
959 These files are expected to contain one or more hashrefs. For
960 Data::Dumper generated files, this is expected to be done with by
961 defining $VAR1, $VAR2, etc. The YAML shell would produce these with the
962 command
963 ysh < somefile.yml > somefile.dd
965 For Storable files the rule is that they must be constructed such that
967 Storable::retrieve(file) returns an array reference and the array
968 elements represent one distropref object each. The conversion from YAML
969 would look like so:
970 perl -MYAML=LoadFile -MStorable=nstore -e '
972 @y=LoadFile(shift);
973 nstore(\@y, shift)' somefile.yml somefile.st
974 In bootstrapping situations it is usually sufficient to translate only
976 a few YAML files to Data::Dumper for crucial modules like "YAML::Syck",
977 "YAML.pm" and "Expect.pm". If you prefer Storable over Data::Dumper,
978 remember to pull out a Storable version that writes an older format
979 than all the other Storable versions that will need to read them.
980 Blueprint
982 The following example contains all supported keywords and structures
983 with the exception of "eexpect" which can be used instead of "expect".
984 ---
986 comment: "Demo"
987 match:
988 module: "Dancing::Queen"
989 distribution: "^CHACHACHA/Dancing-"
990 not_distribution: "\.zip$"
991 perl: "/usr/local/cariba-perl/bin/perl"
992 perlconfig:
993 archname: "freebsd"
994 not_cc: "gcc"
995 env:
996 DANCING_FLOOR: "Shubiduh"
997 disabled: 1
998 cpanconfig:
999 make: gmake
1000 pl:
1001 args:
1002 - "--somearg=specialcase"
1003 env: {}
1005 expect:
1007 - "Which is your favorite fruit"
1008 - "apple\n"
1009 make:
1011 args:
1012 - all
1013 - extra-all
1014 env: {}
1016 expect: []
1018 commandline: "echo SKIPPING make"
1020 test:
1022 args: []
1023 env: {}
1025 expect: []
1027 install:
1029 args: []
1030 env:
1032 WANT_TO_INSTALL: YES
1033 expect:
1035 - "Do you really want to install"
1036 - "y\n"
1037 patches:
1039 - "ABCDE/Fedcba-3.14-ABCDE-01.patch"
1040 depends:
1042 configure_requires:
1043 LWP: 5.8
1044 build_requires:
1045 Test::Exception: 0.25
1046 requires:
1047 Spiffy: 0.30
1048 Language Specs
1050 Every YAML document represents a single hash reference. The valid keys
1051 in this hash are as follows:
1052 comment [scalar]
1054 A comment
1055 cpanconfig [hash]
1057 Temporarily override assorted "CPAN.pm" configuration variables.
1058 Supported are: "build_requires_install_policy", "check_sigs",
1060 "make", "make_install_make_command", "prefer_installer",
1061 "test_report". Please report as a bug when you need another one
1062 supported.
1063 depends [hash] *** EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE ***
1065 All three types, namely "configure_requires", "build_requires", and
1066 "requires" are supported in the way specified in the META.yml
1067 specification. The current implementation merges the specified
1068 dependencies with those declared by the package maintainer. In a
1069 future implementation this may be changed to override the original
1070 declaration.
1071 disabled [boolean]
1073 Specifies that this distribution shall not be processed at all.
1074 features [array] *** EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE ***
1076 Experimental implementation to deal with optional_features from
1077 META.yml. Still needs coordination with installer software and
1078 currently works only for META.yml declaring "dynamic_config=0". Use
1079 with caution.
1080 goto [string]
1082 The canonical name of a delegate distribution to install instead.
1083 Useful when a new version, although it tests OK itself, breaks
1084 something else or a developer release or a fork is already uploaded
1085 that is better than the last released version.
1086 install [hash]
1088 Processing instructions for the "make install" or "./Build install"
1089 phase of the CPAN mantra. See below under Processing Instructions.
1090 make [hash]
1092 Processing instructions for the "make" or "./Build" phase of the
1093 CPAN mantra. See below under Processing Instructions.
1094 match [hash]
1096 A hashref with one or more of the keys "distribution", "module",
1097 "perl", "perlconfig", and "env" that specify whether a document is
1098 targeted at a specific CPAN distribution or installation. Keys
1099 prefixed with "not_" negates the corresponding match.
1100 The corresponding values are interpreted as regular expressions.
1102 The "distribution" related one will be matched against the
1103 canonical distribution name, e.g. "AUTHOR/Foo-Bar-3.14.tar.gz".
1104 The "module" related one will be matched against all modules
1106 contained in the distribution until one module matches.
1107 The "perl" related one will be matched against $^X (but with the
1109 absolute path).
1110 The value associated with "perlconfig" is itself a hashref that is
1112 matched against corresponding values in the %Config::Config hash
1113 living in the "Config.pm" module. Keys prefixed with "not_"
1114 negates the corresponding match.
1115 The value associated with "env" is itself a hashref that is matched
1117 against corresponding values in the %ENV hash. Keys prefixed with
1118 "not_" negates the corresponding match.
1119 If more than one restriction of "module", "distribution", etc. is
1121 specified, the results of the separately computed match values must
1122 all match. If so, the hashref represented by the YAML document is
1123 returned as the preference structure for the current distribution.
1124 patches [array]
1126 An array of patches on CPAN or on the local disk to be applied in
1127 order via an external patch program. If the value for the "-p"
1128 parameter is 0 or 1 is determined by reading the patch beforehand.
1129 The path to each patch is either an absolute path on the local
1130 filesystem or relative to a patch directory specified in the
1131 "patches_dir" configuration variable or in the format of a
1132 canonical distro name. For examples please consult the distroprefs/
1133 directory in the CPAN.pm distribution (these examples are not
1134 installed by default).
1135 Note: if the "applypatch" program is installed and "CPAN::Config"
1137 knows about it and a patch is written by the "makepatch" program,
1138 then "CPAN.pm" lets "applypatch" apply the patch. Both "makepatch"
1139 and "applypatch" are available from CPAN in the "JV/makepatch-*"
1140 distribution.
1141 pl [hash]
1143 Processing instructions for the "perl Makefile.PL" or "perl
1144 Build.PL" phase of the CPAN mantra. See below under Processing
1145 Instructions.
1146 test [hash]
1148 Processing instructions for the "make test" or "./Build test" phase
1149 of the CPAN mantra. See below under Processing Instructions.
1150 Processing Instructions
1152 args [array]
1153 Arguments to be added to the command line
1154 commandline
1156 A full commandline to run via system(). During execution, the
1157 environment variable PERL is set to $^X (but with an absolute
1158 path). If "commandline" is specified, "args" is not used.
1159 eexpect [hash]
1161 Extended "expect". This is a hash reference with four allowed keys,
1162 "mode", "timeout", "reuse", and "talk".
1163 You must install the "Expect" module to use "eexpect". CPAN.pm does
1165 not install it for you.
1166 "mode" may have the values "deterministic" for the case where all
1168 questions come in the order written down and "anyorder" for the
1169 case where the questions may come in any order. The default mode is
1170 "deterministic".
1171 "timeout" denotes a timeout in seconds. Floating-point timeouts are
1173 OK. With "mode=deterministic", the timeout denotes the timeout per
1174 question; with "mode=anyorder" it denotes the timeout per byte
1175 received from the stream or questions.
1176 "talk" is a reference to an array that contains alternating
1178 questions and answers. Questions are regular expressions and
1179 answers are literal strings. The Expect module watches the stream
1180 from the execution of the external program ("perl Makefile.PL",
1181 "perl Build.PL", "make", etc.).
1182 For "mode=deterministic", the CPAN.pm injects the corresponding
1184 answer as soon as the stream matches the regular expression.
1185 For "mode=anyorder" CPAN.pm answers a question as soon as the
1187 timeout is reached for the next byte in the input stream. In this
1188 mode you can use the "reuse" parameter to decide what will happen
1189 with a question-answer pair after it has been used. In the default
1190 case (reuse=0) it is removed from the array, avoiding being used
1191 again accidentally. If you want to answer the question "Do you
1192 really want to do that" several times, then it must be included in
1193 the array at least as often as you want this answer to be given.
1194 Setting the parameter "reuse" to 1 makes this repetition
1195 unnecessary.
1196 env [hash]
1198 Environment variables to be set during the command
1199 expect [array]
1201 You must install the "Expect" module to use "expect". CPAN.pm does
1202 not install it for you.
1203 "expect: <array>" is a short notation for this "eexpect":
1205 eexpect:
1207 mode: deterministic
1208 timeout: 15
1209 talk: <array>
1210 Schema verification with "Kwalify"
1212 If you have the "Kwalify" module installed (which is part of the
1213 Bundle::CPANxxl), then all your distroprefs files are checked for
1214 syntactic correctness.
1215 Example Distroprefs Files
1217 "CPAN.pm" comes with a collection of example YAML files. Note that
1218 these are really just examples and should not be used without care
1219 because they cannot fit everybody's purpose. After all, the authors of
1220 the packages that ask questions had a need to ask, so you should watch
1221 their questions and adjust the examples to your environment and your
1222 needs. You have been warned:-)
1223
1225 If you do not enter the shell, shell commands are available both as
1226 methods ("CPAN::Shell->install(...)") and as functions in the calling
1227 package (install(...)). Before calling low-level commands, it makes
1228 sense to initialize components of CPAN you need, e.g.:
1229 CPAN::HandleConfig->load;
1231 CPAN::Shell::setup_output;
1232 CPAN::Index->reload;
1233 High-level commands do such initializations automatically.
1235 There's currently only one class that has a stable interface -
1237 CPAN::Shell. All commands that are available in the CPAN shell are
1238 methods of the class CPAN::Shell. The arguments on the commandline are
1239 passed as arguments to the method.
1240 So if you take for example the shell command
1242 notest install A B C
1244 the actually executed command is
1246 CPAN::Shell->notest("install","A","B","C");
1248 Each of the commands that produce listings of modules ("r",
1250 "autobundle", "u") also return a list of the IDs of all modules within
1251 the list.
1252 expand($type,@things)
1254 The IDs of all objects available within a program are strings that
1255 can be expanded to the corresponding real objects with the
1256 "CPAN::Shell->expand("Module",@things)" method. Expand returns a list
1257 of CPAN::Module objects according to the @things arguments given. In
1258 scalar context, it returns only the first element of the list.
1259 expandany(@things)
1261 Like expand, but returns objects of the appropriate type, i.e.
1262 CPAN::Bundle objects for bundles, CPAN::Module objects for modules,
1263 and CPAN::Distribution objects for distributions. Note: it does not
1264 expand to CPAN::Author objects.
1265 Programming Examples
1267 This enables the programmer to do operations that combine
1268 functionalities that are available in the shell.
1269 # install everything that is outdated on my disk:
1271 perl -MCPAN -e 'CPAN::Shell->install(CPAN::Shell->r)'
1272 # install my favorite programs if necessary:
1274 for $mod (qw(Net::FTP Digest::SHA Data::Dumper)) {
1275 CPAN::Shell->install($mod);
1276 }
1277 # list all modules on my disk that have no VERSION number
1279 for $mod (CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","/./")) {
1280 next unless $mod->inst_file;
1281 # MakeMaker convention for undefined $VERSION:
1282 next unless $mod->inst_version eq "undef";
1283 print "No VERSION in ", $mod->id, "\n";
1284 }
1285 # find out which distribution on CPAN contains a module:
1287 print CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","Apache::Constants")->cpan_file
1288 Or if you want to schedule a cron job to watch CPAN, you could list
1290 all modules that need updating. First a quick and dirty way:
1291 perl -e 'use CPAN; CPAN::Shell->r;'
1293 If you don't want any output should all modules be up to date, parse
1295 the output of above command for the regular expression "/modules are
1296 up to date/" and decide to mail the output only if it doesn't match.
1297 If you prefer to do it more in a programmerish style in one single
1299 process, something like this may better suit you:
1300 # list all modules on my disk that have newer versions on CPAN
1302 for $mod (CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","/./")) {
1303 next unless $mod->inst_file;
1304 next if $mod->uptodate;
1305 printf "Module %s is installed as %s, could be updated to %s from CPAN\n",
1306 $mod->id, $mod->inst_version, $mod->cpan_version;
1307 }
1308 If that gives too much output every day, you may want to watch only
1310 for three modules. You can write
1311 for $mod (CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","/Apache|LWP|CGI/")) {
1313 as the first line instead. Or you can combine some of the above
1315 tricks:
1316 # watch only for a new mod_perl module
1318 $mod = CPAN::Shell->expand("Module","mod_perl");
1319 exit if $mod->uptodate;
1320 # new mod_perl arrived, let me know all update recommendations
1321 CPAN::Shell->r;
1322 Methods in the other Classes
1324 CPAN::Author::as_glimpse()
1325 Returns a one-line description of the author
1326 CPAN::Author::as_string()
1328 Returns a multi-line description of the author
1329 CPAN::Author::email()
1331 Returns the author's email address
1332 CPAN::Author::fullname()
1334 Returns the author's name
1335 CPAN::Author::name()
1337 An alias for fullname
1338 CPAN::Bundle::as_glimpse()
1340 Returns a one-line description of the bundle
1341 CPAN::Bundle::as_string()
1343 Returns a multi-line description of the bundle
1344 CPAN::Bundle::clean()
1346 Recursively runs the "clean" method on all items contained in the
1347 bundle.
1348 CPAN::Bundle::contains()
1350 Returns a list of objects' IDs contained in a bundle. The
1351 associated objects may be bundles, modules or distributions.
1352 CPAN::Bundle::force($method,@args)
1354 Forces CPAN to perform a task that it normally would have refused
1355 to do. Force takes as arguments a method name to be called and any
1356 number of additional arguments that should be passed to the called
1357 method. The internals of the object get the needed changes so that
1358 CPAN.pm does not refuse to take the action. The "force" is passed
1359 recursively to all contained objects. See also the section above on
1360 the "force" and the "fforce" pragma.
1361 CPAN::Bundle::get()
1363 Recursively runs the "get" method on all items contained in the
1364 bundle
1365 CPAN::Bundle::inst_file()
1367 Returns the highest installed version of the bundle in either @INC
1368 or "$CPAN::Config->{cpan_home}". Note that this is different from
1369 CPAN::Module::inst_file.
1370 CPAN::Bundle::inst_version()
1372 Like CPAN::Bundle::inst_file, but returns the $VERSION
1373 CPAN::Bundle::uptodate()
1375 Returns 1 if the bundle itself and all its members are up-to-date.
1376 CPAN::Bundle::install()
1378 Recursively runs the "install" method on all items contained in the
1379 bundle
1380 CPAN::Bundle::make()
1382 Recursively runs the "make" method on all items contained in the
1383 bundle
1384 CPAN::Bundle::readme()
1386 Recursively runs the "readme" method on all items contained in the
1387 bundle
1388 CPAN::Bundle::test()
1390 Recursively runs the "test" method on all items contained in the
1391 bundle
1392 CPAN::Distribution::as_glimpse()
1394 Returns a one-line description of the distribution
1395 CPAN::Distribution::as_string()
1397 Returns a multi-line description of the distribution
1398 CPAN::Distribution::author
1400 Returns the CPAN::Author object of the maintainer who uploaded this
1401 distribution
1402 CPAN::Distribution::pretty_id()
1404 Returns a string of the form "AUTHORID/TARBALL", where AUTHORID is
1405 the author's PAUSE ID and TARBALL is the distribution filename.
1406 CPAN::Distribution::base_id()
1408 Returns the distribution filename without any archive suffix. E.g
1409 "Foo-Bar-0.01"
1410 CPAN::Distribution::clean()
1412 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1413 and runs "make clean" there.
1414 CPAN::Distribution::containsmods()
1416 Returns a list of IDs of modules contained in a distribution file.
1417 Works only for distributions listed in the
1418 02packages.details.txt.gz file. This typically means that just most
1419 recent version of a distribution is covered.
1420 CPAN::Distribution::cvs_import()
1422 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1423 and runs something like
1424 cvs -d $cvs_root import -m $cvs_log $cvs_dir $userid v$version
1426 there.
1428 CPAN::Distribution::dir()
1430 Returns the directory into which this distribution has been
1431 unpacked.
1432 CPAN::Distribution::force($method,@args)
1434 Forces CPAN to perform a task that it normally would have refused
1435 to do. Force takes as arguments a method name to be called and any
1436 number of additional arguments that should be passed to the called
1437 method. The internals of the object get the needed changes so that
1438 CPAN.pm does not refuse to take the action. See also the section
1439 above on the "force" and the "fforce" pragma.
1440 CPAN::Distribution::get()
1442 Downloads the distribution from CPAN and unpacks it. Does nothing
1443 if the distribution has already been downloaded and unpacked within
1444 the current session.
1445 CPAN::Distribution::install()
1447 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1448 and runs the external command "make install" there. If "make" has
1449 not yet been run, it will be run first. A "make test" is issued in
1450 any case and if this fails, the install is cancelled. The
1451 cancellation can be avoided by letting "force" run the "install"
1452 for you.
1453 This install method only has the power to install the distribution
1455 if there are no dependencies in the way. To install an object along
1456 with all its dependencies, use CPAN::Shell->install.
1457 Note that install() gives no meaningful return value. See
1459 uptodate().
1460 CPAN::Distribution::isa_perl()
1462 Returns 1 if this distribution file seems to be a perl
1463 distribution. Normally this is derived from the file name only,
1464 but the index from CPAN can contain a hint to achieve a return
1465 value of true for other filenames too.
1466 CPAN::Distribution::look()
1468 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1469 and opens a subshell there. Exiting the subshell returns.
1470 CPAN::Distribution::make()
1472 First runs the "get" method to make sure the distribution is
1473 downloaded and unpacked. Changes to the directory where the
1474 distribution has been unpacked and runs the external commands "perl
1475 Makefile.PL" or "perl Build.PL" and "make" there.
1476 CPAN::Distribution::perldoc()
1478 Downloads the pod documentation of the file associated with a
1479 distribution (in HTML format) and runs it through the external
1480 command lynx specified in "$CPAN::Config->{lynx}". If lynx isn't
1481 available, it converts it to plain text with the external command
1482 html2text and runs it through the pager specified in
1483 "$CPAN::Config->{pager}".
1484 CPAN::Distribution::prefs()
1486 Returns the hash reference from the first matching YAML file that
1487 the user has deposited in the "prefs_dir/" directory. The first
1488 succeeding match wins. The files in the "prefs_dir/" are processed
1489 alphabetically, and the canonical distro name (e.g.
1490 AUTHOR/Foo-Bar-3.14.tar.gz) is matched against the regular
1491 expressions stored in the $root->{match}{distribution} attribute
1492 value. Additionally all module names contained in a distribution
1493 are matched against the regular expressions in the
1494 $root->{match}{module} attribute value. The two match values are
1495 ANDed together. Each of the two attributes are optional.
1496 CPAN::Distribution::prereq_pm()
1498 Returns the hash reference that has been announced by a
1499 distribution as the "requires" and "build_requires" elements. These
1500 can be declared either by the "META.yml" (if authoritative) or can
1501 be deposited after the run of "Build.PL" in the file
1502 "./_build/prereqs" or after the run of "Makfile.PL" written as the
1503 "PREREQ_PM" hash in a comment in the produced "Makefile". Note:
1504 this method only works after an attempt has been made to "make" the
1505 distribution. Returns undef otherwise.
1506 CPAN::Distribution::readme()
1508 Downloads the README file associated with a distribution and runs
1509 it through the pager specified in "$CPAN::Config->{pager}".
1510 CPAN::Distribution::reports()
1512 Downloads report data for this distribution from
1513 www.cpantesters.org and displays a subset of them.
1514 CPAN::Distribution::read_yaml()
1516 Returns the content of the META.yml of this distro as a hashref.
1517 Note: works only after an attempt has been made to "make" the
1518 distribution. Returns undef otherwise. Also returns undef if the
1519 content of META.yml is not authoritative. (The rules about what
1520 exactly makes the content authoritative are still in flux.)
1521 CPAN::Distribution::test()
1523 Changes to the directory where the distribution has been unpacked
1524 and runs "make test" there.
1525 CPAN::Distribution::uptodate()
1527 Returns 1 if all the modules contained in the distribution are up-
1528 to-date. Relies on containsmods.
1529 CPAN::Index::force_reload()
1531 Forces a reload of all indices.
1532 CPAN::Index::reload()
1534 Reloads all indices if they have not been read for more than
1535 "$CPAN::Config->{index_expire}" days.
1536 CPAN::InfoObj::dump()
1538 CPAN::Author, CPAN::Bundle, CPAN::Module, and CPAN::Distribution
1539 inherit this method. It prints the data structure associated with
1540 an object. Useful for debugging. Note: the data structure is
1541 considered internal and thus subject to change without notice.
1542 CPAN::Module::as_glimpse()
1544 Returns a one-line description of the module in four columns: The
1545 first column contains the word "Module", the second column consists
1546 of one character: an equals sign if this module is already
1547 installed and up-to-date, a less-than sign if this module is
1548 installed but can be upgraded, and a space if the module is not
1549 installed. The third column is the name of the module and the
1550 fourth column gives maintainer or distribution information.
1551 CPAN::Module::as_string()
1553 Returns a multi-line description of the module
1554 CPAN::Module::clean()
1556 Runs a clean on the distribution associated with this module.
1557 CPAN::Module::cpan_file()
1559 Returns the filename on CPAN that is associated with the module.
1560 CPAN::Module::cpan_version()
1562 Returns the latest version of this module available on CPAN.
1563 CPAN::Module::cvs_import()
1565 Runs a cvs_import on the distribution associated with this module.
1566 CPAN::Module::description()
1568 Returns a 44 character description of this module. Only available
1569 for modules listed in The Module List
1570 (CPAN/modules/00modlist.long.html or 00modlist.long.txt.gz)
1571 CPAN::Module::distribution()
1573 Returns the CPAN::Distribution object that contains the current
1574 version of this module.
1575 CPAN::Module::dslip_status()
1577 Returns a hash reference. The keys of the hash are the letters "D",
1578 "S", "L", "I", and <P>, for development status, support level,
1579 language, interface and public licence respectively. The data for
1580 the DSLIP status are collected by pause.perl.org when authors
1581 register their namespaces. The values of the 5 hash elements are
1582 one-character words whose meaning is described in the table below.
1583 There are also 5 hash elements "DV", "SV", "LV", "IV", and <PV>
1584 that carry a more verbose value of the 5 status variables.
1585 Where the 'DSLIP' characters have the following meanings:
1587 D - Development Stage (Note: *NO IMPLIED TIMESCALES*):
1589 i - Idea, listed to gain consensus or as a placeholder
1590 c - under construction but pre-alpha (not yet released)
1591 a/b - Alpha/Beta testing
1592 R - Released
1593 M - Mature (no rigorous definition)
1594 S - Standard, supplied with Perl 5
1595 S - Support Level:
1597 m - Mailing-list
1598 d - Developer
1599 u - Usenet newsgroup comp.lang.perl.modules
1600 n - None known, try comp.lang.perl.modules
1601 a - abandoned; volunteers welcome to take over maintenance
1602 L - Language Used:
1604 p - Perl-only, no compiler needed, should be platform independent
1605 c - C and perl, a C compiler will be needed
1606 h - Hybrid, written in perl with optional C code, no compiler needed
1607 + - C++ and perl, a C++ compiler will be needed
1608 o - perl and another language other than C or C++
1609 I - Interface Style
1611 f - plain Functions, no references used
1612 h - hybrid, object and function interfaces available
1613 n - no interface at all (huh?)
1614 r - some use of unblessed References or ties
1615 O - Object oriented using blessed references and/or inheritance
1616 P - Public License
1618 p - Standard-Perl: user may choose between GPL and Artistic
1619 g - GPL: GNU General Public License
1620 l - LGPL: "GNU Lesser General Public License" (previously known as
1621 "GNU Library General Public License")
1622 b - BSD: The BSD License
1623 a - Artistic license alone
1624 2 - Artistic license 2.0 or later
1625 o - open source: approved by www.opensource.org
1626 d - allows distribution without restrictions
1627 r - restricted distribution
1628 n - no license at all
1629 CPAN::Module::force($method,@args)
1631 Forces CPAN to perform a task it would normally refuse to do. Force
1632 takes as arguments a method name to be invoked and any number of
1633 additional arguments to pass that method. The internals of the
1634 object get the needed changes so that CPAN.pm does not refuse to
1635 take the action. See also the section above on the "force" and the
1636 "fforce" pragma.
1637 CPAN::Module::get()
1639 Runs a get on the distribution associated with this module.
1640 CPAN::Module::inst_file()
1642 Returns the filename of the module found in @INC. The first file
1643 found is reported, just as perl itself stops searching @INC once it
1644 finds a module.
1645 CPAN::Module::available_file()
1647 Returns the filename of the module found in PERL5LIB or @INC. The
1648 first file found is reported. The advantage of this method over
1649 "inst_file" is that modules that have been tested but not yet
1650 installed are included because PERL5LIB keeps track of tested
1651 modules.
1652 CPAN::Module::inst_version()
1654 Returns the version number of the installed module in readable
1655 format.
1656 CPAN::Module::available_version()
1658 Returns the version number of the available module in readable
1659 format.
1660 CPAN::Module::install()
1662 Runs an "install" on the distribution associated with this module.
1663 CPAN::Module::look()
1665 Changes to the directory where the distribution associated with
1666 this module has been unpacked and opens a subshell there. Exiting
1667 the subshell returns.
1668 CPAN::Module::make()
1670 Runs a "make" on the distribution associated with this module.
1671 CPAN::Module::manpage_headline()
1673 If module is installed, peeks into the module's manpage, reads the
1674 headline, and returns it. Moreover, if the module has been
1675 downloaded within this session, does the equivalent on the
1676 downloaded module even if it hasn't been installed yet.
1677 CPAN::Module::perldoc()
1679 Runs a "perldoc" on this module.
1680 CPAN::Module::readme()
1682 Runs a "readme" on the distribution associated with this module.
1683 CPAN::Module::reports()
1685 Calls the reports() method on the associated distribution object.
1686 CPAN::Module::test()
1688 Runs a "test" on the distribution associated with this module.
1689 CPAN::Module::uptodate()
1691 Returns 1 if the module is installed and up-to-date.
1692 CPAN::Module::userid()
1694 Returns the author's ID of the module.
1695 Cache Manager
1697 Currently the cache manager only keeps track of the build directory
1698 ($CPAN::Config->{build_dir}). It is a simple FIFO mechanism that
1699 deletes complete directories below "build_dir" as soon as the size of
1700 all directories there gets bigger than $CPAN::Config->{build_cache} (in
1701 MB). The contents of this cache may be used for later re-installations
1702 that you intend to do manually, but will never be trusted by CPAN
1703 itself. This is due to the fact that the user might use these
1704 directories for building modules on different architectures.
1705 There is another directory ($CPAN::Config->{keep_source_where}) where
1707 the original distribution files are kept. This directory is not covered
1708 by the cache manager and must be controlled by the user. If you choose
1709 to have the same directory as build_dir and as keep_source_where
1710 directory, then your sources will be deleted with the same fifo
1711 mechanism.
1712 Bundles
1714 A bundle is just a perl module in the namespace Bundle:: that does not
1715 define any functions or methods. It usually only contains
1716 documentation.
1717 It starts like a perl module with a package declaration and a $VERSION
1719 variable. After that the pod section looks like any other pod with the
1720 only difference being that one special pod section exists starting with
1721 (verbatim):
1722 =head1 CONTENTS
1724 In this pod section each line obeys the format
1726 Module_Name [Version_String] [- optional text]
1728 The only required part is the first field, the name of a module (e.g.
1730 Foo::Bar, i.e. not the name of the distribution file). The rest of the
1731 line is optional. The comment part is delimited by a dash just as in
1732 the man page header.
1733 The distribution of a bundle should follow the same convention as other
1735 distributions.
1736 Bundles are treated specially in the CPAN package. If you say 'install
1738 Bundle::Tkkit' (assuming such a bundle exists), CPAN will install all
1739 the modules in the CONTENTS section of the pod. You can install your
1740 own Bundles locally by placing a conformant Bundle file somewhere into
1741 your @INC path. The autobundle() command which is available in the
1742 shell interface does that for you by including all currently installed
1743 modules in a snapshot bundle file.
1744
1746 The CPAN program is trying to depend on as little as possible so the
1747 user can use it in hostile environment. It works better the more
1748 goodies the environment provides. For example if you try in the CPAN
1749 shell
1750 install Bundle::CPAN
1752 or
1754 install Bundle::CPANxxl
1756 you will find the shell more convenient than the bare shell before.
1758 If you have a local mirror of CPAN and can access all files with
1760 "file:" URLs, then you only need a perl later than perl5.003 to run
1761 this module. Otherwise Net::FTP is strongly recommended. LWP may be
1762 required for non-UNIX systems, or if your nearest CPAN site is
1763 associated with a URL that is not "ftp:".
1764 If you have neither Net::FTP nor LWP, there is a fallback mechanism
1766 implemented for an external ftp command or for an external lynx
1767 command.
1768
1770 Finding packages and VERSION
1771 This module presumes that all packages on CPAN
1772 • declare their $VERSION variable in an easy to parse manner. This
1774 prerequisite can hardly be relaxed because it consumes far too much
1775 memory to load all packages into the running program just to
1776 determine the $VERSION variable. Currently all programs that are
1777 dealing with version use something like this
1778 perl -MExtUtils::MakeMaker -le \
1780 'print MM->parse_version(shift)' filename
1781 If you are author of a package and wonder if your $VERSION can be
1783 parsed, please try the above method.
1784 • come as compressed or gzipped tarfiles or as zip files and contain a
1786 "Makefile.PL" or "Build.PL" (well, we try to handle a bit more, but
1787 with little enthusiasm).
1788 Debugging
1790 Debugging this module is more than a bit complex due to interference
1791 from the software producing the indices on CPAN, the mirroring process
1792 on CPAN, packaging, configuration, synchronicity, and even (gasp!) due
1793 to bugs within the CPAN.pm module itself.
1794 For debugging the code of CPAN.pm itself in interactive mode, some
1796 debugging aid can be turned on for most packages within CPAN.pm with
1797 one of
1798 o debug package...
1800 sets debug mode for packages.
1801 o debug -package...
1803 unsets debug mode for packages.
1804 o debug all
1806 turns debugging on for all packages.
1807 o debug number
1809 which sets the debugging packages directly. Note that "o debug 0" turns
1811 debugging off.
1812 What seems a successful strategy is the combination of "reload cpan"
1814 and the debugging switches. Add a new debug statement while running in
1815 the shell and then issue a "reload cpan" and see the new debugging
1816 messages immediately without losing the current context.
1817 "o debug" without an argument lists the valid package names and the
1819 current set of packages in debugging mode. "o debug" has built-in
1820 completion support.
1821 For debugging of CPAN data there is the "dump" command which takes the
1823 same arguments as make/test/install and outputs each object's
1824 Data::Dumper dump. If an argument looks like a perl variable and
1825 contains one of "$", "@" or "%", it is eval()ed and fed to Data::Dumper
1826 directly.
1827 Floppy, Zip, Offline Mode
1829 CPAN.pm works nicely without network access, too. If you maintain
1830 machines that are not networked at all, you should consider working
1831 with "file:" URLs. You'll have to collect your modules somewhere first.
1832 So you might use CPAN.pm to put together all you need on a networked
1833 machine. Then copy the $CPAN::Config->{keep_source_where} (but not
1834 $CPAN::Config->{build_dir}) directory on a floppy. This floppy is kind
1835 of a personal CPAN. CPAN.pm on the non-networked machines works nicely
1836 with this floppy. See also below the paragraph about CD-ROM support.
1837 Basic Utilities for Programmers
1839 has_inst($module)
1840 Returns true if the module is installed. Used to load all modules
1841 into the running CPAN.pm that are considered optional. The config
1842 variable "dontload_list" intercepts the has_inst() call such that an
1843 optional module is not loaded despite being available. For example,
1844 the following command will prevent "YAML.pm" from being loaded:
1845 cpan> o conf dontload_list push YAML
1847 See the source for details.
1849 use_inst($module)
1851 Similary to has_inst() tries to load optional library but also dies
1852 if library is not available
1853 has_usable($module)
1855 Returns true if the module is installed and in a usable state. Only
1856 useful for a handful of modules that are used internally. See the
1857 source for details.
1858 instance($module)
1860 The constructor for all the singletons used to represent modules,
1861 distributions, authors, and bundles. If the object already exists,
1862 this method returns the object; otherwise, it calls the constructor.
1863 frontend()
1865 frontend($new_frontend)
1866 Getter/setter for frontend object. Method just allows to subclass
1867 CPAN.pm.
1868
1870 There's no strong security layer in CPAN.pm. CPAN.pm helps you to
1871 install foreign, unmasked, unsigned code on your machine. We compare to
1872 a checksum that comes from the net just as the distribution file
1873 itself. But we try to make it easy to add security on demand:
1874 Cryptographically signed modules
1876 Since release 1.77, CPAN.pm has been able to verify cryptographically
1877 signed module distributions using Module::Signature. The CPAN modules
1878 can be signed by their authors, thus giving more security. The simple
1879 unsigned MD5 checksums that were used before by CPAN protect mainly
1880 against accidental file corruption.
1881 You will need to have Module::Signature installed, which in turn
1883 requires that you have at least one of Crypt::OpenPGP module or the
1884 command-line gpg tool installed.
1885 You will also need to be able to connect over the Internet to the
1887 public key servers, like pgp.mit.edu, and their port 11731 (the HKP
1888 protocol).
1889 The configuration parameter check_sigs is there to turn signature
1891 checking on or off.
1892
1894 Most functions in package CPAN are exported by default. The reason for
1895 this is that the primary use is intended for the cpan shell or for one-
1896 liners.
1897
1899 When the CPAN shell enters a subshell via the look command, it sets the
1900 environment CPAN_SHELL_LEVEL to 1, or increments that variable if it is
1901 already set.
1902 When CPAN runs, it sets the environment variable PERL5_CPAN_IS_RUNNING
1904 to the ID of the running process. It also sets
1905 PERL5_CPANPLUS_IS_RUNNING to prevent runaway processes which could
1906 happen with older versions of Module::Install.
1907 When running "perl Makefile.PL", the environment variable
1909 "PERL5_CPAN_IS_EXECUTING" is set to the full path of the "Makefile.PL"
1910 that is being executed. This prevents runaway processes with newer
1911 versions of Module::Install.
1912 When the config variable ftp_passive is set, all downloads will be run
1914 with the environment variable FTP_PASSIVE set to this value. This is in
1915 general a good idea as it influences both Net::FTP and LWP based
1916 connections. The same effect can be achieved by starting the cpan shell
1917 with this environment variable set. For Net::FTP alone, one can also
1918 always set passive mode by running libnetcfg.
1919
1921 Populating a freshly installed perl with one's favorite modules is
1922 pretty easy if you maintain a private bundle definition file. To get a
1923 useful blueprint of a bundle definition file, the command autobundle
1924 can be used on the CPAN shell command line. This command writes a
1925 bundle definition file for all modules installed for the current perl
1926 interpreter. It's recommended to run this command once only, and from
1927 then on maintain the file manually under a private name, say
1928 Bundle/my_bundle.pm. With a clever bundle file you can then simply say
1929 cpan> install Bundle::my_bundle
1931 then answer a few questions and go out for coffee (possibly even in a
1933 different city).
1934 Maintaining a bundle definition file means keeping track of two things:
1936 dependencies and interactivity. CPAN.pm sometimes fails on calculating
1937 dependencies because not all modules define all MakeMaker attributes
1938 correctly, so a bundle definition file should specify prerequisites as
1939 early as possible. On the other hand, it's annoying that so many
1940 distributions need some interactive configuring. So what you can try to
1941 accomplish in your private bundle file is to have the packages that
1942 need to be configured early in the file and the gentle ones later, so
1943 you can go out for coffee after a few minutes and leave CPAN.pm to
1944 churn away unattended.
1945
1947 Thanks to Graham Barr for contributing the following paragraphs about
1948 the interaction between perl, and various firewall configurations. For
1949 further information on firewalls, it is recommended to consult the
1950 documentation that comes with the ncftp program. If you are unable to
1951 go through the firewall with a simple Perl setup, it is likely that you
1952 can configure ncftp so that it works through your firewall.
1953 Three basic types of firewalls
1955 Firewalls can be categorized into three basic types.
1956 http firewall
1958 This is when the firewall machine runs a web server, and to access
1959 the outside world, you must do so via that web server. If you set
1960 environment variables like http_proxy or ftp_proxy to values
1961 beginning with http://, or in your web browser you've proxy
1962 information set, then you know you are running behind an http
1963 firewall.
1964 To access servers outside these types of firewalls with perl (even
1966 for ftp), you need LWP or HTTP::Tiny.
1967 ftp firewall
1969 This where the firewall machine runs an ftp server. This kind of
1970 firewall will only let you access ftp servers outside the firewall.
1971 This is usually done by connecting to the firewall with ftp, then
1972 entering a username like "user@outside.host.com".
1973 To access servers outside these type of firewalls with perl, you
1975 need Net::FTP.
1976 One-way visibility
1978 One-way visibility means these firewalls try to make themselves
1979 invisible to users inside the firewall. An FTP data connection is
1980 normally created by sending your IP address to the remote server
1981 and then listening for the return connection. But the remote server
1982 will not be able to connect to you because of the firewall. For
1983 these types of firewall, FTP connections need to be done in a
1984 passive mode.
1985 There are two that I can think off.
1987 SOCKS
1989 If you are using a SOCKS firewall, you will need to compile
1990 perl and link it with the SOCKS library. This is what is
1991 normally called a 'socksified' perl. With this executable you
1992 will be able to connect to servers outside the firewall as if
1993 it were not there.
1994 IP Masquerade
1996 This is when the firewall implemented in the kernel (via NAT,
1997 or networking address translation), it allows you to hide a
1998 complete network behind one IP address. With this firewall no
1999 special compiling is needed as you can access hosts directly.
2000 For accessing ftp servers behind such firewalls you usually
2002 need to set the environment variable "FTP_PASSIVE" or the
2003 config variable ftp_passive to a true value.
2004 Configuring lynx or ncftp for going through a firewall
2006 If you can go through your firewall with e.g. lynx, presumably with a
2007 command such as
2008 /usr/local/bin/lynx -pscott:tiger
2010 then you would configure CPAN.pm with the command
2012 o conf lynx "/usr/local/bin/lynx -pscott:tiger"
2014 That's all. Similarly for ncftp or ftp, you would configure something
2016 like
2017 o conf ncftp "/usr/bin/ncftp -f /home/scott/ncftplogin.cfg"
2019 Your mileage may vary...
2021
2023 1) I installed a new version of module X but CPAN keeps saying, I have
2024 the old version installed
2025 Probably you do have the old version installed. This can happen if
2027 a module installs itself into a different directory in the @INC
2028 path than it was previously installed. This is not really a CPAN.pm
2029 problem, you would have the same problem when installing the module
2030 manually. The easiest way to prevent this behaviour is to add the
2031 argument "UNINST=1" to the "make install" call, and that is why
2032 many people add this argument permanently by configuring
2033 o conf make_install_arg UNINST=1
2035 2) So why is UNINST=1 not the default?
2037 Because there are people who have their precise expectations about
2039 who may install where in the @INC path and who uses which @INC
2040 array. In fine tuned environments "UNINST=1" can cause damage.
2041 3) I want to clean up my mess, and install a new perl along with all
2043 modules I have. How do I go about it?
2044 Run the autobundle command for your old perl and optionally rename
2046 the resulting bundle file (e.g. Bundle/mybundle.pm), install the
2047 new perl with the Configure option prefix, e.g.
2048 ./Configure -Dprefix=/usr/local/perl-5.6.78.9
2050 Install the bundle file you produced in the first step with
2052 something like
2053 cpan> install Bundle::mybundle
2055 and you're done.
2057 4) When I install bundles or multiple modules with one command there
2059 is too much output to keep track of.
2060 You may want to configure something like
2062 o conf make_arg "| tee -ai /root/.cpan/logs/make.out"
2064 o conf make_install_arg "| tee -ai /root/.cpan/logs/make_install.out"
2065 so that STDOUT is captured in a file for later inspection.
2067 5) I am not root, how can I install a module in a personal directory?
2069 As of CPAN 1.9463, if you do not have permission to write the
2071 default perl library directories, CPAN's configuration process will
2072 ask you whether you want to bootstrap <local::lib>, which makes
2073 keeping a personal perl library directory easy.
2074 Another thing you should bear in mind is that the UNINST parameter
2076 can be dangerous when you are installing into a private area
2077 because you might accidentally remove modules that other people
2078 depend on that are not using the private area.
2079 6) How to get a package, unwrap it, and make a change before building
2081 it?
2082 Have a look at the "look" (!) command.
2084 7) I installed a Bundle and had a couple of fails. When I retried,
2086 everything resolved nicely. Can this be fixed to work on first try?
2087 The reason for this is that CPAN does not know the dependencies of
2089 all modules when it starts out. To decide about the additional
2090 items to install, it just uses data found in the META.yml file or
2091 the generated Makefile. An undetected missing piece breaks the
2092 process. But it may well be that your Bundle installs some
2093 prerequisite later than some depending item and thus your second
2094 try is able to resolve everything. Please note, CPAN.pm does not
2095 know the dependency tree in advance and cannot sort the queue of
2096 things to install in a topologically correct order. It resolves
2097 perfectly well if all modules declare the prerequisites correctly
2098 with the PREREQ_PM attribute to MakeMaker or the "requires" stanza
2099 of Module::Build. For bundles which fail and you need to install
2100 often, it is recommended to sort the Bundle definition file
2101 manually.
2102 8) In our intranet, we have many modules for internal use. How can I
2104 integrate these modules with CPAN.pm but without uploading the
2105 modules to CPAN?
2106 Have a look at the CPAN::Site module.
2108 9) When I run CPAN's shell, I get an error message about things in my
2110 "/etc/inputrc" (or "~/.inputrc") file.
2111 These are readline issues and can only be fixed by studying
2113 readline configuration on your architecture and adjusting the
2114 referenced file accordingly. Please make a backup of the
2115 "/etc/inputrc" or "~/.inputrc" and edit them. Quite often harmless
2116 changes like uppercasing or lowercasing some arguments solves the
2117 problem.
2118 10) Some authors have strange characters in their names.
2120 Internally CPAN.pm uses the UTF-8 charset. If your terminal is
2122 expecting ISO-8859-1 charset, a converter can be activated by
2123 setting term_is_latin to a true value in your config file. One way
2124 of doing so would be
2125 cpan> o conf term_is_latin 1
2127 If other charset support is needed, please file a bug report
2129 against CPAN.pm at rt.cpan.org and describe your needs. Maybe we
2130 can extend the support or maybe UTF-8 terminals become widely
2131 available.
2132 Note: this config variable is deprecated and will be removed in a
2134 future version of CPAN.pm. It will be replaced with the conventions
2135 around the family of $LANG and $LC_* environment variables.
2136 11) When an install fails for some reason and then I correct the error
2138 condition and retry, CPAN.pm refuses to install the module, saying
2139 "Already tried without success".
2140 Use the force pragma like so
2142 force install Foo::Bar
2144 Or you can use
2146 look Foo::Bar
2148 and then "make install" directly in the subshell.
2150 12) How do I install a "DEVELOPER RELEASE" of a module?
2152 By default, CPAN will install the latest non-developer release of a
2154 module. If you want to install a dev release, you have to specify
2155 the partial path starting with the author id to the tarball you
2156 wish to install, like so:
2157 cpan> install KWILLIAMS/Module-Build-0.27_07.tar.gz
2159 Note that you can use the "ls" command to get this path listed.
2161 13) How do I install a module and all its dependencies from the
2163 commandline, without being prompted for anything, despite my CPAN
2164 configuration (or lack thereof)?
2165 CPAN uses ExtUtils::MakeMaker's prompt() function to ask its
2167 questions, so if you set the PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT environment
2168 variable, you shouldn't be asked any questions at all (assuming the
2169 modules you are installing are nice about obeying that variable as
2170 well):
2171 % PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1 perl -MCPAN -e 'install My::Module'
2173 14) How do I create a Module::Build based Build.PL derived from an
2175 ExtUtils::MakeMaker focused Makefile.PL?
2176 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Module-Build-Convert/
2178 15) I'm frequently irritated with the CPAN shell's inability to help me
2180 select a good mirror.
2181 CPAN can now help you select a "good" mirror, based on which ones
2183 have the lowest 'ping' round-trip times. From the shell, use the
2184 command 'o conf init urllist' and allow CPAN to automatically
2185 select mirrors for you.
2186 Beyond that help, the urllist config parameter is yours. You can
2188 add and remove sites at will. You should find out which sites have
2189 the best up-to-dateness, bandwidth, reliability, etc. and are
2190 topologically close to you. Some people prefer fast downloads,
2191 others up-to-dateness, others reliability. You decide which to try
2192 in which order.
2193 Henk P. Penning maintains a site that collects data about CPAN
2195 sites:
2196 http://mirrors.cpan.org/
2198 Also, feel free to play with experimental features. Run
2200 o conf init randomize_urllist ftpstats_period ftpstats_size
2202 and choose your favorite parameters. After a few downloads running
2204 the "hosts" command will probably assist you in choosing the best
2205 mirror sites.
2206 16) Why do I get asked the same questions every time I start the shell?
2208 You can make your configuration changes permanent by calling the
2210 command "o conf commit". Alternatively set the "auto_commit"
2211 variable to true by running "o conf init auto_commit" and answering
2212 the following question with yes.
2213 17) Older versions of CPAN.pm had the original root directory of all
2215 tarballs in the build directory. Now there are always random
2216 characters appended to these directory names. Why was this done?
2217 The random characters are provided by File::Temp and ensure that
2219 each module's individual build directory is unique. This makes
2220 running CPAN.pm in concurrent processes simultaneously safe.
2221 18) Speaking of the build directory. Do I have to clean it up myself?
2223 You have the choice to set the config variable "scan_cache" to
2225 "never". Then you must clean it up yourself. The other possible
2226 values, "atstart" and "atexit" clean up the build directory when
2227 you start (or more precisely, after the first extraction into the
2228 build directory) or exit the CPAN shell, respectively. If you never
2229 start up the CPAN shell, you probably also have to clean up the
2230 build directory yourself.
2231 19) How can I switch to sudo instead of local::lib?
2233 The following 5 environment veriables need to be reset to the
2235 previous values: PATH, PERL5LIB, PERL_LOCAL_LIB_ROOT, PERL_MB_OPT,
2236 PERL_MM_OPT; and these two CPAN.pm config variables must be
2237 reconfigured: make_install_make_command and
2238 mbuild_install_build_command. The five env variables have probably
2239 been overwritten in your $HOME/.bashrc or some equivalent. You
2240 either find them there and delete their traces and logout/login or
2241 you override them temporarily, depending on your exact desire. The
2242 two cpanpm config variables can be set with:
2243 o conf init /install_.*_command/
2245 probably followed by
2247 o conf commit
2249
2251 OLD PERL VERSIONS
2252 CPAN.pm is regularly tested to run under 5.005 and assorted newer
2253 versions. It is getting more and more difficult to get the minimal
2254 prerequisites working on older perls. It is close to impossible to get
2255 the whole Bundle::CPAN working there. If you're in the position to have
2256 only these old versions, be advised that CPAN is designed to work fine
2257 without the Bundle::CPAN installed.
2258 To get things going, note that GBARR/Scalar-List-Utils-1.18.tar.gz is
2260 compatible with ancient perls and that File::Temp is listed as a
2261 prerequisite but CPAN has reasonable workarounds if it is missing.
2262 CPANPLUS
2264 This module and its competitor, the CPANPLUS module, are both much
2265 cooler than the other. CPAN.pm is older. CPANPLUS was designed to be
2266 more modular, but it was never intended to be compatible with CPAN.pm.
2267 CPANMINUS
2269 In the year 2010 App::cpanminus was launched as a new approach to a
2270 cpan shell with a considerably smaller footprint. Very cool stuff.
2271
2273 This software enables you to upgrade software on your computer and so
2274 is inherently dangerous because the newly installed software may
2275 contain bugs and may alter the way your computer works or even make it
2276 unusable. Please consider backing up your data before every upgrade.
2277
2279 Please report bugs via <http://rt.cpan.org/>
2280 Before submitting a bug, please make sure that the traditional method
2282 of building a Perl module package from a shell by following the
2283 installation instructions of that package still works in your
2284 environment.
2285
2287 Andreas Koenig "<andk@cpan.org>"
2288
2290 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
2291 under the same terms as Perl itself.
2292 See <http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>
2294
2296 Kawai,Takanori provides a Japanese translation of a very old version of
2297 this manpage at
2298 <http://homepage3.nifty.com/hippo2000/perltips/CPAN.htm>
2299
2301 Many people enter the CPAN shell by running the cpan utility program
2302 which is installed in the same directory as perl itself. So if you have
2303 this directory in your PATH variable (or some equivalent in your
2304 operating system) then typing "cpan" in a console window will work for
2305 you as well. Above that the utility provides several commandline
2306 shortcuts.
2307 melezhik (Alexey) sent me a link where he published a chef recipe to
2309 work with CPAN.pm: http://community.opscode.com/cookbooks/cpan.
2310perl v5.38.0 2023-07-20 CPAN(3)