41.11.1. Installing Modules the Easy Way

In a fit of inspired genius (or madness), the CPAN module was created to automate the task of fetching and installing modules. If you want to install the Text::AutoFormat suite, it's as easy as becoming superuser on your system and typing:

# perl -MCPAN -e 'install Text::AutoFormat'

Perl has many command-line switches. Here, -M (equivalent to use module) and -e (execute the next argument as perl code) are used. If you've never run the CPAN module before, be prepared to answer a lot of questions about your network setup and where certain system binaries are. Luckily, you can usually accept the defaults safely. Once that's done, the CPAN module will go to the CPAN mirror you specified; find the latest version of the module you asked for; and download, unpack, configure, and install it for you with no additional typing. Now that's twenty-first-century library management! If your module depends on other modules not installed on your system, CPAN will attempt to fetch and install the missing modules. In fact, you can update the CPAN module itself with:

# perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::CPAN'

The CPAN module also has an interactive shell you can access like this:

$ perl -MCPAN -e shell

Why bother with the interactive shell? Sometimes you want to install several unrelated modules at once. This is done more conveniently in the CPAN shell. Alternately, you may want only to download module archives without actualling installing them. The entire range of shell options can be found with the h command inside the shell. One of the most useful shell functions, the search function, can be used to look up available CPAN modules. For instance:

$ sudo perl -MCPAN -e shell

cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v1.59)
ReadLine support enabled

cpan> i /Text/
CPAN: Storable loaded ok
Going to read /usr/local/cpan/Metadata
Module          AddressBook::DB::Text (D/DL/DLEIGH/AddressBook-0.16.tar.gz)
Module          AnyData::Format::Text (J/JZ/JZUCKER/AnyData-0.05.tar.gz)
Module          Apache::PrettyText (C/CH/CHTHORMAN/Apache-PrettyText-1.03...
...

401 items found
cpan> quit

Here, we use the i command to search for the regular expression /Text/ in all the module names.

When you first run the CPAN module, you will be asked a series of configuration questions. The first question you'll be asked when configuring CPAN is to name a CPAN build and cache directory (where CPAN unpacks fetched module archives and builds them). Put this in a sensible place where you and other users can can get to it, such as /usr/local/cpan. You'll be asked to name the maximum size for the cache directory (the default is 10MB). The next question will ask when to perform size checks on the cache, atstart or never. Unless you have a compelling reason not to remove old module builds, accept the default of atstart. You then be asked whether CPAN metadata should be cached, and again, accept the default of yes.

The next question asks about what character set your terminal expects. Again, you should accept the default of yes. The configuration then asks what it should do when unfulfilled dependencies are encountered during a module installation. CPAN can automatically fetch the missing modules (follow), ask for confirmation before downloading them (ask), or do nothing (ignore). If you are on a fast Internet connection, you may want to set the policy to follow. The safest policy, and one that guards against runaway module fetching sessions, is ask.

The next several questions ask for the location of certain binaries (like lynx, make, gzip, etc.). Answer these appropriately. The next set of questions ask for additional make parameters. Again, accept the defaults. You will then be asked about your network setup. If you are behind a firewall that uses SOCKs or proxy servers for FTP and HTTP, you will need to enter those server names. CPAN will ask you to pick a CPAN mirror closest to you, by asking you for continent and country information. You'll be presented with a list of CPAN mirrors, and you can enter the numbers of the URLs in which you are interested. Generally, you'll only need to give one or two mirrors. The last question is about the WAIT system, to which you can safely accept the default. This concludes the CPAN configuration.