Install modules from CPAN

Most of you that are hosted with some ISP out there, will need to call your tech support and ask them to install a module from CPAN. We recommend to change your ISP before you start building your web presence, if they refuse to do that on demand. There is no real reason why an ISP would refuse you the right to install/update some CPAN modules, other than pure laziness.

If you own your server, and/or have shell access to the machine, you can do that yourself.

Here are some modules you would want to install, and the syntax to install them:

install MD5
install Time::HiRes
install Bundle::CPAN
install DBI
force install DBD::mysql
install LWP::UserAgent
install Crypt::SSLeay
install Net::SSLeay
install XML::Parser
install Date::ICal
install Mail::Sender

Note that we "force" install DBD::mysql, since your sql database might be already configured with a password for the root user, therefore the test programs for DBD::mysql would fail.

Installing CPAN modules on Win32 platforms (NT/2000/XP)

On NT boxes, you would remotely connect to the GUI using something like VNC, PCAnywhere or similar remote management tool. You will need Administrator rights to the machine.

For the Windows platform, the vast majority of the sites will use Activestate Perl.

Activestate comes with its own package manager program, that is installed as a shortcut in your program list. It is a batch file, usually in the path:

C:\perl\bin\ppm3-bin.bat

This batch file allows you to install the modules you need in a command-prompt like interface.

If it is screwed up and crashes on you, reinstall Perl, or be brave and open a system command prompt, go to the perl directory and start ppm.bat manually (works for me in most of the cases) This will be the older version of the PPM, but it does about the same stuff and saves you time when in a hurry. Be aware that the syntax for the old PPM(2.1.6) is slightly different from the PPM3.x.

We recommend reading the documentation on the Activestate page of how to use it, but here are a few hints:

To install the Time::HiRes package, just type in:

install Time::HiRes

That is so simple. All you have to do is wait for the system to install the package. Some packages are not available for your platform, or they need to be installed from a different package distribution site.

Since Activestate is a bit "different" they also support only a subset of the modules available on CPAN, through the ActiveState default package repository. If you do not find some module in the default repository, you are usually out of luck, it will not be available for Windows. This has its advantages, since Activestate (claims to) test the packages that are certified for the Windows platform.

An exception to the rule above make the sites that distribute special packages, as the ones found in this link.

Please follow the link above for examples of how to change the active repository and install the package you need.

Installing CPAN modules on Unix platforms

On Unix, you will use either Telnet or SSH, and you will need the root password.

First of all, you will need to get root rights, the system will ask you for the root password:

> su root

Then enter the "magic" line to load CPAN (syntax may be different on some Unixes):

> perl -MCPAN -e shell

If CPAN was never run, you will be guided through a configuration script, that will set your CPAN parameters and list or sites you use as mirrors.

You screwed up your CPAN installation and something does not work anymore? Try:

o conf init

To install the Time::HiRes package, just type in:

cpan> install Time::HiRes

Unlike the windows case, you can install on Unix everything you want, provided it will compile on your platform. Some systems are more reluctant to change than others, and you might experience problems installing certain modules, in which case we recommend to contact somebody that has more sysadmin experience on that platform.