Perl Modules

[[Category::Tutorials]]

Getting To The CPAN Prompt

To administer your Perl modules you must use the CPAN prompt. To get to the CPAN prompt, as root type:

perl -MCPAN -e shell

If this is the first time that you have entered the CPAN shell, you will be asked some set-up questions that will allow the shell to access CPAN's servers to get modules. Just read the questions and answer them.

If you ever need to re-run the set-up again, enter the CPAN shell and then type:

o conf init

Listing The Installed Modules

As of Slackware 10.2 and Perl 5.8.7- you can look the perllocal.pod file and see the modules.

cat /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.7/i486-linux/perllocal.pod

A much cleaner way is by using this Perl program:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use ExtUtils::Installed;

my $instmod = ExtUtils::Installed->new();

foreach my $module ($instmod->modules())

{

my $version = $instmod->version($module) || "???";

print "$module -- $version\n";

}

Installing New Modules

From the CPAN shell prompt, type:

install <Some::Module>

Removing Modules

A clean way is by using this Perl program:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use ExtUtils::Packlist;

use ExtUtils::Installed;

$ARGV[0] or die "Usage: $0 Module::Name\n";

my $mod = $ARGV[0];

my $inst = ExtUtils::Installed->new();

foreach my $item (sort($inst->files($mod)))

{

print "removing $item\n";

unlink $item;

}

my $packfile = $inst->packlist($mod)->packlist_file();

print "removing $packfile\n";

unlink $packfile;