On 4/3/08, Lesley Binks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi > > I'm using Perl 5.8.8 on etch and I have a couple of questions about Perl. > > My @INC is > @INC is /etc/perl /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8 > /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.8 /usr/lib/perl5 /usr/share/perl5 > /usr/lib/perl/5.8 /usr/share/perl/5.8 /usr/local/lib/site_perl > and, as far as I understand it this describes where perl searches for > modules. > > The major difference between Debian etch and other distros I have > worked on is the existence of /etc/perl which contains subdirectories > of CPAN and NET on my install. > > Almost all other distros share the /usr/share and /usr/lib hierarchies > and I would like to know why the two hiearchies exist and how it is > decided which hiearchy a module will be installed. > Basically what characteristics does a module have which means it > belongs in /usr/share or /usr/lib? > > I think I understand the /usr/local hierarchy as a place to put > anything that occurs locally - any locally written modules and I use > site_perl for web related modules - mod_perl for example. > > I can see the latest release of perl is 5.10 so presumably one could > have perl/5.10.0 as well as perl/5.8.8 on one installation but there > might be some modules that are generic across all perl 5.x releases. > > The last question relates to installing modules. Debian provides the > apt-get mechanism, and the cpan mechanism can also be used in two ways > 'perl -MCPAN ..' or just using cpan on the command line. > > I assume I get the modules that have been released with etch and which > might be a few versions behind the latest for any given module when > using the apt-get option e.g. 'apt-get libcgi-perl'. > > If I use CPAN what is the best method to use? Should I use the cpan > command or should I use the perl -MCPAN method? And how much of a > problem is not having perl 5.10 installed going to be if I choose to > get the latest modules from CPAN? Is it possible to install 5.10 on > etch or are there dependencies that might have wider effects than > simply updating perl e.g. altering the libraries that gcc relies on?
I think you might run into some issues if you install perl 5.10, but I am not a perl expert. As far as installing stuff from cpan, I suggest you check out a program called dh-make-perl. It wraps cpan to create a .deb of the module, so you can use the package manager to manage your cpan modules. It is clearly easy to use, since I got it to work without much trouble and I know almost nothing about perl or cpan. Cheers, Kelly Clowers -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
