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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | perlmodinstall - Installing CPAN Modules |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
6 | |
7 | You can think of a module as the fundamental unit of reusable Perl |
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8 | code; see L<perlmod> for details. Whenever anyone creates a chunk of |
9 | Perl code that they think will be useful to the world, they register |
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10 | as a Perl developer at http://www.cpan.org/modules/04pause.html |
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11 | so that they can then upload their code to the CPAN. The CPAN is the |
12 | Comprehensive Perl Archive Network and can be accessed at |
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13 | http://www.cpan.org/ , and searched at http://search.cpan.org/ . |
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14 | |
15 | This documentation is for people who want to download CPAN modules |
16 | and install them on their own computer. |
17 | |
18 | =head2 PREAMBLE |
19 | |
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20 | First, are you sure that the module isn't already on your system? Try |
21 | C<perl -MFoo -e 1>. (Replace "Foo" with the name of the module; for |
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22 | instance, C<perl -MCGI::Carp -e 1>. |
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23 | |
24 | If you don't see an error message, you have the module. (If you do |
25 | see an error message, it's still possible you have the module, but |
26 | that it's not in your path, which you can display with C<perl -e |
27 | "print qq(@INC)">.) For the remainder of this document, we'll assume |
28 | that you really honestly truly lack an installed module, but have |
29 | found it on the CPAN. |
30 | |
31 | So now you have a file ending in .tar.gz (or, less often, .zip). You |
32 | know there's a tasty module inside. There are four steps you must now |
33 | take: |
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34 | |
35 | =over 5 |
36 | |
37 | =item B<DECOMPRESS> the file |
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38 | |
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39 | =item B<UNPACK> the file into a directory |
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40 | |
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41 | =item B<BUILD> the module (sometimes unnecessary) |
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42 | |
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43 | =item B<INSTALL> the module. |
44 | |
45 | =back |
46 | |
47 | Here's how to perform each step for each operating system. This is |
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48 | <not> a substitute for reading the README and INSTALL files that |
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49 | might have come with your module! |
50 | |
51 | Also note that these instructions are tailored for installing the |
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52 | module into your system's repository of Perl modules -- but you can |
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53 | install modules into any directory you wish. For instance, where I |
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54 | say C<perl Makefile.PL>, you can substitute C<perl Makefile.PL |
55 | PREFIX=/my/perl_directory> to install the modules into |
56 | C</my/perl_directory>. Then you can use the modules from your Perl |
57 | programs with C<use lib "/my/perl_directory/lib/site_perl";> or |
58 | sometimes just C<use "/my/perl_directory";>. If you're on a system |
59 | that requires superuser/root access to install modules into the |
60 | directories you see when you type C<perl -e "print qq(@INC)">, you'll |
61 | want to install them into a local directory (such as your home |
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62 | directory) and use this approach. |
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63 | |
64 | =over 4 |
65 | |
66 | =item * |
67 | |
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68 | B<If you're on a Unix or Linux system,> |
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69 | |
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70 | You can use Andreas Koenig's CPAN module |
71 | ( http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/CPAN ) |
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72 | to automate the following steps, from DECOMPRESS through INSTALL. |
73 | |
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74 | A. DECOMPRESS |
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75 | |
76 | Decompress the file with C<gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz> |
77 | |
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78 | You can get gzip from ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu. |
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79 | |
80 | Or, you can combine this step with the next to save disk space: |
81 | |
82 | gzip -dc yourmodule.tar.gz | tar -xof - |
83 | |
84 | B. UNPACK |
85 | |
86 | Unpack the result with C<tar -xof yourmodule.tar> |
87 | |
88 | C. BUILD |
89 | |
90 | Go into the newly-created directory and type: |
91 | |
92 | perl Makefile.PL |
93 | make |
94 | make test |
95 | |
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96 | or |
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97 | |
98 | perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/my/perl_directory |
99 | |
100 | to install it locally. (Remember that if you do this, you'll have to |
101 | put C<use lib "/my/perl_directory";> near the top of the program that |
102 | is to use this module. |
103 | |
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104 | D. INSTALL |
105 | |
106 | While still in that directory, type: |
107 | |
108 | make install |
109 | |
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110 | Make sure you have the appropriate permissions to install the module |
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111 | in your Perl 5 library directory. Often, you'll need to be root. |
112 | |
113 | That's all you need to do on Unix systems with dynamic linking. |
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114 | Most Unix systems have dynamic linking -- if yours doesn't, or if for |
115 | another reason you have a statically-linked perl, B<and> the |
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116 | module requires compilation, you'll need to build a new Perl binary |
117 | that includes the module. Again, you'll probably need to be root. |
118 | |
119 | =item * |
120 | |
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121 | B<If you're running ActivePerl (Win95/98/2K/NT/XP, Linux, Solaris)> |
122 | |
123 | First, type C<ppm> from a shell and see whether ActiveState's PPM |
124 | repository has your module. If so, you can install it with C<ppm> and |
125 | you won't have to bother with any of the other steps here. You might |
126 | be able to use the CPAN instructions from the "Unix or Linux" section |
127 | above as well; give it a try. Otherwise, you'll have to follow the |
128 | steps below. |
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129 | |
130 | A. DECOMPRESS |
131 | |
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132 | You can use the shareware Winzip ( http://www.winzip.com ) to |
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133 | decompress and unpack modules. |
134 | |
135 | B. UNPACK |
136 | |
137 | If you used WinZip, this was already done for you. |
138 | |
139 | C. BUILD |
140 | |
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141 | Does the module require compilation (i.e. does it have files that end |
142 | in .xs, .c, .h, .y, .cc, .cxx, or .C)? If it doesn't, go to INSTALL. |
143 | If it does, life is now officially tough for you, because you have to |
144 | compile the module yourself -- no easy feat on Windows. You'll need |
145 | the C<nmake> utility, available at |
146 | ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/nmake15.exe. |
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147 | |
148 | D. INSTALL |
149 | |
150 | Copy the module into your Perl's I<lib> directory. That'll be one |
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151 | of the directories you see when you type |
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152 | |
153 | perl -e 'print "@INC"' |
154 | |
155 | =item * |
156 | |
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157 | B<If you're using a Macintosh,> |
158 | |
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159 | |
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160 | A. DECOMPRESS |
161 | |
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162 | First, make sure you have the latest B<cpan-mac> distribution ( |
163 | http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/CNANDOR/ ), which has utilities for |
164 | doing all of the steps. Read the cpan-mac directions carefully and |
165 | install it. If you choose not to use cpan-mac for some reason, there |
166 | are alternatives listed here. |
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167 | |
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168 | After installing cpan-mac, drop the module archive on the |
169 | B<untarzipme> droplet, which will decompress and unpack for you. |
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170 | |
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171 | B<Or>, you can either use the shareware B<StuffIt Expander> program |
172 | ( http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/ ) |
173 | in combination with B<DropStuff with Expander Enhancer> |
174 | ( http://www.aladdinsys.com/dropstuff/ ) |
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175 | or the freeware B<MacGzip> program ( |
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176 | http://persephone.cps.unizar.es/general/gente/spd/gzip/gzip.html ). |
177 | |
178 | B. UNPACK |
179 | |
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180 | If you're using untarzipme or StuffIt, the archive should be extracted |
181 | now. B<Or>, you can use the freeware B<suntar> or I<Tar> ( |
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182 | http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/ ). |
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183 | |
184 | C. BUILD |
185 | |
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186 | Check the contents of the distribution. |
187 | Read the module's documentation, looking for |
188 | reasons why you might have trouble using it with MacPerl. Look for |
189 | F<.xs> and F<.c> files, which normally denote that the distribution |
190 | must be compiled, and you cannot install it "out of the box." |
191 | (See L<"PORTABILITY">.) |
192 | |
193 | If a module does not work on MacPerl but should, or needs to be |
194 | compiled, see if the module exists already as a port on the |
195 | MacPerl Module Porters site (http://pudge.net/mmp/). |
196 | For more information on doing XS with MacPerl yourself, see |
197 | Arved Sandstrom's XS tutorial (http://macperl.com/depts/Tutorials/), |
198 | and then consider uploading your binary to the CPAN and |
199 | registering it on the MMP site. |
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200 | |
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201 | D. INSTALL |
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202 | |
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203 | If you are using cpan-mac, just drop the folder on the |
204 | B<installme> droplet, and use the module. |
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205 | |
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206 | B<Or>, if you aren't using cpan-mac, do some manual labor. |
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207 | |
208 | Make sure the newlines for the modules are in Mac format, not Unix format. |
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209 | If they are not then you might have decompressed them incorrectly. Check |
210 | your decompression and unpacking utilities settings to make sure they are |
211 | translating text files properly. |
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212 | |
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213 | As a last resort, you can use the perl one-liner: |
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214 | |
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215 | perl -i.bak -pe 's/(?:\015)?\012/\015/g' <filenames> |
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216 | |
217 | on the source files. |
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218 | |
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219 | Then move the files (probably just the F<.pm> files, though there |
220 | may be some additional ones, too; check the module documentation) |
221 | to their final destination: This will |
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222 | most likely be in C<$ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:> (i.e., |
223 | C<HD:MacPerl folder:site_lib:>). You can add new paths to |
224 | the default C<@INC> in the Preferences menu item in the |
225 | MacPerl application (C<$ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:> is added |
226 | automagically). Create whatever directory structures are required |
227 | (i.e., for C<Some::Module>, create |
228 | C<$ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:Some:> and put |
229 | C<Module.pm> in that directory). |
230 | |
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231 | Then run the following script (or something like it): |
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232 | |
233 | #!perl -w |
234 | use AutoSplit; |
235 | my $dir = "${MACPERL}site_perl"; |
236 | autosplit("$dir:Some:Module.pm", "$dir:auto", 0, 1, 1); |
237 | |
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238 | =item * |
239 | |
240 | B<If you're on the DJGPP port of DOS,> |
241 | |
242 | A. DECOMPRESS |
243 | |
244 | djtarx ( ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2/ ) |
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245 | will both uncompress and unpack. |
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246 | |
247 | B. UNPACK |
248 | |
249 | See above. |
250 | |
251 | C. BUILD |
252 | |
253 | Go into the newly-created directory and type: |
254 | |
255 | perl Makefile.PL |
256 | make |
257 | make test |
258 | |
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259 | You will need the packages mentioned in F<README.dos> |
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260 | in the Perl distribution. |
261 | |
262 | D. INSTALL |
263 | |
264 | While still in that directory, type: |
265 | |
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266 | make install |
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267 | |
268 | You will need the packages mentioned in F<README.dos> in the Perl distribution. |
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269 | |
270 | =item * |
271 | |
272 | B<If you're on OS/2,> |
273 | |
274 | Get the EMX development suite and gzip/tar, from either Hobbes ( |
275 | http://hobbes.nmsu.edu ) or Leo ( http://www.leo.org ), and then follow |
276 | the instructions for Unix. |
277 | |
278 | =item * |
279 | |
280 | B<If you're on VMS,> |
281 | |
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282 | When downloading from CPAN, save your file with a C<.tgz> |
283 | extension instead of C<.tar.gz>. All other periods in the |
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284 | filename should be replaced with underscores. For example, |
285 | C<Your-Module-1.33.tar.gz> should be downloaded as |
286 | C<Your-Module-1_33.tgz>. |
287 | |
288 | A. DECOMPRESS |
289 | |
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290 | Type |
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291 | |
292 | gzip -d Your-Module.tgz |
293 | |
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294 | or, for zipped modules, type |
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295 | |
296 | unzip Your-Module.zip |
297 | |
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298 | Executables for gzip, zip, and VMStar: |
299 | |
300 | http://www.openvms.digital.com/freeware/ |
301 | http://www.crinoid.com/utils/ |
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302 | |
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303 | and their source code: |
304 | |
305 | http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html |
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306 | |
307 | Note that GNU's gzip/gunzip is not the same as Info-ZIP's zip/unzip |
308 | package. The former is a simple compression tool; the latter permits |
309 | creation of multi-file archives. |
310 | |
311 | B. UNPACK |
312 | |
313 | If you're using VMStar: |
314 | |
315 | VMStar xf Your-Module.tar |
316 | |
317 | Or, if you're fond of VMS command syntax: |
318 | |
319 | tar/extract/verbose Your_Module.tar |
320 | |
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321 | C. BUILD |
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322 | |
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323 | Make sure you have MMS (from Digital) or the freeware MMK ( available |
324 | from MadGoat at http://www.madgoat.com ). Then type this to create |
325 | the DESCRIP.MMS for the module: |
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326 | |
327 | perl Makefile.PL |
328 | |
329 | Now you're ready to build: |
330 | |
331 | mms |
332 | mms test |
333 | |
334 | Substitute C<mmk> for C<mms> above if you're using MMK. |
335 | |
336 | D. INSTALL |
337 | |
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338 | Type |
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339 | |
340 | mms install |
341 | |
342 | Substitute C<mmk> for C<mms> above if you're using MMK. |
343 | |
344 | =item * |
345 | |
346 | B<If you're on MVS>, |
347 | |
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348 | Introduce the F<.tar.gz> file into an HFS as binary; don't translate from |
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349 | ASCII to EBCDIC. |
350 | |
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351 | A. DECOMPRESS |
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352 | |
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353 | Decompress the file with C<gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz> |
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354 | |
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355 | You can get gzip from |
356 | http://www.s390.ibm.com/products/oe/bpxqp1.html |
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357 | |
358 | B. UNPACK |
359 | |
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360 | Unpack the result with |
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361 | |
362 | pax -o to=IBM-1047,from=ISO8859-1 -r < yourmodule.tar |
363 | |
364 | The BUILD and INSTALL steps are identical to those for Unix. Some |
365 | modules generate Makefiles that work better with GNU make, which is |
366 | available from http://www.mks.com/s390/gnu/index.htm. |
367 | |
368 | =back |
369 | |
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370 | =head1 PORTABILITY |
371 | |
372 | Note that not all modules will work with on all platforms. |
373 | See L<perlport> for more information on portability issues. |
374 | Read the documentation to see if the module will work on your |
375 | system. There are basically three categories |
376 | of modules that will not work "out of the box" with all |
377 | platforms (with some possibility of overlap): |
378 | |
379 | =over 4 |
380 | |
381 | =item * |
382 | |
383 | B<Those that should, but don't.> These need to be fixed; consider |
384 | contacting the author and possibly writing a patch. |
385 | |
386 | =item * |
387 | |
388 | B<Those that need to be compiled, where the target platform |
389 | doesn't have compilers readily available.> (These modules contain |
390 | F<.xs> or F<.c> files, usually.) You might be able to find |
391 | existing binaries on the CPAN or elsewhere, or you might |
392 | want to try getting compilers and building it yourself, and then |
393 | release the binary for other poor souls to use. |
394 | |
395 | =item * |
396 | |
397 | B<Those that are targeted at a specific platform.> |
398 | (Such as the Win32:: modules.) If the module is targeted |
399 | specifically at a platform other than yours, you're out |
400 | of luck, most likely. |
401 | |
402 | =back |
403 | |
404 | |
405 | |
406 | Check the CPAN Testers if a module should work with your platform |
407 | but it doesn't behave as you'd expect, or you aren't sure whether or |
408 | not a module will work under your platform. If the module you want |
409 | isn't listed there, you can test it yourself and let CPAN Testers know, |
410 | you can join CPAN Testers, or you can request it be tested. |
411 | |
412 | http://testers.cpan.org/ |
413 | |
414 | |
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415 | =head1 HEY |
416 | |
417 | If you have any suggested changes for this page, let me know. Please |
418 | don't send me mail asking for help on how to install your modules. |
419 | There are too many modules, and too few Orwants, for me to be able to |
420 | answer or even acknowledge all your questions. Contact the module |
421 | author instead, or post to comp.lang.perl.modules, or ask someone |
422 | familiar with Perl on your operating system. |
423 | |
424 | =head1 AUTHOR |
425 | |
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426 | Jon Orwant |
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427 | |
428 | orwant@tpj.com |
429 | |
430 | The Perl Journal, http://tpj.com |
431 | |
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432 | with invaluable help from Chris Nandor, and valuable help from Brandon |
433 | Allbery, Charles Bailey, Graham Barr, Dominic Dunlop, Jarkko |
434 | Hietaniemi, Ben Holzman, Tom Horsley, Nick Ing-Simmons, Tuomas |
435 | J. Lukka, Laszlo Molnar, Alan Olsen, Peter Prymmer, Gurusamy Sarathy, |
436 | Christoph Spalinger, Dan Sugalski, Larry Virden, and Ilya Zakharevich. |
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437 | |
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438 | First version July 22, 1998; last revised November 21, 2001. |
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439 | |
440 | =head1 COPYRIGHT |
441 | |
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442 | Copyright (C) 1998, 2002 Jon Orwant. All Rights Reserved. |
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443 | |
444 | Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this |
445 | documentation provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are |
446 | preserved on all copies. |
447 | |
448 | Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this |
449 | documentation under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also |
450 | that they are marked clearly as modified versions, that the authors' |
451 | names and title are unchanged (though subtitles and additional |
452 | authors' names may be added), and that the entire resulting derived |
453 | work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical |
454 | to this one. |
455 | |
456 | Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this |
457 | documentation into another language, under the above conditions for |
458 | modified versions. |
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459 | |