Installing Perl Modules From CPAN

There are several ways to install Perl modules from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network on your Unix-based system. There is always more than one way to do things with Perl, and this is no different. Before embarking on any installation, download the module, unzip it and check out the documentation. Most modules are installed using the same method. Activate the CPAN Module The simplest way to install Perl modules to use the CPAN module itself. If you are the system administrator and want to install the module systemwide, youll need to switch to your root user. To fire up the CPAN module, just get to your command line and run this: If this is the first time youve run CPAN, its going to ask you a series of questions—in most cases, the default answer is fine. Once you find yourself staring at the cpan command prompt, installing a module is as easy as install MODULE::NAME. For example, to install the HTML::Template module youd type: CPAN should take it from there, and youll wind up with the module installed in your Perl library. Installing from the Command Line Lets say youre on your system command line and you just want to install a module as quickly as possible; you can run the Perl CPAN module via command line Perl and install it in a single line: Its always advisable to download a module yourself, especially if youre having problems installing with CPAN. If youre on the command line, you can use something like wget to grab the file. Next, youll want to unzip it with something like: This unzips the module into a directory and then you can go in and poke around. Look for the README or INSTALL files. In most cases, installing a module by hand is still pretty easy, though, although not as easy as CPAN. Once youve switched into the base directory for the module, you should be able to install it by typing: