A lot of distros have packages for perl modules that allow many modules to be installed automatically. However every distro has its own naming convention for the packages and it can therefore be difficult to find the right package name. Using the CPAN module avoids this as the generic MODULE::Name syntax can be used, this remains the same no matter which distro is used as it Perl's syntax rather than the distro's syntax.

Install perl modules using CPAN

sudo perl -MCPAN -e shell

If you are not prompted to setup a config, type: o conf init This will clear any config to defaults, choose 'yes' to select the default options. When this has completed type o conf init urllist to setup your mirrors, followed my o conf commit to save changes.

Within the CPAN shell perl modules can be installed by typing install MODULE::Name . For example:

install Archive::Zip

Removing config

If there is a problem somewhere in your CPAN config you may need to delete your Config.pm file. The system-wide file is usually kept in /etc/perl/CPAN/Config.pm . The user version ~/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm is used if it exists.

Category:Linux