DCPM: Problems with an unusual module

Neil Williams linux at codehelp.co.uk
Tue Oct 14 16:01:08 CDT 2003


On Tuesday 14 Oct 2003 9:29 am, Matthew Browning wrote:
> On Monday 13 October 2003 21:54, Neil Williams wrote:
> > Problem:
> > Net::Z3950 requires the YAZ toolkit to be installed prior to using
> > CPAN to obtain the perl module. The toolkit is the usual tarball with
> > the usual ./configure make make install triage command set. The
> > requirement for root to perform the make install is quite a hurdle
> > for getting the project on enough servers and to cache all records, I
> > am going to need quite a few servers! (>100,000 new ISBN's pa just in
> > UK).
>
> I wrote quite a nice answer to this and then my kmail decided to die on
> me and all was lost.  Here's a quick summary:
>
> - YAZ toolkit is apt-gettable.

When I tried that with Debian 3 woody (fresh install), the yaz debian package 
alone was not adequate for the Net::Z3950 module. I too spotted the 
yaz-config requirement but simply adjusting the PATH isn't sufficient. On my 
box, Debian didn't have yaz-config from installing the package - it was only 
generated from the tarball make. Copying a yaz-config from a second fresh 
Debian install didn't complete the make, Net::Z3950 still failed to install. 

Besides, using apt to get the Debian package doesn't help me install on 
webhosts that don't allow user access to apt - I suspect most wouldn't.

> - The Makefile.PL for Net::Z3950 collates some data by means of
> backticking to a utility called `yaz-config'.  Clearly, this has to be
> in PATH for the makefile to get generated.  Not tried to install it but
> I would imagine you could get some reaults by manual tinkering.
>
> Uninstalling modules:
>
> - No way to do this with the CPAN shell.
> - Consult the .packlist file and delete module components by hand
> - Or you can `make uninstall' if you have the makefile still.

Thanks for the info, I'll do this over the weekend. Manually delete the 
package on one Debian box, rebuild it with custom settings.

> > I've just come back from Linux Expo and I was talking to one of the
> > Perl mongers on the Debian stand about my problem and his comments
> > can be summarised as:
> > "There is no good reason for a toolkit required by Perl to be
> > installed as root"
>
> Disagree.  Perl modules do not lend themselves to generalisation ;)

:-(

> Others may disagree but I reckon in order to achieve what you describe
> you want to customise where the module looks for this YAZ package then
> get it working and make a tar of the whole thing.  That's what I'd do
> anyway.

What about problems moving that tar from one server to another? I want to make 
it easier for users to install on any server. If I use a prefix for the Perl 
build, can it be relative? There's no way I can use an absolute file location 
as I want to be able to install in directories dictated by, as yet unknown, 
webhosts.

I'd feel happier just putting out the instructions for what to change and how. 
I will experiment with the prefix - if it works I can put it as a separate 
download.

-- 

Neil Williams
=============
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