[Melbourne-pm] CPAN Vs Package managers

Daniel Pittman daniel at rimspace.net
Wed May 9 20:53:44 PDT 2007


Paul Fenwick <pjf at perltraining.com.au> writes:
> Leigh Sharpe wrote:
>
>> Just wanted some people's thoughts on what the 'best' way to install
>> perl modules on linux is: CPAN or your distro's package manager.
>
> I have a Debian background, so your mileage may vary for other
> systems.  However under Debian I've always found that using the
> distro's package manager has *always* been the correct solution.

I have to agree with Paul here -- you should not install *anything* on a
system that isn't registered in the standard, core package manager.
Since I agree with his explanation I will not repeat it verbatim.

Paul has given great advice on the Debian/Ubuntu front for Perl modules,
so allow me to offer some similar advice no the generic and RPM side of
the fence:

On RPM based distributions the best tool I have found is the 'cpan2rpm'
package.  This occasionally needs a bit of a helping hand -- running in
debug mode to allow the build process terminal interaction, for example,
but does a great job of spitting out an RPM from an arbitrary CPAN
module.

    http://perl.arix.com/cpan2rpm/

In the broader scheme of things the 'checkinstall' tool is extremely
valuable for turning anything you can install into a local system
package.  I strongly advise it if there are no more specific-purpose
tools available.

    http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/

Regards,
        Daniel
-- 
Digital Infrastructure Solutions -- making IT simple, stable and secure
Phone: 0401 155 707        email: contact at digital-infrastructure.com.au
                 http://digital-infrastructure.com.au/


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