[Pdx-pm] Due to the recent non-perl vs perl thread I figured I would start one about CPAN.

[benh]

First I have to state that I love CPAN. Its what makes perl useful
everywhere. Though it's not without is's issues. For me though the
largest issue is when running in a shared server enviroment. With PHP
just about everything I would use on a normal day is included by
default (well GD i guess would be the exception on some older boxes..)
and if I need I can install PEAR with out the need to worry about
having admin access or more imporantly access to gcc. Though with CPAN
there are a few root libs that you need (I keep running in to needing
libxml forexample).

So does any one have a good solution in dealing with such cases? I
cant expect that every hosting service would have every module
installed by default, I can try to make a local install for most
modules but if there are libs that you need your still out. Am I just
barking up the wrong tree?

benh~