I've just been playing with a Google Co-op search of CPAN:
http://www.hexten.net/2006/12/18/search-cpan-with-google
It certainly doesn't beat search.cpan.org all the time - but for some
queries the fact that the Google search goes deeper pays off.
CPAN's big enough that the quality of the search interface is
critical - for most people it's the primary interface. I've certainly
had cases where the search has missed modules that I've subsequently
discovered indirectly - mentioned on a mailing list or in someone
else's code.
I imagine it might be politically sensitive to add a Google powered
search to search.cpan.org - but I'd certainly have found it useful in
the past.
--
Andy Armstrong, hexten.net
