Aren't CPAN bundles always source distributions? PPM is actually better than CPAN because it's a pre-built distribution, except that it only works with Windows (I think) and if a build fails, the last working build is blown away and the module is unavailable.
RPM alternative:
Cal I install an RPM on windows? Solaris? And if I'm building the RPM myself, that can be more work than the unbuilt CPAN modules (at least for me).
I think there can be a lot of improvement here. A big step in the right direction would be for someone (not me) to periodically generate a big zip file of all of CPAN for each platform. The next step is to create an installer that allows individual selection of module categories (network, GUI, etc) just like Linux installs work. Unfortunately, installs are not my area of expertise.
Sean Quinlan wrote:
Not discussing advocacy here. Really! Just some comments on CPAN.
On Tue, 2005-03-01 at 15:16 -0500, Duane Bronson wrote:
My beef with CPAN is the fact that there is some administrative work involved with writing a perl program that uses a CPAN module. After I write it, I can't email it to a perl neophyte and say "here, run this". Instead, I have to say "first you need to get an admin to install a bunch of modules". Once I get to the word "admin", I get laughed at.
On Linux, I have frequently recommended people to install CPAN to a lib directory in their own home. The environment variable PERL5LIB is your friend. Also great for testing.
Is there a CPAN "distribution" just as there are Linux "distribution"s? In other words, a collection of CPAN modules that one can install as a bundle rather than having to use the perl -MCPAN install "module_that_wont_compile"? ActiveState provides PPM which take a lot of pain out of CPAN since so much stuff just doesn't compile on Windows, but modules that don't compile are simply excluded from the PPM database. Also, some Linux distributions have packages that bundle a bunch of perl modules together, unfortunately, they only work with that Linux distro. I would prefer a standard distribution of modules for all platforms beyond the limited stuff that comes with the perl install.
There's two ways to go about this, off the top of my head. The first is to generate CPAN 'bundles'. Here's something I REALLY wish people who write modules with a stack of odd non-core prerequisites would do - bundle everything non-core that's required so I can CPAN or download the whole she-bang in one go.
And for those modules/bundles that have components that need to be compiled ... make an RPM out of them. Maybe if I do end up starting a Perl-centric site (or area on my own site) that will be one of my contributions. Generate RPMs for some sets of non-core modules I find I frequently want. I have access to a few Linux flavors I could quickly do this for. It's not as hard as I thought. I only have instructions handy for the whole process on BU Linux, but here's someplace to start: http://search.cpan.org/~chipt/RPM-Specfile-1.17/lib/RPM/Specfile.pm
HTH
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