On Sep 22, 2004, at 4:13 PM, Chris Devers wrote:
If you really want to prove to yourself how much rounder your wheel will
be, then yes, use the Unix instructions.
Or, if you want to see how that wheel got so round. I'm all for self-improvement! My only concern in this particular instance is that Mark says it his first module install. Image::Magick might be a little too hairy for a first attempt.
It's also worth noting that self-improvement can take time - when deadlines are looming and your schedule is tight, it might not be a good time to try something new and difficult.
Lots of Perl modules are written partly in C (or XS, whatever), so in some ways there isn't much of a difference. But more broadly, yeah, a pure C library is often installed in ways similar to Perl libraries.
Broadly speaking, yes - configure it, then run make, then run self-tests (if any), then install. The typical commands for the process vary from Perl to C though:
1. Perl: "perl Makefile.PL"
C: "./configure"Both can require additional options to the command
2. Both: "make"
3. Perl: "make test". Most Perl modules have some form of self-tests.
C: Varies - "make test" and "make check" are common, if there are tests at all.
4. Both: "sudo make install"
The CPAN shell helps a great deal for those modules that don't need special configuration options, environment variables, etc. Some modules *do* need such things though, so it's important to familiarize yourself with the manual process, even if you use the automated shell 99% of the time.
sherm--
