You have a file ending in .tar.gz (or, less often, .zip). You know there's a tasty module inside. There are four steps you must now take:

• DECOMPRESS the file
• UNPACK the file into a directory
• BUILD the module (sometimes unnecessary)
• INSTALL the module.

  Here's how to perform each step for each operating system. This is not a substitute for reading the README and INSTALL files that might have come with your module!

  Also note that these instructions are tailored for installing the module into your system's repository of Perl modules. But you can install modules into any directory you wish. For instance, where I say perl Makefile.PL, you can substitute perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/my/perl_directory to install the modules into /my/perl_directory. Then you can use the modules from your Perl programs with use lib "/my/perl_directory/lib/site_perl"; or sometimes just use "/my/perl_directory";.

  1. If you're on Unix,

     (You can use Andreas König's CPAN module to automate the entire process, from DECOMPRESS through INSTALL.)

     A. DECOMPRESS

     Decompress the file with gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz
     You can get gzip from ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu.
     
     Or, you can combine this step with the next to save disk space:
     
     gzip -dc yourmodule.tar.gz | tar -xof -

     B. UNPACK

     Unpack the result with tar -xof yourmodule.tar

     C. BUILD

     Go into the newly-created directory and type:
     
     perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
     

     D. INSTALL

     While still in that directory, type:
     
     make install

     Make sure you have the appropriate permissions to install the module in your Perl 5 library directory. Often, you'll need to be root.

     That's all you need to do on Unix systems with dynamic linking. Most Unix systems have dynamic linking -- if yours doesn't, or if for another reason you have a statically-linked perl, and the module requires compilation, you'll need to build a new Perl binary that includes the module. Again, you'll probably need to be root.

  2. If you're running Windows 95 or NT with the ActiveState port of Perl,

     A. DECOMPRESS

     You can use WinZip (shareware) to decompress and unpack modules.

     B. UNPACK

     If you used WinZip, this was already done for you.

     C. BUILD

     Does the module require compilation (i.e. does it have files that end in .xs, .c, .h, .y, .cc, .cxx, or .C)? If it does, you're on your own. You can try compiling it yourself if you have a C compiler. If you're successful, consider uploading the resulting binary to the CPAN for others to use. If it doesn't, go to INSTALL.

     D. INSTALL

     Copy the module into your Perl's lib directory. That'll be one of the directories you see when you type perl -e "print qq(@INC)".

  3. If you're running Windows 95 or NT with the core Windows distribution of Perl,

     A. DECOMPRESS

     When you download the module, make sure it ends in either .tar.gz or .zip. Windows browsers sometimes download .tar.gz files as _tar.tar, because early versions of Windows prohibited more than one dot in a filename.

     You can use WinZip (shareware) to decompress and unpack modules.

     Or, you can use InfoZIP's unzip utility to uncompress .zip files; type unzip yourmodule.zip in your shell.

     Or, if you have a working tar and gzip, you can type
     gzip -cd yourmodule.tar.gz | tar xvf -
     in the shell to decompress yourmodule.tar.gz. This will UNPACK your module as well.

     B. UNPACK

     All of the methods in DECOMPRESS will have done this for you.

     C. BUILD

     Go into the newly-created directory and type:
     
     perl Makefile.PL
dmake
dmake test
     

     Depending on your perl configuration, dmake might not be available. You might have to substitute whatever perl -V:make says. (Usually, that will be nmake or make.)

     D. INSTALL

     While still in that directory, type:
     
     dmake install

  4. If you're using a Macintosh,

     A. DECOMPRESS

     You can either use Stuffit Expander in combination with DropStuff with Expander Enhancer (shareware), or MacGzip (freeware).

     B. UNPACK

     If you're using DropStuff or Stuffit, you can just extract the tar archive. Otherwise, you can use suntar (freeware).

     C. BUILD

     Does the module require compilation?
     
     1. If it does,
     
     Overview: You need MPW and a combination of new and old CodeWarrior compilers for MPW and libraries. Makefiles created for building under MPW use the Metrowerks compilers. It's most likely possible to build without other compilers, but it has not been done successfully, to our knowledge. Read the documentation in MacPerl: Power And Ease on porting/building extensions, or find an existing precompiled binary, or hire someone to build it for you.

     Or, ask someone on the mac-perl mailing list to build it for you. To subscribe to the mac-perl mailing list, send mail to mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch.

     2. If the module doesn't require compilation, go to INSTALL.

     D. INSTALL

     Make sure the newlines for the modules are in Mac format, not Unix format. Move the files manually into the correct folders.

     Move the files to their final destination: This will most likely be in $ENV{MACPERL}site_lib: (i.e., HD:MacPerl folder:site_lib:). You can add new paths to the default @INC in the Preferences menu item in the MacPerl application ($ENV{MACPERL}site_lib: is added automagically). Create whatever directory structures are required (i.e., for Some::Module, create $ENV{MACPERL}site_lib:Some: and put Module.pm in that directory).

     Run the following script (or something like it):
     
     

       #!perl -w
       use AutoSplit;
       my $dir = "${MACPERL}site_perl";
       autosplit("$dir:Some:Module.pm", "$dir:auto", 0, 1, 1);
     

     Eventually there should be a way to automate the installation process; some solutions exist, but none are ready for the general public yet.

  5. If you're on DOS (the DJGPP port),

     A. DECOMPRESS

     djtarx will both uncompress and unpack.

     B. UNPACK

     See above.

     C. BUILD

     Go into the newly-created directory and type:
     
     perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
     

     You will need the packages mentioned in Readme.dos in the Perl distribution.

     D. INSTALL

     While still in that directory, type:
     
     make install

     You will need the packages mentioned in Readme.dos in the Perl distribution.

  6. If you're on OS/2,

     Get the EMX development suite and gzip/tar, from either Hobbes or LEO, and then follow the instructions for Unix.

  7. If you're on VMS,

     When downloading from CPAN, save your file with a .tgz extension instead of .tar.gz. All other periods in the filename should be replaced with underscores. For example, Your-Module-1.33.tar.gz should be downloaded as Your-Module-1_33.tgz.

     A. DECOMPRESS

     Type
     
     gzip -d Your-Module.tgz
     
     or, for zipped modules, type
     
     unzip Your-Module.zip

     Executables for gzip, zip, and VMStar: Alphas, Vaxen.
     gzip and tar are also available at ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS.

     Note that GNU's gzip/gunzip is not the same as Info-ZIP's zip/unzip package. The former is a simple compression tool; the latter permits creation of multi-file archives.

     B. UNPACK

     If you're using VMStar:
     
     VMStar xf Your-Module.tar

     Or, if you're fond of VMS command syntax:
     
     tar/extract/verbose Your_Module.tar

     C. BUILD

     Make sure you have MMS (from Digital) or MMK (freeware from MadGoat). Then type this to create the DESCRIP.MMS for th emodule:
     
     perl Makefile.PL
     

     Now you're ready to build:
     
     mms
mms test
     

     Substitute mmk for mms above if you're using MMK.

     D. INSTALL

     Type
     
     mms install
     
     Substitute mmk for mms above if you're using MMK.

  8. If you're on MVS,

     Introduce the .tar.gz file into an HFS as binary; don't translate from ASCII to EBCDIC.

     A. DECOMPRESS

     Decompress the file with gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz
     You can get gzip from http://www.s390.ibm.com/products/oe/bpxqp1.html.
     
     

     B. UNPACK

     Unpack the result with
     pax -o to=IBM-1047,from=ISO8859-1 -r < yourmodule.tar

     The BUILD and INSTALL steps are identical to those for Unix. Some modules generate Makefiles that work better with GNU make, which is available from http://www.mks.com/s390/gnu/index.htm.

  ---

  If you have any suggested changes for this page, let me know. Please don't send me mail asking for help on how to install your modules. There are too many modules, and too few Orwants, for me to be able to answer or even acknowledge all your questions. Contact the module author instead, or post to comp.lang.perl.modules, or ask someone familiar with Perl on your operating system.

  Jon Orwant
  The Perl Journal

  with invaluable help from Brandon Allbery, Charles Bailey, Graham Barr, Dominic Dunlop, Jarkko Hietaniemi, Ben Holzman, Tom Horsley, Nick Ing-Simmons, Tuomas J. Lukka, Laszlo Molnar, Chris Nandor, Alan Olsen, Peter Prymmer, Gurusamy Sarathy, Christoph Spalinger, Dan Sugalski, Larry Virden, and Ilya Zakharevich.

  © 1998 Jon Orwant. All Rights Reserved. This file may be copied and distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.

  These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
  They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.