How can I install local modules with the cpan tool?

Question

my admin has given me sudo rights for

cpan

I also need to install a couple of non-CPAN modules (Atlassian Crowd -> svn connector) to the global PERL5LIB.

I vaguely remember that cpan can install from local sources, without pulling modules from the web.

any pointers? can I do it or should I just have him install those modules manually as root (a major hassle for me)? thanks!

Answer 1

If you want to install the Perl distribution in the current directory, use the dot instead of a filename:

 cpan .

If you are using one of the latest versions of the cpan program (not the one that currently comes with CPAN.pm), you can use the -j switch to specify an alternate configuration file where you can set the --install_base or INSTALL_BASE directives, and also set values for options like connect_to_internet_ok.

 cpan -j /path/to/Config.pm Foo::Bar

If you want to modify your current config to make your alternate config file, use -J to get the file text:

 cpan -J

Ideally, instead for giving you superuser priveleges, that sysadmin would have created a group for Perl admins, would have specified a directory for module installations owned by that group, and added you to that group. You wouldn't need any special powers then.

Answer 2

You don't actually need your admin to give you rights to install CPAN modules. In fact local::lib is a better solution for a number of reasons.

Answer 3

sudo rights to cpan -i should do the trick:

bash-3.2$ cpan -i Foo::Bar
CPAN: File::HomeDir loaded ok (v0.80)
CPAN: Storable loaded ok (v2.18)
...

I'm not familiar with installing from files via the cpan script. In the cpan shell you can look into the module directory and manually build/install from there if you want, but the original tar file still came from the repository, and the cpan command line doesn't seem to have that function (if it did I doubt the admin would grand sudo rights to it since then you'd have a root shell).

Update: brian d foy suggests that I'm wrong about giving sudo to the cpan command being the same as giving a root shell - here's why I'm right:

bash-3.2# whoami
aufflick
bash-3.2# sudo cpan
cpan[1]> o conf shell bash
cpan[2]> look Acme::Bleach
..... downloads and extracts Acme::Bleach ...
CPAN: File::Temp loaded ok (v0.18)
Working directory is /Users/aufflick/.cpan/build/Acme-Bleach-1.12-v768Dv
bash-3.2# whoami
root
bash-3.2#