Linux perl module management

Question

Is there any programs other than CPAN to install/compile perl modules and install them?

Mainly I am looking for something like the Activestate PPM, the closest I could find was PPM on CPAN but when I try to install it fails for some "unknown" reason. I am sure if I dug through the output I could find why but it mostly greek to me about make errors.

Anyhow is there anything? It would be nice if it had a GTK front end on account of I use GNOME on Ubuntu and it would be nice for playing with new modules.

What I really want is the ability to install and uninstall modules by command line atleast.

Also, is it possible to script a perl module install? For example when someone installs my .DEB package is there a way for it to retrieve the source code from CPAN (using CPAN if need be) and build it for the system?

Answer 1

On Ubuntu (your mentioned OS), use the CLI (Command Line Interface) with Aptitude. It is easy to install Perl modules this way. 99% of the modules you will find on CPAN are available for install this way.

Syntax for searching available modules:

apt-cache search [keywords]

Below: Example search for the "Template" module for Perl (include perl in the search keywords to make sure you are looking at perl modules). The search is performed on the description, not the title so this gives you latitude in your search terms.

apt-cache search template perl

Install the module you found

sudo apt-get install libtemplate-perl

or perhaps you would prefer

sudo apt-get install libhtml-template-perl

and you could also grab the docs

sudo apt-get install libtemplate-perl-docs

The module name is usually in the format

lib[module]-perl

With the module part being the proper CPAN name. However, sometimes this is not exact. the 'apt-cache search' will find what you are looking for. Additionally, because the search is performed on description over title, you will find other "like-minded" modules.

Have fun..

Answer 2

Padre has a more graphical module manager.