strawberry perl: no File::Tail.pm. CPAN failed to install the module

Question

I'm using strawberry perl to tail a file using use File::Tail.

I got the error message of the following:

Can't locate File/Tail.pm in @INC (@INC contains: c:\strawberry\perl\lib C:/strawberry/perl/site/lib C:/strawberry/perl/vendor/lib C:/strawberry/perl/ lib .) at tailing.perl line 5. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at tailing.perl line 5.

Three packages contains lib:

• c:\strawberry\perl\lib
• C:\strawberry\perl\site\lib
• C:\strawberry\perl\vendor\lib

where c:\strawberry\perl is the root directory of perl installation.
I checked all the three packages, but couldn't find File/Tail.pm.

Used cpan install, but the installation failed.

Answer 1

The current File::Tail distribution on CPAN has never passed its test suite on Windows. Steffen Mueller submitted a patch for Windows 5 years ago, but it has never been incorporated into the distribution on CPAN.

His patch is available here, and hallelujah, it works for me. Just unpack it anywhere and run the conventional

perl Makefile.PL
dmake
dmake test
dmake install