{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "perlmodinstall", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/perlmodinstall/1/json", "generated": "2026-10-07T18:34:35Z", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "perlmodinstall - Installing CPAN Modules\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "You can think of a module as the fundamental unit of reusable Perl code; see perlmod for\ndetails. Whenever anyone creates a chunk of Perl code that they think will be useful to the\nworld, they register as a Perl developer at so\nthat they can then upload their code to the CPAN. The CPAN is the Comprehensive Perl Archive\nNetwork and can be accessed at , and searched at\n .\n\nThis documentation is for people who want to download CPAN modules and install them on their\nown computer.\n\nPREAMBLE\nFirst, are you sure that the module isn't already on your system? Try \"perl -MFoo -e 1\".\n(Replace \"Foo\" with the name of the module; for instance, \"perl -MCGI::Carp -e 1\".)\n\nIf you don't see an error message, you have the module. (If you do see an error message,\nit's still possible you have the module, but that it's not in your path, which you can\ndisplay with perl -e \"print qq(@INC)\".) For the remainder of this document, we'll assume\nthat you really honestly truly lack an installed module, but have found it on the CPAN.\n\nSo now you have a file ending in .tar.gz (or, less often, .zip). You know there's a tasty\nmodule inside. There are four steps you must now take:\n\nDECOMPRESS the file\nUNPACK the file into a directory\nBUILD the module (sometimes unnecessary)\nINSTALL the module.\n\nHere's how to perform each step for each operating system. This is a substitute for\nreading the README and INSTALL files that might have come with your module!\n\nAlso note that these instructions are tailored for installing the module into your system's\nrepository of Perl modules, but you can install modules into any directory you wish. For\ninstance, where I say \"perl Makefile.PL\", you can substitute \"perl Makefile.PL\nPREFIX=/my/perldirectory\" to install the modules into /my/perldirectory. Then you can use\nthe modules from your Perl programs with \"use lib \"/my/perldirectory/lib/siteperl\";\" or\nsometimes just \"use \"/my/perldirectory\";\". If you're on a system that requires\nsuperuser/root access to install modules into the directories you see when you type \"perl -e\n\"print qq(@INC)\"\", you'll want to install them into a local directory (such as your home\ndirectory) and use this approach.\n\n• If you're on a Unix or Unix-like system,\n\nYou can use Andreas Koenig's CPAN module ( ) to\nautomate the following steps, from DECOMPRESS through INSTALL.\n\nA. DECOMPRESS\n\nDecompress the file with \"gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz\"\n\nYou can get gzip from \n\nOr, you can combine this step with the next to save disk space:\n\ngzip -dc yourmodule.tar.gz | tar -xof -\n\nB. UNPACK\n\nUnpack the result with \"tar -xof yourmodule.tar\"\n\nC. BUILD\n\nGo into the newly-created directory and type:\n\nperl Makefile.PL\nmake test\n\nor\n\nperl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/my/perldirectory\n\nto install it locally. (Remember that if you do this, you'll have to put \"use lib\n\"/my/perldirectory\";\" near the top of the program that is to use this module.\n\nD. INSTALL\n\nWhile still in that directory, type:\n\nmake install\n\nMake sure you have the appropriate permissions to install the module in your Perl 5\nlibrary directory. Often, you'll need to be root.\n\nThat's all you need to do on Unix systems with dynamic linking. Most Unix systems have\ndynamic linking. If yours doesn't, or if for another reason you have a statically-linked\nperl, and the module requires compilation, you'll need to build a new Perl binary that\nincludes the module. Again, you'll probably need to be root.\n\n• If you're running ActivePerl (Win95/98/2K/NT/XP, Linux, Solaris),\n\nFirst, type \"ppm\" from a shell and see whether ActiveState's PPM repository has your\nmodule. If so, you can install it with \"ppm\" and you won't have to bother with any of\nthe other steps here. You might be able to use the CPAN instructions from the \"Unix or\nLinux\" section above as well; give it a try. Otherwise, you'll have to follow the steps\nbelow.\n\nA. DECOMPRESS\n\nYou can use the open source 7-zip ( ) or the shareware Winzip (\n ) to decompress and unpack modules.\n\nB. UNPACK\n\nIf you used WinZip, this was already done for you.\n\nC. BUILD\n\nYou'll need either \"nmake\" or \"gmake\".\n\nDoes the module require compilation (i.e. does it have files that end in .xs, .c, .h, .y,\n.cc, .cxx, or .C)? If it does, life is now officially tough for you, because you have to\ncompile the module yourself (no easy feat on Windows). You'll need a compiler such as\nVisual C++. Alternatively, you can download a pre-built PPM package from ActiveState.\n\n\nGo into the newly-created directory and type:\n\nperl Makefile.PL\nnmake test\n\n\nD. INSTALL\n\nWhile still in that directory, type:\n\nnmake install\n\n• If you're on OS/2,\n\nGet the EMX development suite and gzip/tar from Hobbes (\n ), and then follow the\ninstructions for Unix.\n\n• If you're on VMS,\n\nWhen downloading from CPAN, save your file with a \".tgz\" extension instead of \".tar.gz\".\nAll other periods in the filename should be replaced with underscores. For example,\n\"Your-Module-1.33.tar.gz\" should be downloaded as \"Your-Module-133.tgz\".\n\nA. DECOMPRESS\n\nType\n\ngzip -d Your-Module.tgz\n\nor, for zipped modules, type\n\nunzip Your-Module.zip\n\nExecutables for gzip, zip, and VMStar:\n\nhttp://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/\n\nand their source code:\n\nhttp://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html\n\nNote that GNU's gzip/gunzip is not the same as Info-ZIP's zip/unzip package. The former\nis a simple compression tool; the latter permits creation of multi-file archives.\n\nB. UNPACK\n\nIf you're using VMStar:\n\nVMStar xf Your-Module.tar\n\nOr, if you're fond of VMS command syntax:\n\ntar/extract/verbose YourModule.tar\n\nC. BUILD\n\nMake sure you have MMS (from Digital) or the freeware MMK ( available from MadGoat at\n ). Then type this to create the DESCRIP.MMS for the module:\n\nperl Makefile.PL\n\nNow you're ready to build:\n\nmms test\n\nSubstitute \"mmk\" for \"mms\" above if you're using MMK.\n\nD. INSTALL\n\nType\n\nmms install\n\nSubstitute \"mmk\" for \"mms\" above if you're using MMK.\n\n• If you're on MVS,\n\nIntroduce the .tar.gz file into an HFS as binary; don't translate from ASCII to EBCDIC.\n\nA. DECOMPRESS\n\nDecompress the file with \"gzip -d yourmodule.tar.gz\"\n\nYou can get gzip from \n\nB. UNPACK\n\nUnpack the result with\n\npax -o to=IBM-1047,from=ISO8859-1 -r < yourmodule.tar\n\nThe BUILD and INSTALL steps are identical to those for Unix. Some modules generate\nMakefiles that work better with GNU make, which is available from\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "PORTABILITY": { "content": "Note that not all modules will work with on all platforms. See perlport for more information\non portability issues. Read the documentation to see if the module will work on your system.\nThere are basically three categories of modules that will not work \"out of the box\" with all\nplatforms (with some possibility of overlap):\n\n• Those that should, but don't. These need to be fixed; consider contacting the author and\npossibly writing a patch.\n\n• Those that need to be compiled, where the target platform doesn't have compilers readily\navailable. (These modules contain .xs or .c files, usually.) You might be able to find\nexisting binaries on the CPAN or elsewhere, or you might want to try getting compilers\nand building it yourself, and then release the binary for other poor souls to use.\n\n• Those that are targeted at a specific platform. (Such as the Win32:: modules.) If the\nmodule is targeted specifically at a platform other than yours, you're out of luck, most\nlikely.\n\nCheck the CPAN Testers if a module should work with your platform but it doesn't behave as\nyou'd expect, or you aren't sure whether or not a module will work under your platform. If\nthe module you want isn't listed there, you can test it yourself and let CPAN Testers know,\nyou can join CPAN Testers, or you can request it be tested.\n\nhttps://cpantesters.org/\n", "subsections": [] }, "HEY": { "content": "If you have any suggested changes for this page, let me know. Please don't send me mail\nasking for help on how to install your modules. There are too many modules, and too few\nOrwants, for me to be able to answer or even acknowledge all your questions. Contact the\nmodule author instead, ask someone familiar with Perl on your operating system, or if all\nelse fails, file a ticket at .\n", "subsections": [] }, "AUTHOR": { "content": "Jon Orwant\n\norwant@medita.mit.edu\n\nwith invaluable help from Chris Nandor, and valuable help from Brandon Allbery, Charles\nBailey, Graham Barr, Dominic Dunlop, Jarkko Hietaniemi, Ben Holzman, Tom Horsley, Nick Ing-\nSimmons, Tuomas J. Lukka, Laszlo Molnar, Alan Olsen, Peter Prymmer, Gurusamy Sarathy,\nChristoph Spalinger, Dan Sugalski, Larry Virden, and Ilya Zakharevich.\n\nFirst version July 22, 1998; last revised November 21, 2001.\n", "subsections": [] }, "COPYRIGHT": { "content": "Copyright (C) 1998, 2002, 2003 Jon Orwant. All Rights Reserved.\n\nThis document may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.\n\nperl v5.38.2 2026-08-18 PERLMODINSTALL(1)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "perlmodinstall - Installing CPAN Modules", "flags": [], "examples": [], "see_also": [] }