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1 | TOC |
2 | === | |
3 | ||
4 | - Notes on Perl | |
5 | - Notes on Perl on Windows | |
6 | - Notes on Perl modules we use | |
7 | - Notes on installing a perl module | |
8 | ||
9 | Notes on Perl | |
10 | ------------- | |
11 | ||
12 | For our scripts, we rely quite a bit on Perl, and increasingly on | |
13 | some core Perl modules. These Perl modules are part of the Perl | |
14 | source, so if you build Perl on your own, you should be set. | |
15 | ||
16 | However, if you install Perl as binary packages, the outcome might | |
17 | differ, and you may have to check that you do get the core modules | |
18 | installed properly. We do not claim to know them all, but experience | |
19 | has told us the following: | |
20 | ||
21 | - on Linux distributions based on Debian, the package 'perl' will | |
22 | install the core Perl modules as well, so you will be fine. | |
23 | - on Linux distributions based on RPMs, you will need to install | |
24 | 'perl-core' rather than just 'perl'. | |
25 | ||
26 | It is highly recommended that you have at least Perl version 5.10 | |
27 | installed. | |
28 | ||
29 | Notes on Perl on Windows | |
30 | ------------------------ | |
31 | ||
32 | If you will build on Cygwin (and possibly some other POSIX layers), | |
33 | Perl is already part of your distribution. Simply use the Cygwin | |
34 | package manager to make sure Perl gets installed. | |
35 | ||
36 | Otherwise, you will need to install Perl separately. The Perl | |
37 | package that we know of is ActiveState Perl, available from | |
38 | http://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl. | |
39 | ||
40 | Notes on Perl modules we use | |
41 | ---------------------------- | |
42 | ||
43 | We make increasing use of Perl modules, and do our best to limit | |
44 | ourselves to core Perl modules to keep the requirements down. There | |
45 | are just a few exceptions: | |
46 | ||
47 | Test::More We require the minimum version to be 0.96, which | |
48 | appeared in Perl 5.13.4, because that version was | |
49 | the first to have all the features we're using. | |
50 | This module is required for testing only! If you | |
51 | don't plan on running the tests, you don't need to | |
52 | bother with this one. | |
53 | ||
54 | Text::Template This module is not part of the core Perl modules. | |
55 | As a matter of fact, the core Perl modules do not | |
56 | include any templating module to date. | |
57 | This module is absolutely needed, configuration | |
58 | depends on it. | |
59 | ||
60 | To avoid unnecessary initial hurdles, we have bundled a copy of the | |
61 | following modules in our source. They will work as fallbacks if | |
62 | these modules aren't already installed on the system. | |
63 | ||
64 | Text::Template | |
65 | ||
66 | Notes on installing a perl module | |
67 | --------------------------------- | |
68 | ||
69 | There are a number of ways to install a perl module. In all | |
70 | descriptions below, Text::Template will server as an example. | |
71 | ||
72 | 1. for Linux users, the easiest is to install with the use of your | |
73 | favorite package manager. Usually, all you need to do is search | |
74 | for the module name and to install the package that comes up. | |
75 | ||
76 | On Debian based Linux distributions, it would go like this: | |
77 | ||
78 | $ apt-cache search Text::Template | |
79 | ... | |
80 | libtext-template-perl - perl module to process text templates | |
81 | $ sudo apt-get install libtext-template-perl | |
82 | ||
83 | Perl modules in Debian based distributions use package names like | |
84 | the name of the module in question, with "lib" prepended and | |
85 | "-perl" appended. | |
86 | ||
87 | 2. Install using CPAN. This is very easy, but usually requires root | |
88 | access: | |
89 | ||
90 | $ cpan -i Text::Template | |
91 | ||
92 | Note that this runs all the tests that the module to be install | |
93 | comes with. This is usually a smooth operation, but there are | |
94 | platforms where a failure is indicate even though the actual tests | |
95 | were successful. Should that happen, you can force an | |
96 | installation regardless (that should be safe since you've already | |
97 | seen the tests succeed!): | |
98 | ||
99 | $ cpan -f -i Text::Template |