CPAN - query, download and build perl modules from CPAN sites
Interactive mode:
perl -MCPAN -e shell--or--
cpanBasic commands:
# Modules:
cpan> install Acme::Meta # in the shell
CPAN::Shell->install("Acme::Meta"); # in perl
# Distributions:
cpan> install NWCLARK/Acme-Meta-0.02.tar.gz # in the shell
CPAN::Shell->
install("NWCLARK/Acme-Meta-0.02.tar.gz"); # in perl
# module objects:
$mo = CPAN::Shell->expandany($mod);
$mo = CPAN::Shell->expand("Module",$mod); # same thing
# distribution objects:
$do = CPAN::Shell->expand("Module",$mod)->distribution;
$do = CPAN::Shell->expandany($distro); # same thing
$do = CPAN::Shell->expand("Distribution",
$distro); # same thingThe CPAN module automates or at least simplifies the make and install of perl modules and extensions. It includes some primitive searching capabilities and knows how to use LWP, HTTP::Tiny, Net::FTP and certain external download clients to fetch distributions from the net.
These are fetched from one or more mirrored CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites and unpacked in a dedicated directory.
The CPAN module also supports named and versioned bundles of modules. Bundles simplify handling of sets of related modules. See Bundles below.
The package contains a session manager and a cache manager. The session manager keeps track of what has been fetched, built, and installed in the current session. The cache manager keeps track of the disk space occupied by the make processes and deletes excess space using a simple FIFO mechanism.
All methods provided are accessible in a programmer style and in an interactive shell style.
Enter interactive mode by running
perl -MCPAN -e shellor
cpanwhich puts you into a readline interface. If Term::ReadKey and either of Term::ReadLine::Perl or Term::ReadLine::Gnu are installed, history and command completion are supported.
Once at the command line, type h for one-page help screen; the rest should be self-explanatory.
The function call shell takes two optional arguments: one the prompt, the second the default initial command line (the latter only works if a real ReadLine interface module is installed).
The most common uses of the interactive modes are
There are corresponding one-letter commands a, b, d, and m for each of the four categories and another, i for any of the mentioned four. Each of the four entities is implemented as a class with slightly differing methods for displaying an object.
Arguments to these commands are either strings exactly matching the identification string of an object, or regular expressions matched case-insensitively against various attributes of the objects. The parser only recognizes a regular expression when you enclose it with slashes.
The principle is that the number of objects found influences how an item is displayed. If the search finds one item, the result is displayed with the rather verbose method as_string, but if more than one is found, each object is displayed with the terse method as_glimpse.
Examples:
cpan> m Acme::MetaSyntactic
Module id = Acme::MetaSyntactic
CPAN_USERID BOOK (Philippe Bruhat (BooK) <[...]>)
CPAN_VERSION 0.99
CPAN_FILE B/BO/BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz
UPLOAD_DATE 2006-11-06
MANPAGE Acme::MetaSyntactic - Themed metasyntactic variables names
INST_FILE /usr/local/lib/perl/5.10.0/Acme/MetaSyntactic.pm
INST_VERSION 0.99
cpan> a BOOK
Author id = BOOK
EMAIL [...]
FULLNAME Philippe Bruhat (BooK)
cpan> d BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz
Distribution id = B/BO/BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz
CPAN_USERID BOOK (Philippe Bruhat (BooK) <[...]>)
CONTAINSMODS Acme::MetaSyntactic Acme::MetaSyntactic::Alias [...]
UPLOAD_DATE 2006-11-06
cpan> m /lorem/
Module = Acme::MetaSyntactic::loremipsum (BOOK/Acme-MetaSyntactic-0.99.tar.gz)
Module Text::Lorem (ADEOLA/Text-Lorem-0.3.tar.gz)
Module Text::Lorem::More (RKRIMEN/Text-Lorem-More-0.12.tar.gz)
Module Text::Lorem::More::Source (RKRIMEN/Text-Lorem-More-0.12.tar.gz)
cpan> i /berlin/
Distribution BEATNIK/Filter-NumberLines-0.02.tar.gz
Module = DateTime::TimeZone::Europe::Berlin (DROLSKY/DateTime-TimeZone-0.7904.tar.gz)
Module Filter::NumberLines (BEATNIK/Filter-NumberLines-0.02.tar.gz)
Author [...]The examples illustrate several aspects: the first three queries target modules, authors, or distros directly and yield exactly one result. The last two use regular expressions and yield several results. The last one targets all of bundles, modules, authors, and distros simultaneously. When more than one result is available, they are printed in one-line format.
get, make, test, install, clean modules or distributionsThese commands take any number of arguments and investigate what is necessary to perform the action. Argument processing is as follows:
known module name in format Foo/Bar.pm module
other embedded slash distribution
- with trailing slash dot directory
enclosing slashes regexp
known module name in format Foo::Bar moduleIf the argument is a distribution file name (recognized by embedded slashes), it is processed. If it is a module, CPAN determines the distribution file in which this module is included and processes that, following any dependencies named in the module's META.yml or Makefile.PL (this behavior is controlled by the configuration parameter prerequisites_policy). If an argument is enclosed in slashes it is treated as a regular expression: it is expanded and if the result is a single object (distribution, bundle or module), this object is processed.
Example:
install Dummy::Perl # installs the module
install AUXXX/Dummy-Perl-3.14.tar.gz # installs that distribution
install /Dummy-Perl-3.14/ # same if the regexp is unambiguousget downloads a distribution file and untars or unzips it, make builds it, test runs the test suite, and install installs it.
Any make or test is run unconditionally. An
install <distribution_file>is also run unconditionally. But for
install <module>CPAN checks whether an install is needed and prints module up to date if the distribution file containing the module doesn't need updating.
CPAN also keeps track of what it has done within the current session and doesn't try to build a package a second time regardless of whether it succeeded or not. It does not repeat a test run if the test has been run successfully before. Same for install runs.
The force pragma may precede another command (currently: get, make, test, or install) to execute the command from scratch and attempt to continue past certain errors. See the section below on the force and the fforce pragma.
The notest pragma skips the test part in the build process.
Example:
cpan> notest install TkA clean command results in a
make cleanbeing executed within the distribution file's working directory.
readme, perldoc, look module or distributionreadme displays the README file of the associated distribution. Look gets and untars (if not yet done) the distribution file, changes to the appropriate directory and opens a subshell process in that directory. perldoc displays the module's pod documentation in html or plain text format.
ls globbing_expressionThe first form lists all distribution files in and below an author's CPAN directory as stored in the CHECKSUMS files distributed on CPAN. The listing recurses into subdirectories.
The second form limits or expands the output with shell globbing as in the following examples:
ls JV/make*
ls GSAR/*make*
ls */*make*The last example is very slow and outputs extra progress indicators that break the alignment of the result.
Note that globbing only lists directories explicitly asked for, for example FOO/* will not list FOO/bar/Acme-Sthg-n.nn.tar.gz. This may be regarded as a bug that may be changed in some future version.
failedThe failed command reports all distributions that failed on one of make, test or install for some reason in the currently running shell session.
If the YAML or the YAML::Syck module is installed a record of the internal state of all modules is written to disk after each step. The files contain a signature of the currently running perl version for later perusal.
If the configurations variable build_dir_reuse is set to a true value, then CPAN.pm reads the collected YAML files. If the stored signature matches the currently running perl, the stored state is loaded into memory such that persistence between sessions is effectively established.
force and the fforce pragmaTo speed things up in complex installation scenarios, CPAN.pm keeps track of what it has already done and refuses to do some things a second time. A get, a make, and an install are not repeated. A test is repeated only if the previous test was unsuccessful. The diagnostic message when CPAN.pm refuses to do something a second time is one of Has already been unwrapped|made|tested successfully or something similar. Another situation where CPAN refuses to act is an install if the corresponding test was not successful.
In all these cases, the user can override this stubborn behaviour by prepending the command with the word force, for example:
cpan> force get Foo
cpan> force make AUTHOR/Bar-3.14.tar.gz
cpan> force test Baz
cpan> force install Acme::MetaEach forced command is executed with the corresponding part of its memory erased.
The fforce pragma is a variant that emulates a force get which erases the entire memory followed by the action specified, effectively restarting the whole get/make/test/install procedure from scratch.
Interactive sessions maintain a lockfile, by default ~/.cpan/.lock. Batch jobs can run without a lockfile and not disturb each other.
The shell offers to run in downgraded mode when another process is holding the lockfile. This is an experimental feature that is not yet tested very well. This second shell then does not write the history file, does not use the metadata file, and has a different prompt.
CPAN.pm installs signal handlers for SIGINT and SIGTERM. While you are in the cpan-shell, it is intended that you can press ^C anytime and return to the cpan-shell prompt. A SIGTERM will cause the cpan-shell to clean up and leave the shell loop. You can emulate the effect of a SIGTERM by sending two consecutive SIGINTs, which usually means by pressing ^C twice.
CPAN.pm ignores SIGPIPE. If the user sets inactivity_timeout, a SIGALRM is used during the run of the perl Makefile.PL or perl Build.PL subprocess. A SIGALRM is also used during module version parsing, and is controlled by version_timeout.
The commands available in the shell interface are methods in the package CPAN::Shell. If you enter the shell command, your input is split by the Text::ParseWords::shellwords() routine, which acts like most shells do. The first word is interpreted as the method to be invoked, and the rest of the words are treated as the method's arguments. Continuation lines are supported by ending a line with a literal backslash.
autobundle writes a bundle file into the $CPAN::Config->{cpan_home}/Bundle directory. The file contains a list of all modules that are both available from CPAN and currently installed within @INC. Duplicates of each distribution are suppressed. The name of the bundle file is based on the current date and a counter, e.g. Bundle/Snapshot_2012_05_21_00.pm. This is installed again by running cpan Bundle::Snapshot_2012_05_21_00, or installing Bundle::Snapshot_2012_05_21_00 from the CPAN shell.
Return value: path to the written file.
Note: this feature is still in alpha state and may change in future versions of CPAN.pm
This commands provides a statistical overview over recent download activities. The data for this is collected in the YAML file FTPstats.yml in your cpan_home directory. If no YAML module is configured or YAML not installed, or if ftpstats_size is set to a value <=0, no stats are provided.
Install all distributions that have been tested successfully but have not yet been installed. See also is_tested.
List all build directories of distributions that have been tested successfully but have not yet been installed. See also install_tested.
mkmyconfig() writes your own CPAN::MyConfig file into your ~/.cpan/ directory so that you can save your own preferences instead of the system-wide ones.
scans current perl installation for modules that have a newer version available on CPAN and provides a list of them. If called without argument, all potential upgrades are listed; if called with arguments the list is filtered to the modules and regexps given as arguments.
The listing looks something like this:
Package namespace installed latest in CPAN file
CPAN 1.94_64 1.9600 ANDK/CPAN-1.9600.tar.gz
CPAN::Reporter 1.1801 1.1902 DAGOLDEN/CPAN-Reporter-1.1902.tar.gz
YAML 0.70 0.73 INGY/YAML-0.73.tar.gz
YAML::Syck 1.14 1.17 AVAR/YAML-Syck-1.17.tar.gz
YAML::Tiny 1.44 1.50 ADAMK/YAML-Tiny-1.50.tar.gz
CGI 3.43 3.55 MARKSTOS/CGI.pm-3.55.tar.gz
Module::Build::YAML 1.40 1.41 DAGOLDEN/Module-Build-0.3800.tar.gz
TAP::Parser::Result::YAML 3.22 3.23 ANDYA/Test-Harness-3.23.tar.gz
YAML::XS 0.34 0.35 INGY/YAML-LibYAML-0.35.tar.gzIt suppresses duplicates in the column in CPAN file such that distributions with many upgradeable modules are listed only once.
Note that the list is not sorted.
The recent command downloads a list of recent uploads to CPAN and displays them slowly. While the command is running, a $SIG{INT} exits the loop after displaying the current item.
Note: This command requires XML::LibXML installed.
Note: This whole command currently is just a hack and will probably change in future versions of CPAN.pm, but the general approach will likely remain.
Note: See also smoke
recompile() is a special command that takes no argument and runs the make/test/install cycle with brute force over all installed dynamically loadable extensions (a.k.a. XS modules) with 'force' in effect. The primary purpose of this command is to finish a network installation. Imagine you have a common source tree for two different architectures. You decide to do a completely independent fresh installation. You start on one architecture with the help of a Bundle file produced earlier. CPAN installs the whole Bundle for you, but when you try to repeat the job on the second architecture, CPAN responds with a "Foo up to date" message for all modules. So you invoke CPAN's recompile on the second architecture and you're done.
Another popular use for recompile is to act as a rescue in case your perl breaks binary compatibility. If one of the modules that CPAN uses is in turn depending on binary compatibility (so you cannot run CPAN commands), then you should try the CPAN::Nox module for recovery.
The report command temporarily turns on the test_report config variable, then runs the force test command with the given arguments. The force pragma reruns the tests and repeats every step that might have failed before.
*** WARNING: this command downloads and executes software from CPAN to your computer of completely unknown status. You should never do this with your normal account and better have a dedicated well separated and secured machine to do this. ***
The smoke command takes the list of recent uploads to CPAN as provided by the recent command and tests them all. While the command is running $SIG{INT} is defined to mean that the current item shall be skipped.
Note: This whole command currently is just a hack and will probably change in future versions of CPAN.pm, but the general approach will likely remain.
Note: See also recent
The upgrade command first runs an r command with the given arguments and then installs the newest versions of all modules that were listed by that.
CPAN::* Classes: Author, Bundle, Module, DistributionAlthough it may be considered internal, the class hierarchy does matter for both users and programmer. CPAN.pm deals with the four classes mentioned above, and those classes all share a set of methods. Classical single polymorphism is in effect. A metaclass object registers all objects of all kinds and indexes them with a string. The strings referencing objects have a separated namespace (well, not completely separated):
Namespace Class
words containing a "/" (slash) Distribution
words starting with Bundle:: Bundle
everything else Module or AuthorModules know their associated Distribution objects. They always refer to the most recent official release. Developers may mark their releases as unstable development versions (by inserting an underscore into the module version number which will also be reflected in the distribution name when you run 'make dist'), so the really hottest and newest distribution is not always the default. If a module Foo circulates on CPAN in both version 1.23 and 1.23_90, CPAN.pm offers a convenient way to install version 1.23 by saying
install FooThis would install the complete distribution file (say BAR/Foo-1.23.tar.gz) with all accompanying material. But if you would like to install version 1.23_90, you need to know where the distribution file resides on CPAN relative to the authors/id/ directory. If the author is BAR, this might be BAR/Foo-1.23_90.tar.gz; so you would have to say
install BAR/Foo-1.23_90.tar.gzThe first example will be driven by an object of the class CPAN::Module, the second by an object of class CPAN::Distribution.
Note: this feature is still in alpha state and may change in future versions of CPAN.pm
Distribution objects are normally distributions from the CPAN, but there is a slightly degenerate case for Distribution objects, too, of projects held on the local disk. These distribution objects have the same name as the local directory and end with a dot. A dot by itself is also allowed for the current directory at the time CPAN.pm was used. All actions such as make, test, and install are applied directly to that directory. This gives the command cpan . an interesting touch: while the normal mantra of installing a CPAN module without CPAN.pm is one of
perl Makefile.PL perl Build.PL
( go and get prerequisites )
make ./Build
make test ./Build test
make install ./Build installthe command cpan . does all of this at once. It figures out which of the two mantras is appropriate, fetches and installs all prerequisites, takes care of them recursively, and finally finishes the installation of the module in the current directory, be it a CPAN module or not.
The typical usage case is for private modules or working copies of projects from remote repositories on the local disk.
The usual shell redirection symbols | and > are recognized by the cpan shell only when surrounded by whitespace. So piping to pager or redirecting output into a file works somewhat as in a normal shell, with the stipulation that you must type extra spaces.
Plugins are objects that implement any of currently eight methods:
pre_get
post_get
pre_make
post_make
pre_test
post_test
pre_install
post_installThe plugin_list configuration parameter holds a list of strings of the form
Modulename=arg0,arg1,arg2,arg3,...eg:
CPAN::Plugin::Flurb=dir,/opt/pkgs/flurb/raw,verbose,1At run time, each listed plugin is instantiated as a singleton object by running the equivalent of this pseudo code:
my $plugin = <string representation from config>;
<generate Modulename and arguments from $plugin>;
my $p = $instance{$plugin} ||= Modulename->new($arg0,$arg1,...);The generated singletons are kept around from instantiation until the end of the shell session. <plugin_list> can be reconfigured at any time at run time. While the cpan shell is running, it checks all activated plugins at each of the 8 reference points listed above and runs the respective method if it is implemented for that object. The method is called with the active CPAN::Distribution object passed in as an argument.
When the CPAN module is used for the first time, a configuration dialogue tries to determine a couple of site specific options. The result of the dialog is stored in a hash reference $CPAN::Config in a file CPAN/Config.pm.
Default values defined in the CPAN/Config.pm file can be overridden in a user specific file: CPAN/MyConfig.pm. Such a file is best placed in $HOME/.cpan/CPAN/MyConfig.pm, because $HOME/.cpan is added to the search path of the CPAN module before the use() or require() statements. The mkmyconfig command writes this file for you.
If you want to keep your own CPAN/MyConfig.pm somewhere else, you should load it before loading CPAN.pm, e.g.:
perl -I/tmp/somewhere -MCPAN::MyConfig -MCPAN -eshell
--or--
perl -I/tmp/somewhere -MCPAN::MyConfig -S cpanOnce you are in the shell you can change your configuration as follows.
The o conf command has various bells and whistles:
If you have a ReadLine module installed, you can hit TAB at any point of the commandline and o conf will offer you completion for the built-in subcommands and/or config variable names.
Displays a short help
Displays the current value(s) for this config variable. Without KEY, displays all subcommands and config variables.
Example:
o conf shellIf KEY starts and ends with a slash, the string in between is treated as a regular expression and only keys matching this regexp are displayed
Example:
o conf /color/Sets the config variable KEY to VALUE. The empty string can be specified as usual in shells, with '' or ""
Example:
o conf wget /usr/bin/wgetIf a config variable name ends with list, it is a list. o conf KEY shift removes the first element of the list, o conf KEY pop removes the last element of the list. o conf KEYS unshift LIST prepends a list of values to the list, o conf KEYS push LIST appends a list of valued to the list.
Likewise, o conf KEY splice LIST passes the LIST to the corresponding splice command.
Finally, any other list of arguments is taken as a new list value for the KEY variable discarding the previous value.
Examples:
o conf urllist unshift http://cpan.dev.local/CPAN
o conf urllist splice 3 1
o conf urllist http://cpan1.local http://cpan2.local ftp://ftp.perl.orgReverts all config variables to the state in the saved config file.
Saves all config variables to the current config file (CPAN/Config.pm or CPAN/MyConfig.pm that was loaded at start).
The configuration dialog can be started any time later again by issuing the command o conf init in the CPAN shell. A subset of the configuration dialog can be run by issuing o conf init WORD where WORD is any valid config variable or a regular expression.
The following keys in the hash reference $CPAN::Config are currently defined:
allow_installing_module_downgrades
allow or disallow installing module downgrades
allow_installing_outdated_dists
allow or disallow installing modules that are
indexed in the cpan index pointing to a distro
with a higher distro-version number
applypatch path to external prg
auto_commit commit all changes to config variables to disk
build_cache size of cache for directories to build modules
build_dir locally accessible directory to build modules
build_dir_reuse boolean if distros in build_dir are persistent
build_requires_install_policy
to install or not to install when a module is
only needed for building. yes|no|ask/yes|ask/no
bzip2 path to external prg
cache_metadata use serializer to cache metadata
check_sigs if signatures should be verified
cleanup_after_install
remove build directory immediately after a
successful install and remember that for the
duration of the session
colorize_debug Term::ANSIColor attributes for debugging output
colorize_output boolean if Term::ANSIColor should colorize output
colorize_print Term::ANSIColor attributes for normal output
colorize_warn Term::ANSIColor attributes for warnings
commandnumber_in_prompt
boolean if you want to see current command number
commands_quote preferred character to use for quoting external
commands when running them. Defaults to double
quote on Windows, single tick everywhere else;
can be set to space to disable quoting
connect_to_internet_ok
whether to ask if opening a connection is ok before
urllist is specified
cpan_home local directory reserved for this package
curl path to external prg
dontload_hash DEPRECATED
dontload_list arrayref: modules in the list will not be
loaded by the CPAN::has_inst() routine
ftp path to external prg
ftp_passive if set, the environment variable FTP_PASSIVE is set
for downloads
ftp_proxy proxy host for ftp requests
ftpstats_period max number of days to keep download statistics
ftpstats_size max number of items to keep in the download statistics
getcwd see below
gpg path to external prg
gzip location of external program gzip
halt_on_failure stop processing after the first failure of queued
items or dependencies
histfile file to maintain history between sessions
histsize maximum number of lines to keep in histfile
http_proxy proxy host for http requests
inactivity_timeout breaks interactive Makefile.PLs or Build.PLs
after this many seconds inactivity. Set to 0 to
disable timeouts.
index_expire refetch index files after this many days
inhibit_startup_message
if true, suppress the startup message
keep_source_where directory in which to keep the source (if we do)
load_module_verbosity
report loading of optional modules used by CPAN.pm
lynx path to external prg
make location of external make program
make_arg arguments that should always be passed to 'make'
make_install_make_command
the make command for running 'make install', for
example 'sudo make'
make_install_arg same as make_arg for 'make install'
makepl_arg arguments passed to 'perl Makefile.PL'
mbuild_arg arguments passed to './Build'
mbuild_install_arg arguments passed to './Build install'
mbuild_install_build_command
command to use instead of './Build' when we are
in the install stage, for example 'sudo ./Build'
mbuildpl_arg arguments passed to 'perl Build.PL'
ncftp path to external prg
ncftpget path to external prg
no_proxy don't proxy to these hosts/domains (comma separated list)
pager location of external program more (or any pager)
password your password if you CPAN server wants one
patch path to external prg
patches_dir local directory containing patch files
perl5lib_verbosity verbosity level for PERL5LIB additions
plugin_list list of active hooks (see Plugin support above
and the CPAN::Plugin module)
prefer_external_tar
per default all untar operations are done with
Archive::Tar; by setting this variable to true
the external tar command is used if available
prefer_installer legal values are MB and EUMM: if a module comes
with both a Makefile.PL and a Build.PL, use the
former (EUMM) or the latter (MB); if the module
comes with only one of the two, that one will be
used no matter the setting
prerequisites_policy
what to do if you are missing module prerequisites
('follow' automatically, 'ask' me, or 'ignore')
For 'follow', also sets PERL_AUTOINSTALL and
PERL_EXTUTILS_AUTOINSTALL for "--defaultdeps" if
not already set
prefs_dir local directory to store per-distro build options
proxy_user username for accessing an authenticating proxy
proxy_pass password for accessing an authenticating proxy
pushy_https use https to cpan.org when possible, otherwise use http
to cpan.org and issue a warning
randomize_urllist add some randomness to the sequence of the urllist
recommends_policy whether recommended prerequisites should be included
scan_cache controls scanning of cache ('atstart', 'atexit' or 'never')
shell your favorite shell
show_unparsable_versions
boolean if r command tells which modules are versionless
show_upload_date boolean if commands should try to determine upload date
show_zero_versions boolean if r command tells for which modules $version==0
suggests_policy whether suggested prerequisites should be included
tar location of external program tar
tar_verbosity verbosity level for the tar command
term_is_latin deprecated: if true Unicode is translated to ISO-8859-1
(and nonsense for characters outside latin range)
term_ornaments boolean to turn ReadLine ornamenting on/off
test_report email test reports (if CPAN::Reporter is installed)
trust_test_report_history
skip testing when previously tested ok (according to
CPAN::Reporter history)
unzip location of external program unzip
urllist arrayref to nearby CPAN sites (or equivalent locations)
urllist_ping_external
use external ping command when autoselecting mirrors
urllist_ping_verbose
increase verbosity when autoselecting mirrors
use_prompt_default set PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT for configure/make/test/install
use_sqlite use CPAN::SQLite for metadata storage (fast and lean)
username your username if you CPAN server wants one
version_timeout stops version parsing after this many seconds.
Default is 15 secs. Set to 0 to disable.
wait_list arrayref to a wait server to try (See CPAN::WAIT)
wget path to external prg
yaml_load_code enable YAML code deserialisation via CPAN::DeferredCode
yaml_module which module to use to read/write YAML filesYou can set and query each of these options interactively in the cpan shell with the o conf or the o conf init command as specified below.
o conf <scalar option>prints the current value of the scalar option
o conf <scalar option> <value>Sets the value of the scalar option to value
o conf <list option>prints the current value of the list option in MakeMaker's neatvalue format.
o conf <list option> [shift|pop]shifts or pops the array in the list option variable
o conf <list option> [unshift|push|splice] <list>works like the corresponding perl commands.
Runs an interactive configuration dialog for matching variables. Without argument runs the dialog over all supported config variables. To specify a MATCH the argument must be enclosed by slashes.
Examples:
o conf init ftp_passive ftp_proxy
o conf init /color/Note: this method of setting config variables often provides more explanation about the functioning of a variable than the manpage.
CPAN.pm changes the current working directory often and needs to determine its own current working directory. By default it uses Cwd::cwd, but if for some reason this doesn't work on your system, configure alternatives according to the following table:
Calls Cwd::cwd
Calls Cwd::getcwd
Calls Cwd::fastcwd
Calls Cwd::getdcwd
Calls the external command cwd.
urllist parameters are URLs according to RFC 1738. We do a little guessing if your URL is not compliant, but if you have problems with file URLs, please try the correct format. Either:
file://localhost/whatever/ftp/pub/CPAN/or
file:///home/ftp/pub/CPAN/