[CentOS] PERL module woes

Kurt Hansen khansen at charityweb.net
Thu Jun 1 20:46:05 UTC 2006


Jim Perrin wrote:

>> It seems you want to stick with rpm, but it you are willing to try
>> perl's own "package installer" -- CPAN -- , you should be able to do
>> this with no problems after some initial config.
>
>
> Sticking with rpm should be the preference when using rpm based
> systems. It is understood that in some cases it may not be possible.
> CPAN comes with its own risks. For example, anything installed via
> cpan won't show up in rpm, so other rpms won't know that it's there.
> CPAN may also attempt to update parts of perl already on your system,
> which can lead to instability or other unexpected bahavior. In short,
> CPAN should be a last resort. It should be used carefully and
> sparingly, and watched like a hawk for attempted funky behavior.

My experience is that I have to watch rpm installed stuff "like a hawk 
for attempted funky behavior." :-)

It may be my own personal experience, but I've found CPAN easier to 
control and watch than yum or up2date.

Furthermore, for the stuff I do -- primarily Apache/mod_perl -- I've 
found the rpms coming out of Red Hat a day late and a dollar short. 
Either well behind mod_perl development or the perl not optimized for 
mod_perl. (In fact, the quality of the perl-related rpms from Red Hat is 
the main reason I'm not using RHEL and using CentOS.) Plus, I've found 
it easier to understand what is going by using CPAN or compiling from 
source for these items.

But, this also could be inertia on my part. :-) CPAN was the easier 
option when I got started on this a few years back.

Take care,

Kurt



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