Acquiring CPAN Modules

[Matthew Seaman]

On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 08:56:16PM -0400, Gerard Seibert wrote:
> What is the best way to acquire CPAN modules? If I run CPAN, and actually 
> install a module, and then later run pkgdb I receive an error message 
> stating:
> 
> 	Missing Origin: bsdpan-(module-name) Skip this for now? To skip it
> 	without asking in the future, please list it in HOLD_PKGS
>
> The modules seem to work correctly however. Several modules that I want, I 
> cannot find in the FreeBSD Ports collections.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions, or is using CPAN the only way to get 
> Perl modules installed?

It's up to you.  Generally I find though that where the modules you
want are available through the ports collection, then it's best to
install from there.

Otherwise, install using CPAN.  If you're using perl installed from
ports or bundled with 4.x, then the CPAN system will have been
slightly modified, so that BSDPAN installed modules will be registered
with the packages system.  That has a number of advantages,
principally that you can cleanly deinstall the package should you
wish.

As the error message you see says, modules installed via BSDPAN can't
be associated with an origin, ie. a location in the ports tree.  That
means that tools like portupgrade(1) and friends can't be used to
manage BSDPAN installed modules, and you should do exactly what the
error message says and list it in the HOLD_PKGS array in
/usr/local/etc/pkgtools.conf:

  HOLD_PKGS = [
    'bsdpan-*',
  ]

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey         Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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