Last Updated: March 28, 2000

Standard Perl5 Library and Custom Perl5 Modules

  1. Installing the Standard Perl5 Library
  2. Installing Other Perl5 Modules

Installation

Beginning October 1, 1998, new Virtual Servers include both the Perl4 and Perl5 binaries (use #!/usr/bin/perl in your CGI scripts to invoke Perl4 and use #!/usr/local/bin/perl in your CGI scripts to invoke Perl5). To install the standard Perl5 libraries, then you need simply to telnet or SSH to your Virtual Server and do the following:

NOTE: If your Virtual Server is running the FreeBSD O/S you should already have the Perl5 Standard Libraries installed at ~/usr/local/lib/perl5. If not, or if you wish to re-install them, follow the directions below.

The Perl5 Standard Libraries for FreeBSD do not count toward your Virtual Server disk space quota. The libraries for BSD/OS require aproximately 11 MB of disk space.

If your Virtual Server was ordered after December 1, 1999, you are likely running FreeBSD. To find out which O/S your Virtual Server is running, use the uname command: 

% uname


FreeBSD
% vinstall perl5


BSD/OS
% cd
% tar xvf /usr/local/contrib/perl5.tar

Removing the Perl5 Standard Libraries
If you would like to remove the Perl5 Standard Libraries you may do so by running the following commands that match your Virtual Server O/S. 

FreeBSD
% vrmperl


BSD/OS
% rm -rf ~/usr/local/lib/perl5

Installing Your Own Perl5 Modules
We have created an easy way for you to install a group of commonly requested Perl5 modules on your Virtual Server. This group of modules include: 

CPAN
CGI
LWP
DBI
DBD::mysql
DBD::mSQL
DBD::Pg
Pg
MIME::Base64

To install all of these modules, do the following: 

FreeBSD
% vinstall perlpac1

If you require a module that is not included in perlpac1 or the Perl5 Standard Libraries, you may be able use the vcpan utility to install it. The vcpan utility is a wrapper around the perl5 -MCPAN -e shell command that automates module download and installation. To launch vcpan into interactive mode, do the following. 

FreeBSD
% vcpan

NOTE: If you receive an "out of memory" error while running vcpan, you may temporarily extend your memory limits by invoking the unlimit command (also available on certain shells as ulimit): 

% unlimit
% vcpan

To access the vcpan online help, do this: 

FreeBSD
% vcpan -h

Do the following to install the perldoc utility, which you can use to view Perl5 module documentation, on your Virtual Server. 

FreeBSD
% vinstall perldoc

This command links in a variety of required terminal macro definitions as well as a bunch of groff/troff/nroff files required for proper man page formatting.

Once installed, you may run the following command to access documentation for your favorite Perl5 module. Substitute your favorite Perl5 module name for Module::Favorite below. 

% virtual perldoc Module::Favorite

For more information and instructions about Perl5 module installation and CPAN see:

Installing Other Perl5 Modules

If you find that you require a module that is not included on the system or in the perl5 distribution you installed locally on your Virtual Server (by following the steps above), you can install the required perl module yourself into your local directory.



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