Chapter 1

The very first thing you should do after configuring the CPAN module is install 

the newest version of the CPAN module and reload it. You can do that with these 

commands:

cpan> install CPAN

cpan> reload CPAN

This will save you the trouble of bumping into bugs in the CPAN module that have 

been fixed since the version that comes with Perl came out. In particular, older ver 

sions of the CPAN module had a nasty habit of trying to upgrade Perl without ask 

ing permission. The examples in this book are based on version 1.59_54 of the 

CPAN module, but using the newest version is always a good idea.

TIP If you're having trouble connecting to CPAN using the CPAN 

module, you might need to manually install the Net::FTP module. See 

the section that follows on installing modules the hard way for details 

on how to do this.

After that, your next stop should be the CPAN bundle. The CPAN bundle con 

tains a number of modules that make the CPAN module much easier to use and 

more robust. To install the bundle, use this command:

cpan> install Bundle::CPAN

NOTE See the  Bundles  section later in this chapter to find out how 

Bundles work.

Now you're ready to install modules. For example, to install the CGI::Application 

module,

8

 you would enter the following command:

cpan> install CGI::Application

And the CPAN module will handle downloading the module, running module 

tests, and installing it. If CGI::Application requires other modules, then the CPAN 

module will download and install those too.

8. Described in Chapter 11

16