NAME¶
CPAN::FirstTime - Utility for CPAN::Config file Initialization
SYNOPSIS¶
CPAN::FirstTime::init()
DESCRIPTION¶
The init routine asks a few questions and writes a CPAN/Config.pm or
CPAN/MyConfig.pm file (depending on what it is currently using).
In the following all questions and explanations regarding config variables are
collected.
- auto_commit
- Normally CPAN.pm keeps config variables in memory and
changes need to be saved in a separate 'o conf commit' command to make
them permanent between sessions. If you set the 'auto_commit' option to
true, changes to a config variable are always automatically committed to
disk.
Always commit changes to config variables to disk?
- build_cache
- CPAN.pm can limit the size of the disk area for keeping the
build directories with all the intermediate files.
Cache size for build directory (in MB)?
- build_dir
- Directory where the build process takes place?
- build_dir_reuse
- Until version 1.88 CPAN.pm never trusted the contents of
the build_dir directory between sessions. Since 1.88_58 CPAN.pm has a
YAML-based mechanism that makes it possible to share the contents of the
build_dir/ directory between different sessions with the same version of
perl. People who prefer to test things several days before installing will
like this feature because it saves a lot of time.
If you say yes to the following question, CPAN will try to store enough
information about the build process so that it can pick up in future
sessions at the same state of affairs as it left a previous session.
Store and re-use state information about distributions between CPAN.pm
sessions?
- build_requires_install_policy
- When a module declares another one as a 'build_requires'
prerequisite this means that the other module is only needed for building
or testing the module but need not be installed permanently. In this case
you may wish to install that other module nonetheless or just keep it in
the 'build_dir' directory to have it available only temporarily.
Installing saves time on future installations but makes the perl
installation bigger.
You can choose if you want to always install (yes), never install (no) or be
always asked. In the latter case you can set the default answer for the
question to yes (ask/yes) or no (ask/no).
Policy on installing 'build_requires' modules (yes, no, ask/yes,
ask/no)?
- cache_metadata
- To considerably speed up the initial CPAN shell startup, it
is possible to use Storable to create a cache of metadata. If Storable is
not available, the normal index mechanism will be used.
Note: this mechanism is not used when use_sqlite is on and SQLLite is
running.
Cache metadata (yes/no)?
- check_sigs
- CPAN packages can be digitally signed by authors and thus
verified with the security provided by strong cryptography. The exact
mechanism is defined in the Module::Signature module. While this is
generally considered a good thing, it is not always convenient to the end
user to install modules that are signed incorrectly or where the key of
the author is not available or where some prerequisite for
Module::Signature has a bug and so on.
With the check_sigs parameter you can turn signature checking on and off.
The default is off for now because the whole tool chain for the
functionality is not yet considered mature by some. The author of CPAN.pm
would recommend setting it to true most of the time and turning it off
only if it turns out to be annoying.
Note that if you do not have Module::Signature installed, no signature
checks will be performed at all.
Always try to check and verify signatures if a SIGNATURE file is in the
package and Module::Signature is installed (yes/no)?
- colorize_output
- When you have Term::ANSIColor installed, you can turn on
colorized output to have some visual differences between normal CPAN.pm
output, warnings, debugging output, and the output of the modules being
installed. Set your favorite colors after some experimenting with the
Term::ANSIColor module.
Do you want to turn on colored output?
- colorize_print
- Color for normal output?
- colorize_warn
- Color for warnings?
- colorize_debug
- Color for debugging messages?
- commandnumber_in_prompt
- The prompt of the cpan shell can contain the current
command number for easier tracking of the session or be a plain string.
Do you want the command number in the prompt (yes/no)?
- connect_to_internet_ok
- If you have never defined your own "urllist" in
your configuration then "CPAN.pm" will be hesitant to use the
built in default sites for downloading. It will ask you once per session
if a connection to the internet is OK and only if you say yes, it will try
to connect. But to avoid this question, you can choose your favorite
download sites once and get away with it. Or, if you have no favorite
download sites answer yes to the following question.
If no urllist has been chosen yet, would you prefer CPAN.pm to connect to
the built-in default sites without asking? (yes/no)?
- ftp_passive
- Shall we always set the FTP_PASSIVE environment variable
when dealing with ftp download (yes/no)?
- ftpstats_period
- Statistics about downloads are truncated by size and period
simultaneously.
How many days shall we keep statistics about downloads?
- ftpstats_size
- Statistics about downloads are truncated by size and period
simultaneously.
How many items shall we keep in the statistics about downloads?
- getcwd
- CPAN.pm changes the current working directory often and
needs to determine its own current working directory. Per default it uses
Cwd::cwd but if this doesn't work on your system for some reason,
alternatives can be configured according to the following table:
cwd Cwd::cwd
getcwd Cwd::getcwd
fastcwd Cwd::fastcwd
backtickcwd external command cwd
Preferred method for determining the current working directory?
- halt_on_failure
- Normally, CPAN.pm continues processing the full list of
targets and dependencies, even if one of them fails. However, you can
specify that CPAN should halt after the first failure.
Do you want to halt on failure (yes/no)?
- histfile
- If you have one of the readline packages
(Term::ReadLine::Perl, Term::ReadLine::Gnu, possibly others) installed,
the interactive CPAN shell will have history support. The next two
questions deal with the filename of the history file and with its size. If
you do not want to set this variable, please hit SPACE ENTER to the
following question.
File to save your history?
- histsize
- Number of lines to save?
- inactivity_timeout
- Sometimes you may wish to leave the processes run by CPAN
alone without caring about them. Because the Makefile.PL or the Build.PL
sometimes contains question you're expected to answer, you can set a timer
that will kill a 'perl Makefile.PL' process after the specified time in
seconds.
If you set this value to 0, these processes will wait forever. This is the
default and recommended setting.
Timeout for inactivity during {Makefile,Build}.PL?
- index_expire
- The CPAN indexes are usually rebuilt once or twice per
hour, but the typical CPAN mirror mirrors only once or twice per day.
Depending on the quality of your mirror and your desire to be on the
bleeding edge, you may want to set the following value to more or less
than one day (which is the default). It determines after how many days
CPAN.pm downloads new indexes.
Let the index expire after how many days?
- inhibit_startup_message
- When the CPAN shell is started it normally displays a
greeting message that contains the running version and the status of
readline support.
Do you want to turn this message off?
- keep_source_where
- Unless you are accessing the CPAN on your filesystem via a
file: URL, CPAN.pm needs to keep the source files it downloads somewhere.
Please supply a directory where the downloaded files are to be kept.
Download target directory?
- load_module_verbosity
- When CPAN.pm loads a module it needs for some optional
feature, it usually reports about module name and version. Choose 'v' to
get this message, 'none' to suppress it.
Verbosity level for loading modules (none or v)?
- makepl_arg
- Every Makefile.PL is run by perl in a separate process.
Likewise we run 'make' and 'make install' in separate processes. If you
have any parameters (e.g. PREFIX, UNINST or the like) you want to pass to
the calls, please specify them here.
If you don't understand this question, just press ENTER.
Typical frequently used settings:
PREFIX=~/perl # non-root users (please see manual for more hints)
Parameters for the 'perl Makefile.PL' command?
- make_arg
- Parameters for the 'make' command? Typical frequently used
setting:
-j3 # dual processor system (on GNU make)
Your choice:
- make_install_arg
- Parameters for the 'make install' command? Typical
frequently used setting:
UNINST=1 # to always uninstall potentially conflicting files
# (but do NOT use with local::lib or INSTALL_BASE)
Your choice:
- make_install_make_command
- Do you want to use a different make command for 'make
install'? Cautious people will probably prefer:
su root -c make
or
sudo make
or
/path1/to/sudo -u admin_account /path2/to/make
or some such. Your choice:
- mbuildpl_arg
- A Build.PL is run by perl in a separate process. Likewise
we run './Build' and './Build install' in separate processes. If you have
any parameters you want to pass to the calls, please specify them here.
Typical frequently used settings:
--install_base /home/xxx # different installation directory
Parameters for the 'perl Build.PL' command?
- mbuild_arg
- Parameters for the './Build' command? Setting might be:
--extra_linker_flags -L/usr/foo/lib # non-standard library location
Your choice:
- mbuild_install_arg
- Parameters for the './Build install' command? Typical
frequently used setting:
--uninst 1 # uninstall conflicting files
# (but do NOT use with local::lib or INSTALL_BASE)
Your choice:
- mbuild_install_build_command
- Do you want to use a different command for './Build
install'? Sudo users will probably prefer:
su root -c ./Build
or
sudo ./Build
or
/path1/to/sudo -u admin_account ./Build
or some such. Your choice:
- pager
- What is your favorite pager program?
- prefer_installer
- When you have Module::Build installed and a module comes
with both a Makefile.PL and a Build.PL, which shall have precedence?
The main two standard installer modules are the old and well established
ExtUtils::MakeMaker (for short: EUMM) which uses the Makefile.PL. And the
next generation installer Module::Build (MB) which works with the Build.PL
(and often comes with a Makefile.PL too). If a module comes only with one
of the two we will use that one but if both are supplied then a decision
must be made between EUMM and MB. See also
http://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=29235 for a discussion about the
right default.
Or, as a third option you can choose RAND which will make a random decision
(something regular CPAN testers will enjoy).
In case you can choose between running a Makefile.PL or a Build.PL, which
installer would you prefer (EUMM or MB or RAND)?
- prefs_dir
- CPAN.pm can store customized build environments based on
regular expressions for distribution names. These are YAML files where the
default options for CPAN.pm and the environment can be overridden and
dialog sequences can be stored that can later be executed by an Expect.pm
object. The CPAN.pm distribution comes with some prefab YAML files that
cover sample distributions that can be used as blueprints to store your
own prefs. Please check out the distroprefs/ directory of the CPAN.pm
distribution to get a quick start into the prefs system.
Directory where to store default options/environment/dialogs for building
modules that need some customization?
- prerequisites_policy
- The CPAN module can detect when a module which you are
trying to build depends on prerequisites. If this happens, it can build
the prerequisites for you automatically ('follow'), ask you for
confirmation ('ask'), or just ignore them ('ignore'). Choosing 'follow'
also sets PERL_AUTOINSTALL and PERL_EXTUTILS_AUTOINSTALL for
"--defaultdeps" if not already set.
Please set your policy to one of the three values.
Policy on building prerequisites (follow, ask or ignore)?
- randomize_urllist
- CPAN.pm can introduce some randomness when using hosts for
download that are configured in the urllist parameter. Enter a numeric
value between 0 and 1 to indicate how often you want to let CPAN.pm try a
random host from the urllist. A value of one specifies to always use a
random host as the first try. A value of zero means no randomness at all.
Anything in between specifies how often, on average, a random host should
be tried first.
Randomize parameter
- scan_cache
- By default, each time the CPAN module is started, cache
scanning is performed to keep the cache size in sync ('atstart').
Alternatively, scanning and cleanup can happen when CPAN exits ('atexit').
To prevent any cache cleanup, answer 'never'.
Perform cache scanning ('atstart', 'atexit' or 'never')?
- shell
- What is your favorite shell?
- show_unparsable_versions
- During the 'r' command CPAN.pm finds modules without
version number. When the command finishes, it prints a report about this.
If you want this report to be very verbose, say yes to the following
variable.
Show all individual modules that have no $VERSION?
- show_upload_date
- The 'd' and the 'm' command normally only show you
information they have in their in-memory database and thus will never
connect to the internet. If you set the 'show_upload_date' variable to
true, 'm' and 'd' will additionally show you the upload date of the module
or distribution. Per default this feature is off because it may require a
net connection to get at the upload date.
Always try to show upload date with 'd' and 'm' command (yes/no)?
- show_zero_versions
- During the 'r' command CPAN.pm finds modules with a version
number of zero. When the command finishes, it prints a report about this.
If you want this report to be very verbose, say yes to the following
variable.
Show all individual modules that have a $VERSION of zero?
- tar_verbosity
- When CPAN.pm uses the tar command, which switch for the
verbosity shall be used? Choose 'none' for quiet operation, 'v' for file
name listing, 'vv' for full listing.
Tar command verbosity level (none or v or vv)?
- term_is_latin
- The next option deals with the charset (a.k.a. character
set) your terminal supports. In general, CPAN is English speaking
territory, so the charset does not matter much but some CPAN have names
that are outside the ASCII range. If your terminal supports UTF-8, you
should say no to the next question. If it expects ISO-8859-1 (also known
as LATIN1) then you should say yes. If it supports neither, your answer
does not matter because you will not be able to read the names of some
authors anyway. If you answer no, names will be output in UTF-8.
Your terminal expects ISO-8859-1 (yes/no)?
- term_ornaments
- When using Term::ReadLine, you can turn ornaments on so
that your input stands out against the output from CPAN.pm.
Do you want to turn ornaments on?
- test_report
- The goal of the CPAN Testers project
(http://testers.cpan.org/) is to test as many CPAN packages as possible on
as many platforms as possible. This provides valuable feedback to module
authors and potential users to identify bugs or platform compatibility
issues and improves the overall quality and value of CPAN.
One way you can contribute is to send test results for each module that you
install. If you install the CPAN::Reporter module, you have the option to
automatically generate and deliver test reports to CPAN Testers whenever
you run tests on a CPAN package.
See the CPAN::Reporter documentation for additional details and
configuration settings. If your firewall blocks outgoing traffic, you may
need to configure CPAN::Reporter before sending reports.
Generate test reports if CPAN::Reporter is installed (yes/no)?
- perl5lib_verbosity
- When CPAN.pm extends @INC via PERL5LIB, it prints a list of
directories added (or a summary of how many directories are added). Choose
'v' to get this message, 'none' to suppress it.
Verbosity level for PERL5LIB changes (none or v)?
- prefer_external_tar
- Per default all untar operations are done with the perl
module Archive::Tar; by setting this variable to true the external tar
command is used if available; on Unix this is usually preferred because
they have a reliable and fast gnutar implementation.
Use the external tar program instead of Archive::Tar?
- trust_test_report_history
- When a distribution has already been tested by
CPAN::Reporter on this machine, CPAN can skip the test phase and just rely
on the test report history instead.
Note that this will not apply to distributions that failed tests because of
missing dependencies. Also, tests can be run regardless of the history
using "force".
Do you want to rely on the test report history (yes/no)?
- use_sqlite
- CPAN::SQLite is a layer between the index files that are
downloaded from the CPAN and CPAN.pm that speeds up metadata queries and
reduces memory consumption of CPAN.pm considerably.
Use CPAN::SQLite if available? (yes/no)?
- version_timeout
- This timeout prevents CPAN from hanging when trying to
parse a pathologically coded $VERSION from a module.
The default is 15 seconds. If you set this value to 0, no timeout will
occur, but this is not recommended.
Timeout for parsing module versions?
- yaml_load_code
- Both YAML.pm and YAML::Syck are capable of deserialising
code. As this requires a string eval, which might be a security risk, you
can use this option to enable or disable the deserialisation of code via
CPAN::DeferredCode. (Note: This does not work under perl 5.6)
Do you want to enable code deserialisation (yes/no)?
- yaml_module
- At the time of this writing (2009-03) there are three YAML
implementations working: YAML, YAML::Syck, and YAML::XS. The latter two
are faster but need a C compiler installed on your system. There may be
more alternative YAML conforming modules. When I tried two other players,
YAML::Tiny and YAML::Perl, they seemed not powerful enough to work with
CPAN.pm. This may have changed in the meantime.
Which YAML implementation would you prefer?
LICENSE¶
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.