NAME

CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware - Install Perl distributions on Slackware Linux

VERSION

This document describes CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware version 1.030.

SYNOPSIS

### from the cpanp interactive shell
$ cpanp
CPAN Terminal> i Some::Module --format=CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware

### using the command-line tool
$ cpan2dist --format CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware Some::Module
$ sudo /sbin/installpkg /tmp/perl-Some-Module-1.0-i586-1_CPANPLUS.tgz

DESCRIPTION

Do you prefer to manage all software in your operating system's native package format?

This CPANPLUS plugin creates Slackware compatible packages from Perl distributions. You can either install the created packages using the API provided by CPANPLUS or manually with installpkg.

Using CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware

Start an interactive shell to edit the CPANPLUS settings:

$ cpanp
CPAN Terminal> s reconfigure

Once CPANPLUS is configured, modules can be installed. Example:

CPAN Terminal> i Mojolicious --format=CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware

You can make CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware your default format by setting the dist_type key:

CPAN Terminal> s conf dist_type CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware

Some Perl distributions fail to show interactive prompts if the verbose option is not set. Thus you might want to enable verbose output:

CPAN Terminal> s conf verbose 1

Make your changes permanent:

CPAN Terminal> s save

User settings are stored in $HOME/.cpanplus/lib/CPANPLUS/Config/User.pm.

Packages may also be created from the command-line. Example:

$ cpan2dist --format CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware Mojolicious
$ sudo /sbin/installpkg /tmp/perl-Mojolicious-7.51-x86_64-1_CPANPLUS.tgz

Managing packages as a non-root user

The sudo command must be installed and configured. If the fakeroot command is installed, packages will be built without the help of sudo. Installing packages still requires root privileges though.

Installation location

By default distributions are installed in Perl's vendor location. Set the "installdirs" parameter to select the site location, which is usually /usr/local.

$ cpanp
CPAN Terminal> i EV --format=CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware --installdirs=site

$ env INSTALLDIRS=site cpanp i Minion --format=CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware

$ cpan2dist --format CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware \
            --dist-opts installdirs=site Mojo::Pg

Documentation files

README files and changelogs are stored in a package-specific subdirectory in /usr/doc or /usr/local/doc. In addition, a README.SLACKWARE file that lists the package's build dependencies is supplied.

Configuration files

Few Perl distributions provide configuration files in /etc but if such a distribution, e.g. Mail::SpamAssassin, is updated you have to check for new configuration files. The package's README.SLACKWARE file lists the configuration files. Updated configuration files have got the filename extension ".new" and must be merged by the system administrator.

SUBROUTINES/METHODS

CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware->format_available

Returns a boolean indicating whether or not the Slackware Linux package management tools are available.

$is_available = CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware->format_available();
$dist->init

Sets up the CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware object for use. Creates all the needed status accessors.

$success = $dist->init();

Called automatically whenever a new CPANPLUS::Dist object is created.

$dist->prepare(%params)

Runs perl Makefile.PL or perl Build.PL and determines what prerequisites this distribution declared.

$success = $dist->prepare(
    perl        => '/path/to/perl',
    force       => (1|0),
    verbose     => (1|0),
    installdirs => ('vendor'|'site')
);

If you set force to true, CPANPLUS will go over all the stages of the prepare process again, ignoring any previously cached results.

Returns true on success and false on failure.

You may then call $dist->create to build the distribution.

$dist->create(%params)

Builds the distribution, runs the test suite and executes makepkg to create a Slackware compatible package. Also scans for and attempts to satisfy any prerequisites the module may have.

$success = $dist->create(
    perl        => '/path/to/perl',
    make        => '/path/to/make',
    skiptest    => (1|0),
    force       => (1|0),
    verbose     => (1|0),
    keep_source => (1|0)
);

If you set skiptest to true, the test stage will be skipped. If you set force to true, create will go over all the stages of the build process again, ignoring any previously cached results. CPANPLUS will also ignore a bad return value from the test stage.

Returns true on success and false on failure.

You may then call $dist->install to actually install the created package.

$dist->install(%params)

Installs the package using upgradepkg --install-new --reinstall. If the package is already installed on the system, the existing package will be replaced by the new package.

$success = $dist->install(verbose => (1|0));

Returns true on success and false on failure.

PLUGINS

You can write plugins to patch or customize Perl distributions. Put your plugins into the CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware::Plugin namespace. Plugins can provide the following methods.

$plugin->available($dist)

This method, which must exist, returns true if the plugin applies to the given distribution.

$plugin->pre_prepare($dist)

Use this method to patch a distribution or to set environment variables that help to configure the distribution. Called before the Perl distribution is prepared. That is, before the command perl Makefile.PL or perl Build.PL is run. Returns true on success.

$plugin->post_prepare($dist)

Use this method to, for example, unset previously set environment variables. Called after the Perl distribution has been prepared. Returns true on success.

$plugin->pre_package($dist)

This method is called after the Perl distribution has been installed in the temporary staging directory and before a Slackware compatible package is created. Use this method to install additional files like init scripts or to append text to the README.SLACKWARE file. Returns true on success.

DIAGNOSTICS

In order to manage packages as a non-root user...

You are using CPANPLUS as a non-root user but sudo is not installed.

You do not have '/sbin/makepkg'...

The Slackware Linux package management tools are not installed.

Could not chdir into DIR

CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware could not change its current directory while building the package.

Could not create directory DIR

A directory could not be created. Are the parent directory's owner or mode bits wrong? Is the file system mounted read-only?

Could not create file FILE

A file could not be opened for writing. Check your file and directory permissions!

Could not write to file FILE

Is a file system, e.g. /tmp full?

Could not compress file FILE

A manual page could not be compressed.

Failed to copy FILE1 to FILE2

A file could not be copied.

Failed to move FILE1 to FILE2

A file could not be renamed.

Could not run COMMAND

An external command failed to execute.

No dir found to operate on!

For some reason, CPANPLUS could not extract the Perl distribution's archive file.

Unknown type 'CPANPLUS::Dist::WHATEVER'

CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware supports CPANPLUS::Dist::MM and CPANPLUS::Dist::Build.

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

Similar to the build scripts provided by https://slackbuilds.org/, CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware respects the following environment variables:

TMP

The staging directory where the Perl distributions are temporarily installed. Defaults to $TMPDIR/CPANPLUS or to /tmp/CPANPLUS if $ENV{TMPDIR} is not set.

OUTPUT

The package output directory where all created packages are stored. Defaults to $TMPDIR or /tmp.

ARCH

The package architecture. Defaults to "i586" on x86-based platforms, to "arm" on ARM-based platforms and to the output of uname -m on all other platforms.

BUILD

The build number that is added to the filename. Defaults to "1".

As packages may be built recursively, setting this variable is mainly useful when all packages are rebuilt. For example, after Perl has been upgraded.

TAG

This tag is added to the package filename. Defaults to "_CPANPLUS".

PKGTYPE

The package extension. Defaults to "tgz". May be set to "tbz", "tlz" or "txz". The respective compression utility needs to be installed on the machine.

INSTALLDIRS

The installation destination. Can be "vendor" or "site". Defaults to "vendor".

DEPENDENCIES

Requires the Slackware Linux package management tools makepkg, installpkg, updatepkg, and removepkg. Other required commands are chown, cp, file, make, strip and a C compiler.

In order to manage packages as a non-root user, which is highly recommended, you must have sudo and, optionally, fakeroot. You can download a script that builds fakeroot from https://slackbuilds.org/.

Requires the modules CPANPLUS and Module::Pluggable from CPAN.

The lowest supported Module::Build version is 0.36.

The required modules Cwd, ExtUtils::Packlist, File::Find, File::Spec, File::Temp, IO::Compress::Gzip, IPC:Cmd, Locale::Maketext::Simple, Module::CoreList 2.32, Params::Check, POSIX, Text::Wrap and version 0.77 are distributed with Perl 5.12.3 and above.

If available, the modules Parse::CPAN::Meta, Pod::Find and Pod::Simple are used.

INCOMPATIBILITIES

Packages created with CPANPLUS::Dist::Slackware may provide the same files as packages built with scripts from https://slackbuilds.org/ and packages created with cpan2tgz.

SEE ALSO

cpanp(1), cpan2dist(1), sudo(8), fakeroot(1), CPANPLUS::Dist::MM, CPANPLUS::Dist::Build, CPANPLUS::Dist::Base

AUTHOR

Andreas Voegele <voegelas@cpan.org>

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

Some Perl distributions fail to show interactive prompts if the verbose option is not set. This problem has been reported as bug #47818 and bug #72095 at https://rt.cpan.org/.

Please report any bugs using the issue tracker at https://github.com/graygnuorg/CPANPLUS-Dist-Slackware/issues.

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2012-2020 Andreas Voegele

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

See https://dev.perl.org/licenses/ for more information.