On 18:18 Wed 11 Oct , Charles Mauch wrote:
I just joined this list to ask a few questions about perl modules in arch, and to explain (whine) about some of the workarounds I've tried to keep my own modules up to date with the CPAN archives.
First, I'd like to say that for the most part, the perl modules provided by the arch devs for the most part work fine. But there always seems to one or two that are out of date. This isn't a problem unique to arch, I run a couple of debian boxes and run across the same situation all the time. There are simply so *many* possbile modules it can be an impossible situation to keep current.
Because I can't live without the latest and greatest, over time I've come up with a few workarounds that I'd love to eliminate.
First, I use pacman.conf to block the installation of a few modules, and keep my own copies maintained. Some packages simply INSIST on being managed by pacman, so in that case - I usually let arch have it's way an download and install what packages I want newer versions of into a ~/perl directory. By setting the PERL5LIB variable, I can ensure my local copy gets used instead.
Unfortuatly, my ~/perl directory is growing at a rapid clip in arch.
So here are some suggestions I think would make perl hacking in arch easier.
1. Dump whatever perl-module naming scheme (if there is one) for arch perl modules and simply use the CPAN module name. I don't know how many times I'll lookfor Foo::Bar, only to discover pacman's named it perl-bar-foo or some other nonesense. Is there a current naming scheme for modules?
2. I dont know how reasonable this is, but I would *love* to manage all my packages with the cpan tool. Maybe pacman could act as a wrapper to the cpan command? Or as an alterative, maybe provide an option to install cpan modules instead of packages into some other directory. Yes, I know the implications of something like this on PKGBUILD's might be horrendous. :)
2a. Yes, cpan is horrible at times. An alternative might be cpanplus.
3. Another idea would be to create a small tool which creates pacman style tarball bundles out of *all* the cpan modules once every few weeks, and stores them on a repo somewhere. Something like http://rpmpan.sourceforge.net/ for arch. This would eliminate the need for cpan at all. When i dicovered http://perl.arix.com/cpan2rpm/ I just about sh*t myself the idea was so cool too :)
I do not have a webhost that could host or build this kind of repo, but I'd be happy to help maintain/run such a system.
Anyway, some ideas. Thoughts? Am I just spinning my wheels?
There is a script (?) called cpan4pacman, I think you can find it in the bbs.archlinux.org (can't give you a link 'cause here it's 3.24 am and I'm quite tired :) . It is amazing, and an official support (with improvements) would be great. HTH -- Alessio 'mOLOk' Bolognino